What do you really know about White wine?
Author: Nigel Thomas Drinking wine has been enjoyed over time stretching back hundreds of years, and is probably more popular now than any other time and is no longer seen as something only the foreigner’s drink.
White wine in particular is probably the most popular as it does not have the heavy tannins of red wine and is easier to digest for more people.
Even with its popularity as high as it is though, many people know nothing about the wine they are drinking.
One of the few misconceptions that people have about white wine is that it is produced from only green grapes. However, white wine is produced from all varieties of grapes including both red and black grapes, but all the skins are separated from the grape juice before the fermentation process begins.
The way that white wines take on their different flavour is due to many different factors. The variety of different grapes used, which are then be blended and modified with other grapes. But to meet the requirements of a particular label it has to contain a certain percentage of those varieties ingredients.
Also, the area where the grape is grown, the soil and the climate of the region all come into play. It follows therefore that a grape grown in mid France would have a different taste than a grape grown in southern Spain or even Australia.
The timing of the grape harvest also has an effect on the wines flavour. The longer the grapes are left before picking will produce a much greater amount of sugar in the grape making it much sweeter or giving it a higher alcoholic content.
Once again it is often thought that dry white wines are made from grapes that are dry or sour in taste. But the reason a white wine tastes dry is due to the fermentation process. The longer the fermentation process is allowed to continue more of the natural sugars are turned into alcohol making the wine taste dry. The opposite process is obviously how a sweet white wine is produced, by having a shorter fermentation process thus leaving more of the natural sugars from the grape.
It is always a good idea to read the label on the back of a bottle of wine. Such information as where the wine was produced and what grape was used can help you when it comes to buying your next bottle.
Of course the best way to discover which white wine you like the best is to buy a bottle and drink it, then next time buy a different bottle and try compare the two.
You may never become an expert on wines but I believe you will look at life in a happier way, if only for a short time.
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