What is Wine?

There are red wines, pink wines (also known as “rose” or some-times “blush”) and white wines. Red wine result when the crushed grape skin pulp and seeds of purple or red varieties are allowed to remain with juice during fermentation periods. Pink / rose wine can be produced by removing the non-juice pumace from the must during fermentation. White wines can be made from pigmented grapes by removal of skins, pulp and seeds before juice fermentation. Wines might be “fortified,” “sparkling,” or “table.”

 In fortified wines, brandy is added to make the alcohol content higher (around 14 to 30 percent). These are less perishable and may be stable without pasteurization. Wines are termed still or sparkling depending upon the amount of CO2 they contain. The carbon dioxide may be formed naturally during fermentation or may be added artificially. Both table and sparkling wines tend to have alcohol contents between 7 and 14 percent. Sparkling wines are the ones with bubbles ( greater CO2 ), like Champagne. Table wine (which can also be called “still”) are the most “natural”. The alcohol concentration itself is not sufficient to preserve natural wines, they are pasteurized. The term light wine is also used to describe wine having alcohol content from 5 – 10 %.