Adarsh yadav

What is wine 

This blog  is basically about the structural components of wine . Along with the types of wine and grapes variety,

Wine is the alcoholic beverage obtained from the fermentation of the juice of freshly gathered grapes.

The fermentation takes place in the district of origin, according to local tradition and practice.

Only a relatively small area of the world is wine producing. This is because the grape will only

provide juice of the quality necessary for conversion into a drinkable wine where two climatic

conditions prevail:

# sufficient sun to ripen the grape

# winters that are moderate yet sufficiently cool to give the vine a chance to rest and restore

its strength for the growing and fruiting season.

These climatic conditions are found in two main wine producing zones, which lie between the

latitudes 30° and 50° north of the equator and 30° and 50° south of the equator.

Three-quarters of the world   wine is produced in Europe (often referred to as ‘Old World’) and

just under half in the EU. France and Italy produce the most wine, with Italy being the next

largest producer followed by Spain and Germany, and Portugal. Outside Europe (often referred

to as ‘New World’), the largest producer is the USA followed by Australia, Argentina, Chile and

South Africa.

wine world

Classification of wine

message me for the presentation .

structural components of wine

A good bottle of wine includes  structural components  that define the taste of wine .

It is necessary to know about these  components because of these things only wine structure depends so let start

Grapes

grapes physical structure

It has physically 20% skin , 75% pulp, 5% seed . And chemically it has  70% water, 15% sugar, 10%acids /proteins/materials and other,4%cellulose , 1% oil.

chemical structure

FACT

For making one bottle of wine approximately 9.5 kg or 21 lb grapes are used.

 so when the grapes is crushed . This is the composition that goes to the fermentation vat , because of fermentation the amount of sugar converts into alcohol obtaining the liquid which is called WINE.

                                                             Chemically wine is an acid alcoholic solution  with other phenolic and Aromatic  components . And as density of sugar is different from the density of alcohol , so its distribution of component are different after  .  But wine on an average again after 

85% water , 12% alcohol  , 3% other but in actually that 3% is very important for us it consist of 

 TASTE , AROMA , TEXTURE  are came into these 3%..

ALCOHOL 

As we all know that alcohol is an important factor in the wine . The higher component in wine is alcohol which plays a role in wine structure  also in the way we perceive aromas and flavours though there is an trace of alcohol molecules which come from the  sugar in the berry. The sugar molecules transform  into alcohol that means more sugar  leads to more alcohol in the wine . But how does the alcohol effects the texture  here is the simple rule,

THE MORE ALCOHOL --------> THE MORE BODY PERCEPTION

 So high alcohol wine is also  full bodies wine ,and as a by-product also appears the glycerol ( it is an mouth coating texture also sweet taste) ,

How does Alcohol effect the aromas and taste ?

The ethanol which is the main  alcohol in wine taste the sweet but when is too high  generally over the 15 % alcohol by volume it can mask the rest of the aromas.

High alcohol turns the burning sensation in your nose and mouth ,It means the grapes have high amount of sugar and very few acids like an overripe grape so mainly high A.B.V the wine losses its freshness and characters and it  something called as over cooked. So it depends a lot how the rest of the wine components are balanced in the wine and it said that Its very difficult to find out the well- balanced wine when the A.B.V  is more than a 15%  .

ACID

The another components was acids it provides the sourness and fresh feeling in the tongue and it also serve the define fruit flavour. I mean the correct amount of acidity is good because it enhance the taste like in lemon that's is better and more tasty when you feel the  sourness  . The acid is integrate ,evolve and transform into sugar , typically the higher temperature the faster this acid degradation . Those worm areas  produce grapes with less acid are more sugar than the cooler one ,also a good acid level help the wine to age well and  not to become dual and flat  among the years. Best thing to remark about the acid it is not only the  amount of it  but also the quality of  the acids you can imagine it is not the same  the acidity of a green apple or the acidity of vinegar.

TANNIN

The tannins are the components responsible for the structure of the wine chemically they belongs to the group of substance that called  phenolic components. Among this phenolic components we can find molecules responsible for the color of the wine  called Anthocyanins or the famous   mainly associated and discussed with the antiox capacity of wine. but lets focused on tannins because they affects the taste  of the wine tannins are mainly present in the skin stems and the seeds  of the grapes  but also in the wood  so , wine that have  been fermented  in contact with the skins or the stems  or aged in the oak barrels have tannins .     It means red and  reserve wine but also the white wine if they are ever been aged in oak barrels , tannins  in wine are describe as structure  they produce a sensation dryness in the mouth because tannins associated with saliva in the mouth causing this dryness  . Tannins are also responsible for the bitter taste that we can notice mostly in the center and the back of our mouth . The taste of tannin is depends on the grape variety  look at the scale which is given below 

LESS TANNIN – Gamay – Pinot Noir – Sangiovese – Grenache – Zinfandel – Syrah – Malbec – Merlot – Mourvèdre – Cabernet Franc – Cabernet Sauvignon – Petite Syrah – Nebbiolo – MORE TANNIN

 

 

Also the management of wiener or  the wine making process  affect the perception of tannins  because  they evolve during the ripeness  and once the wine is done  with the time in oak barrel or the time in the bottle  , So its not only the amount of tannin in wine it also  the quality of them  . 

One interesting thing about tannins that food can change the perception  so when the high tannin wine is dries you mouth you can pair with the oily food like  - lamb, pork chops or cheese because then you mouth will indicate very  pleased  and sensation  . At the last tannins  produce by the plant and they are natural preservative  so wine with proper amount of tannins are aged better 

SUGAR 

Sugar is like we all know is responsible for the  sweet taste and its also  very useful to balanced the high acid wine . The sugar of the wine comes from the grape  an during the fermentation it is transform into the alcohol, This process the sugar is also the different types some of them is easier to transform then others so when the fermentation process ends  it could be an still traces of sugar that its not been transformed into alcohol by the juice this  low sugar content that make wine micro biologically stable  , and this low amount of sugar is called residual  sugar and depending how much it is and which specific type it is  the wine will be more and less sweet .    In European regions dry wines cannot have more than   1% sugar  and they need at least 4.5% sugar to be labeled as sweet wine  but actually the most famous sweet wine have more than this like port that has 8 %  Sauternes  15% ,  sweet Riesling up to 30 % and sherry up to 40% .

• Dry wines are less than 0.5%

• Off-dry wines are between 0.6% and 1.9%

• Semi-sweet wines are between 2% and 6%

Sweet wines are over 6%

If you want to compare it, a regular coke has around 11%. 

AROMATIC

It means the natural  tendency of wine to show up fruit like aromas and flavour as a consequence of the aromatic  components of wine . The aromatic components belongs to the  different category of the chemical substances that are the molecules responsible for the aromas and flavour  these molecules can come from the grape variety come from the fruit , flower, herbs these are called  primary aromas .  And they can also be produce during the fermentation  as the aromas of cheese, dough, butter etc also called secondary aromas.  And it can also be appears during aging    in the oak barrels or in the bottle .