Vermouth
Wine- HIstory & Production method
Classification of Wine
Wine is classified on the basis of following factors
Natural or still wine
Sparkling wine
Fortified wine
Aromatized wine
Let’s see more in detail one by one
Natural or still wine
There are four types of still wines which are differentiated by the colours.
White wine
Red wine
Rose wine
Blush wine
Let’s start with
White wine
White wine colour ranges from pale straw with a green tinge to dark gold.
White wines are produced from both white and black grapes.
If white wine is prepared by using black grapes then the skin of the grapes must be removed soon after crushing, to prevent the juice to taking on the colour from the black grape skin.
Red wine
Red wine colour ranges from purple when young and to brick red as it ages.
Red wines are produced only from Black grapes.
The black grape skin is allowed to remain till fermentation.
The colour pigments present in the skin gives colour to the wine.
Rose wine
Rose wines are light pink in colour which is produced from the mixture of white and red grapes or only red grapes.
The skin of the black grapes are allowed to remain in contact with the pressed juice for 24 to 36 hours depending in the intensity of rose colour required.
As soon as the required colour obtained the skins of the grapes will be removed.
Blush Wine
Blush wine is the new style of rose wine developed in California, USA.
Skin of black grapes are allowed to macerate with the grape juice for a very short period.
This process with convert the must into very light pink coloured wine.
Sparkling wine
Sparkling wine are fizzy wines.
Carbon di oxide is introduced into sparkling wine during secondary fermentation to make them fizzy.
The gas is prevented from escaping. The trapped gas s the result of secondary fermentation in bottle or in sealed tank.
The alcoholic percentage is between 10-13 percentage.
The bottle glasses used for sparkling wine must be thick to with stand the pressure of the gas behind the cork.
Champagne is the undisputed king of sparkling wines.
Fortified Wine
Fortified wines are called as heavy wines.
Fortified wines are strengthened by the addition of brandy either during or after fermentation.
The alcoholic strength ranges from 15 to 21 percentage.
These wines can be had before or after a meal.
Examples are
sherry,
port,
marsala
and Madeira.
Aromatized wine
Aromatized wines are also known as aperitif wines.
These wines are fortified and aromatized with
herbs,
bark,
spices,
roots,
flowers,
quinoa
or other botanicals.
The alcohol content is normally 14 to 20 percentage
Vermouth is the most popular aromatized wine.
To learn more about vermouth kindly check the link in description.
Let’s see how wines are classified by the taste
According to the Taste, wine is classified into dry,medium and sweet.
Dry wine
Dry wine is produced when all the sugar is converted into alcohol.
Medium wine
Medium wines is neither too dry nor too sweet.
It has traces of sugar left after the fermentation.
Sweet wine
It is obtained when there is some sugar left after fermentation.
fermentation is stopped naturally or intentionally by the manufacturer.