Wine Variety and Types

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Red Wine

A variety of wine exist with contrasting aspect of taste as well as appearance. Without a prior understanding of its type, it might become confusing to pair up with appropriate food or to select them for a special occasion. Knowing the types and variety of wine would allow selecting the matching one to blend with weather condition as well.

Wine types appear confusing because of differences in labeling around the world. In Europe, wines are named according to the region they are from, whereas, in other parts of the world, including America and Australia, they are named as per the type of grapes used to produce them.

Basically, Wine comes in five different types: Red wine, While wine, Rose wine, Sparkling wine and Fortified wine.

Red Wine is prepared from black colored grapes along with their peel or skin. This wine is red in color due to skin of grapes. The color may vary from red to black. They have a typical strong flavor. Red wine is best when paired with heavy food such as meet or pasta. The most common types of red wines are Syrah, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir etc. Pinot Noir is a dry red wine with favors of berry. Chianti is an Italian red wine, perfect to match with pasta or pizza. Beaujolais, Bordeaux and Burgundy are some typical French red wine.

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White Wine

White wine made from black or white colored grapes fermented without its skin. Their taste varies from dry to sweet. It perfectly matches with food such as fish or poultry. The most popular white wine is Chardonnay. It is a fruity white wine, which is usually dry. A classy white wine is Riesling. It is made of grapes from areas of Rhine and Mosel of Germany. However, it is also prepared in Alsace and Eastern USA. German Riesling are sweeter, while in US, they are prepared dry. Riesling wine are lighter than Chardonnay. Other special varieties of white wine are Sauvignon Blanc and Gewurztraminer.

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Rose Wine

Rose wine is pink colored. While preparing this type of wine, grape skin is fermented only for the first few hours. Also, Rose wine is prepared by mixing red and white wine. US makes sweet Rose wines while typical rose wine from Europe is dry. Named also as Blush wine, they are lighter than other varieties. A popular type of Rose wine is Zinfandel.

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Sparkling Wine

Sparkling wine has bubbles as their primary aspect. They are prepared with a secondary fermentation that provide this specially attribute. They can be of red, while or rosy color. Champagne is the most popular sparkling wine. It is produced only in Champagne area of French. Other variety of sparkling wine is Prosecco. This is a dry variety from Italy. A popular sweet sparkling wine from Italy is Asti. A popular sparkling wine from Spain is Cava.

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Fortified Wine

This type of wine is prepared by adding a small amount of grape spirit. They can be dry or sweet in taste. Some special variety of fortified wine are Port wine, Madeira and Sherry.

In addition of these varieties, there are two more types of wine. Sweet wine or dessert wine and Dry wine or Table wines. As the name suggest, desert wines are sweet because they are made from residual sugar of other finished wine. They can be dry or sticky. These type is the sweetest wine or all. Some famous sweet wine are Noble Rot, Eiswein etc.