The funny thing is that, wine “Body” is hard to describe, learn and understand. But let's try

For many Red Wine is there favorite but it’s hard to tell even for the frequent drinker what they feeling or looking at.  What is clear is that a  wine’s color can tell you a lot of things especially help you know if that wine is worth buying to hold on for future drinking or it’s best to drink it now.  So, color can definitely help the collector. You can use wine color reminders to tell if a wine has a the potential to cellar. For example, a Malbec that has traces of blue on the rim has lower acidity and good acidity is one of the key qualities of wines that age well. Wine tasters really look at color; that’s for sure.

The four aspects which make up a wine's body are; alcohol, sugar, tannin and acid.

But, even if you are not a wine expert, knowing a little bit about color can help really you define what you like. So let’s look at Red Wine and the “Body” it has.

Wine “Body” helps you decide which foods pair best with it, when is the right time to drink wine, and even if you are probably going to enjoy drinking it. The funny thing is that, wine “Body” is hard to describe, learn and understand.

But I am going to try to break it out and explain what Wine “Body” is…

Light-Body

Light-bodied red wines tend to have a brighter and more lustrous color. (you’ll be able to see through them.) Types of color range from a bright purple to garnet. For example;. Pinot Noir, , Zweigelt, and Gamay.

Medium-Body

Medium-bodied red wines tend to have average-rich colors. This range of wines is diverse and includes Garnacha, Sangiovese, and Zinfandel…. a medium bodied wine is centered a bit; one with a little lower alcohol levels, those with softer acids, little to no sugar content and little to no tannin

Full-Body

Full-bodied red wines are often deeply colored and this indicates a possible presence of higher tannin and many cases higher acidity and alcohol. But not always. These wines are highly extracted and opaque. e.g. Syrah, Malbec, Mourvèdre, and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Remember…Seeing a Blue hue; A bluish tint on the edges of the rim means lower acidity.

Aged Red Wine

When a red wine is far past its prime it will be a dull brown color. Many wines will last 20 years or more without displaying much if any color change. Tannins and Acidity recede. Interestingly Merlot and Nebbiolo stain orange earlier than other types of wine. Especially Italian wines.

What about Rosé Wines?

Rosé wines are made with regular a red grapes such as Mourvedre, but the grape skins aren’t exposed to the juice for as long. There is less time for the color of the grape to seep into the juice. The result is a much more pale red wine called Rosé.  Depending on the variety used, a rosé can range from pale salmon (Pinot Noir) to magenta (Garnacha).

Enjoy!

Oak and Vanilla go hand in hand in wine

In wine speak term Oaky often pops up. What does it mean? A wine described as oaky if it received oak flavors from being in contact with oak. That simple.

But isn’t all wine in Oak? The answer in no. There are wine that are unoaked. Remember that wine is in the eye of the beholder; so, there’s no reason for you to not prefer a non-oaky wine. Wine is purely subjective.

Wine making is basically divided into two phases. The first is fermentation; when the grape juice becomes wine. The second is the maturation process, where the newly fermented wine goes from being immature and young to a mature adult. Some wines are fermented and finished in oak barrels. Other wines are oaked only during the maturing phase.

Contact with oak acts like a compound for chemical changes in wine. Many believe that oak is really secondary to the distinctive quality of a wine. Oaking imparts special flavors and aromas to the wine.

Now this is purely subjective; California Chardonnay for example, many enjoy oaky Chardonnay and it’s at the peak of its popularity while unoaked Riesling is considered currently unconventional.

Vanilla goes hand in hand with oakiness. New barrels contain vanillin and the wins aged in these barrels take on vanilla flavor as past of the oaky charm. In Ice Cream vanilla is very simple; while in wine, oak adds complexity, smokiness, smoothness, spiciness and gets us into territory of the mysterious words like structure which sounds like all those all those overenthusiastic or subtle adjectives that pop up in describing wine.

Somethings to remember…Barrel fermented means to white wines that the grape juice went into those barrels and emerged as wine. Barrel aged means that the wines aged in these barrels were put into them after fermentation. As for red wines; they are fermented with grape skins intact in stainless steel containers/tanks or large wooden vats. After fermentation, the skins are removed from the liquid and the wines are aged in small oak barrels. Remember some wines (white or red) are not aged in oak at all.