Around the world we have people drinking and enjoying wines that are home made or specially prepared to suit the taste of the people of that region. Wines are fermented juice made of any fruit but mainly it’s the grape that is used. And also wines have names based on the region where they are prepared, like Burgundy Wine, prepared in Europe.

Wines can be classified on a variety of aspects. It could be based on color or taste or how they are served.

Classification of Wines on Taste:

• Sweet Wine
• Medium Wine
• Dry Wine

The classification being made on wine taste. With the sweetness calculated using gram of sugar per litre (g/L).A wine is sweet if the g/L is more than 45.

Classification on the basic type and class of wine:

• Natural Still Wines

These are wines that contain less than 14% alcohol and are served with foods. These wines can vary in color and can be either red wine, rose wine or white wine.

Redwine:

The name being given due to its color is the most famous of the wines. It’s a wine people prefer the most. It is made of the red or purple grapes and hence the name. Most famous red wines would be the Burgundy and Chianti. Types of Red wine.
 

White Wine:

The white wine comes a close second in the favorite wines and is also used all around the world. The White wine is mainly made of green, yellow or golden color grapes and hence the color and name for the wine. Most famous of the White wines are Chablis and Chianti.

 Sparkling wines

These wines are so called as they release gas bubbles of carbon dioxide like champagne and are usually used for victory celebrations and not commonly as Still wines. Sparkling wine has 12% alcohol content.

 

 Fortified Wines

Port and Sherry are among the most known fortified wines and this kind of wine has added alcohol. The alcohol added is most probably brandy obtained during fortification of the wine and this adds to the alcoholic content of wine taking it to 16% to 23%.

 

 Aromatic Wines

These are wines that are like sweet wines and dry Vermouth and are made by a combination of several wines. With the addition of Spices, herbs and other ingredients the natural taste of the wine is altered. The alcoholic content ranges from 15% to 20 %.

 

Classification on the basis of how they are served:

• Appetizer Wines  or Aperitif wines

These are served to increase the appetite of the people and hence the name. These are served before dinner or food and are preferred to have a greater effect if they are chilled. Sweet, aromatic, dry fortified, Red wine and Rose Wine are a few appetizer wines.

• Table Wines

These are served along with the meals and add to the taste of the food. Red wines are preferred to be served chilled whilst White wine can be served either warm or chilled as per the weather. However it is advisable that red wine be served with red meat and white wine with fish or white meat. However it’s strongly recommended not to use wines with vinegar based foods as they may not gel well.

• Dessert Wine

As the name goes these are wines that are had after the food and these go well with desserts like pastry, cheese items and ice creams. The taste may vary from sweet to medium for a dessert wine and it tastes best when served chilled.

• Sparkling wines

These are usually dry or sweet wines and are served only on special occasions. With these wines going well with any of the food it’s advisable to have it along with the food in small quantities as the alcohol level of this wine is very high compared to other wines. They taste best when chilled and is a great drink any time.

So, next time you go to a party just remember the above wines and the serving time for them. It is actually fashionable to have a good knowledge of the drink we have and hope this helps you to know more about the different wines and the best time for them to be served.

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