At this stage red wine differs from white wine. Red wines are made with red or black grapes and fermented together with the grape skins giving red wines it’s color. For white wines, the juice of the grape is extracted, through crushing, and the skins are discarded. Rosé wines are made with red grapes and the juice is allowed to stay in contact with skins until it picks up a light red color.
During the initial fermentation yeast is added to red wine, or it occurs naturally as ambient yeast on the grapes. The primary fermentation can take up to 14 days as yeast converts sugar into alcohol.

After primary fermentation of red grapes the juice is put in to tanks and the skins are pressed to extract the remaining juice before being added back to the tanks. How much is added back to the tanks is up to the winemakers. The tanks are kept warm to allow the remaining sugar to convert to alcohol.

The red wine is then allowed to sit and allow for a bacterial transformation of the crisp acid into a softer acid. This is also when red wine may be transferred to oak barrels to further mature and impart oak aromas and tannin. The wine is then allowed to settle bottling.
The time between harvest and drinking vary between a few months to over twenty years. However only 10% of red wines and 5% of white wines improve after 5 years.

There is nothing more subjective than taste, and trying to find common ground when talking about wine seems ill-fated. However, there are a few wine terms that should mean pretty much the same to everyone.

SWEETNESS: Needs very little explanation. The opposite of sweet is dry. A wine can also be medium-dry or off-dry.

ACIDITY: Acidity is important for white wines, and it makes them refreshing, crisp and light the higher the acidity and “syrupy” with lower acidity.

TANNIN: This is the crucial component of red wines. High tannin wines are dry, maybe even bitter. Lower tannin wines are smoother and often more drinkable.

BODY: This refers to the perceived thickness and glueyness of the wine. A full-bodied wine feels thick and it should coat the glass as you swirl it. A light-bodied wine is almost like water when you swirl it.

There’s an additional element when describing wines – FLAVOR.

This is very subjective but when speaking about wine stick to relatable flavors such as fruity, earthy, spicy, smoky and flowery.

To know what type of wine is best suited for you, please go to our Fun Facts.