What is Wine?
Wine is fermented grape juice.
It may be white, red, or pink (rose'), dry, medium, or sweet.
The alcohol content of wine ranges from 5.5% to 22%.
Sparkling wine or Champagne, contains trapped CO2 bubbles.
The variations in taste of a wine are mostly due to the different grape varieties. But, skin color, size, and acid/sugar ratio also play a large part the taste of the wine. When it comes to the size, the smaller the grape, the more concentrated the flavor. The skin of the grape is largely responsible for the flavor of the wine, color, and tannins. The pulp is the soft, juicy center of the grape and the element that will become the wine. It is mostly the sugar in the pulp that is crucial to vilification because it will be become alcohol during fermentation.
Fermentation occurs after the grapes are crushed and come in contact with yeasts, which gradually converts sugar into alcohol. When the yeasts are finished, your grape juice then becomes wine. The alcohol is in place of the sugar. The riper and sweeter the grapes, the more alcoholic the wine will be.
Alcohol is a critical constituent in wine because of the role it plays in the wines quality. Wines high in alcohol are full and can seem thick and chewy, like a zinfandel. Wines lower in alcohol, like a German Riesling, have more of a lighter feel to them. Balance is critical in wine. Having a wine high in alcohol needs a good measure of acidity to satisfy.
Acid is another important part of the pulp in a grape. When the grape ripens, the sugar content increases and the acid content decreases. This is where timing is everything when harvesting grapes since you want to harvest the grapes when they are balanced. Wines that lack acidity do not age as well.
Tannins are the elements from the grape skins and sometimes the seeds. Along with giving red wine its color, tannins give red wines their distinct taste. The presence of tannin in red wines is the most important difference between red and white wines. Tannin is also a great preservative
