Red Wine
Red wine is made from red (or black) grapes, but its red colour is bestowed by a process called maceration, whereby the skin is left in contact with the juice during fermentation. The convention of only drinking red wine with red meats and cheeses is something that, whilst recommended because they compliment them, is not as important as it used to be. It is now considered that you drink what you personally prefer. Red while is best served at room temperature and it improves if it is opened an hour or so before it is drunk as this allows it to “breath” which improves its flavour. Red wines are much heavier than their white counterparts and are more full bodied.
Popular red wine types include Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Beaujolais, Lambrusco, Chianti, Zinfandel, Burgundy and Bordeaux. The name of the wine can be the name of the vine from which the wine was produced, such as Merlot for instance, or the region like Bordeaux. Often a wine producer will also blend grapes from different varieties of vine and hybrids to produce a new variety of grape which will have the characteristics of both types. Whilst Europe has been the most successful over the centuries for producing red wines, countries in the New World are producing some of the best reds drunk. These are coming out of Australia, Chile, South Africa, and the USA.
Red wine drinkers usually have their particular favourite which may be a specific type of grape, or even a blend of wine. Because of the huge variety of wine that is now available it really is just a question of finding a wine which suits your palate. Your wine merchant can help in choosing wines that will compliment food and can help to explain the various characteristics of the reds that are currently available. Also a huge amount of information is now available on the labels of bottles, describing the flavour and body of the wine.
Port wine is a fortified red wine which only comes from the Douro Valley in Portugal; it takes its name from Oporto the centre of port export and trading. Like Champagne, there are many imitations from countries throughout the world, but true Port is only from the one region. Port wine is typically thicker, richer, sweeter, and possesses higher alcohol content than most other wines. This is caused by the addition of distilled grape spirits such as brandy, to fortify the wine and halt fermentation before all the sugar is converted to alcohol. It is commonly served after meals as a dessert wine, or with cheese.