If you ever visited a grapevine yard, you may have a peep into the luscious vibrant, violent, and green grapes which look mostly like some gems hanging on the vine. Imagine, when you pluck those and feel the juicy scent coming out of those gem-y grapes. What happens when you eat one of them, do you stop? When those grapes are then converted to some magic elixir, people just can’t stop loving it. That magic elixir ought to be called ‘wine’.
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, which is made by the fermentation of fresh grape juice. You might have seen or heard people going dizzy after munching 2-3 bunches of grape excessively. It’s because of the alcohol content which rises as you eat more grapes.
That’s not it but a lengthy process. It starts when you add yeast in the grape juice and after 3-4 days, the chemical ratio balances up, and because of which the alcohol content gets higher, and Co2 is formed.
If you ask, where does it come from or who made it first, you’ll probably be prone to some random answers. Some will say that it may have come from France or may have begun in Iran or Georgia or where not. But most people agree that it originated in Persia. It is said that the tale of how it got introduced in Persia was well known and the cause for its emergence.
This was all about the process and history of the great wine, now let’s sneak into how wine is classified as. Wine is mainly classified by its taste which is sweet, dry, and moderate. While the dry one contains less sugar, the moderate fellow has proportionate sugar quantity, and of course, the sweet one is sweeter than the previous two. Wine is also recognized by its nature which is classified into four categories, mainly table/still/natural in the first category, sparkling wine in the second category and the last category includes aromatized wine. Aromatized wine is further recognized by its White colour, Red, and Rose. Now finally, let’s see which are the most preferred six kinds of wines people love to have. These types are based on the different varieties of available grapes that are grown in certain regions.
Pinot Noir – #1
Pinot Noir is a grape variety that has been grown in Burgundy since the 12th century and this style is on the lighter end of the red wine spectrum. Even looking at it in the glass, we can see it has a translucency to it that is because the grape has relatively thin skins and so its delivery of colour and flavour intensity to the wine is so balanced. However, the flavours that it does give are so seductive and desirable that Pinot Noir is one of the most desired styles of wine on earth. It is much of a cool climate style that is a little brighter and reminds more of red fruit aromatic spectrum fruits like cranberries and strawberries. This wine is a lighter style of various red wines and works well with some foods that you might pair up with like seafood, Indian spicy food, grilled meat, etc.
Merlot – #2
On the nose, Merlot tends to give a little bit more of a herbal quality to it and a little bit of earthiness that we find in Pinot Noir and seems to be darker in its fruit range. More like blackberries, Plums and a little less like strawberries and cranberries. When we encounter it from a cool play, we often get a woodsy character to it, almost like cedar or even roasted bell peppers and it is very well-suited to some balanced food.
Cabernet Sauvignon – #3
Merlot’s distant relation to Cabernet Sauvignon is definitely among the most famous and well-known grape varieties in the world. It makes some of the finest wines of Bordeaux and is known for the long-term ageing potential that it can have. This is because Cabernet Sauvignon was a grape which has smaller berries and thicker skin than Merlot. When we ferment it in the tank that gives us a double dose of all the sources of colour and flavour that we get in a wine. Aromatically, Cabernet Sauvignon has some resemblance to Merlot in its fruit, definitely in the dark fruit blackberry and cherry range but it adds to that herbal quality flavours that remind of darker foods like liquorice, chocolate, or coffee. It is very much an intense powerhouse of a wine that will deliver a big ‘off of flavour.
Syrah – #4
If there is a live felicitation of people’s choice award for best preferable wine, definitely it would go to Syrah which comes from another region of France called Rhone. However, most often it is encountered under another name where it’s called ‘Shiraz’. It is the name given to the Syrah grape when it’s grown in places like Australia and South Africa in the southern hemisphere. However, it is genetically identical to the grape we called Syrah in places like California and France. Syrah has similar thick skin and density of colour to what we find from Cabernet Sauvignon but usually does not quite have as much tannic structure. As a result, it is more often made in the drink– I now style with a bit more emphasis on forwarding fruit. This style has a kind of blackberry pie and black-pepper quality to it that makes it very appealing and friendly and delivers a heck of a lot of flavour per square inch when you serve this as a sauce on the side.
Zinfandel – #5
It is the kind of wine that is said as an iconic red wine made in California. It was the most planted red grape until Cabernet took over in the ’90s. It has a spiced wild berry aroma like fresh-scented strawberry, raspberry, blueberry and blackberry, pepper clove, and anise to make a rich bold assertive flavour and it is easy to love wine. Zinfandel is often described as a jammy rich ripe fruity drink that doesn’t also dry your mouth out or say, bite into an overripe blackberry or raspberry jam but the best examples are balanced between that strong fruit and other elements to create a powerful but balanced wine.
Chianti – #6
This wine specifically comes from Tuscany, from the region of Chianti. It is in a medium red colour tone with a bit of raspberry hint. It also gives fresh thyme red currants and smells amazingly good. It is probably one of the best wines you should give a try on. Especially, if you’re driven to a fresh aromatic scented flavour in a drink. A huge explosion of tart acidity enters your mouth once you take a sip of the Chianti wine. Worth a try!
Almost all of these excellent wines are the finest of each other on their own terms. Some may have some fruity flavours, some tarty ones, some may give a strong-berried flavour, and even some can just be moderate to comfort one’s tongue. All of these wines are favoured by a lot of people, especially when there’s stock availability of such divine drinks in the regions where they originated most.
By ~ Shameen Kharat
Content writer (Erakina By RTMN)
16-11-2021