White Wine and Types of White Wines
White wine can be made from red as well as white grapes, since grape juice is almost colorless after its extraction. However, mainly white grapes are used to prepare most white wines, still.
To impact the color of a wine, the skin of the wine grape plays a major role. By letting the skin soak along with the juice, the color of a wine is influenced. Since this is the fact, it is possible to make white wine even from red grapes by extracting the juice carefully and keeping the skin aside.
One of the most famous white colored wines is champagne: Made from red grapes (Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier) as well as white grapes (Chardonnay), it becomes a sparkling wine as it is fermented in its bottle.
The decision whether the skin and sometimes also stems are allowed to soak with the grape juice determines the amount of tannin, too. Tannins are reduced in the wine if the skin and stem are not allowed to soak in the juice. This is an important aspect for making wine as the mouth drying quality of tannin makes you feel the firmness of a wine in your mouth.
Sometimes white wines are fermented or aged in oak barrels to impart some tannin to the wine, but not as much tannin as in red wines.
The wine flavor of white wines may range from very dry to sweet and golden.
White wine flavor ranges from very dry to sweet and golden. Grapes used to make white wine:
- Chardonnay
- Chenin Blanc
- Gewürztraminer
- Muscat
- Pinot Gris
- Riesling
- Semillon
- Sauvignon Blanc
Following are the most famous white wine grapes and their wines, used all over the world.
ChardonnayThis wine can be described as sparkling or still wine. It can be served with fish and chicken dishes. It has a wide bodied and velvety citrus flavor. It has a buttery quality that resembles coconut, toast, toffee or vanilla when it is fermented in an oak barrel.
Chenin BlancChenin Blanc is a classy wine with high yields and excellent quality, cultivated since more than 10 centuries in France. This wine, requiring extensive care, can be used for a wide variety of wine products – from sweet wines to sparkling wines. It is named differently in different regions of the world, e.g. “steen” in South Africa. The flavor has notes of apples and quinces.
Gewürztraminer / Gewurztraminer
This wine can be served along with the Asian food and sausages. It has allspice, lychee, peach and rose aroma with fruity flavor.
MuscatThis wine is prepared from Muscat grape which describes a family of grapes. This sweet wine can be enjoyed on its own without any pair and dishes. It has a very aromatic and various bouquet with notes of orange and elderberry flowers or pear. One of the most famous wines resp. sparkling wines is the Asti Spumante.
RieslingThese are fresh tasting wines and improve with age. They can be served along with poultry, fish and pork. This wine is very light and is an evocative of fresh apples and has floral notes.
Sauvignon BlancThese wines are often considered as versatile food wines. They can be served along with poultry. They have an herbal and fruity flavor with notes of black current and gooseberry. Also very typical is its hint of minerals and the fresh acidity.
To see a more detailed list of white wine move on to the page List of White wines
The most popular white wines are as follows:
- Chardonnay
- Clairette Blanche
- Colombard
- Gewürztraminer
- Muskateller
- Riesling
- Sauvignon Blanc
- Chenin Blanc
- Pinot Grigio (Pinot Gris, Grauburgunder)
- Pinot Blanc (Weißburgunder)
- Sémillon
- Albariño
- Müller-Thurgau
- Trebbiano
- Grüner Veltliner
- Silvaner
- Palomino
Common White Wine Flavor Descriptions
- Citrus
- Apple
- Pear
- Grapefruit
- Lemon
- Lime
- Pineapple
- Melon
- Butter
- Honey
- Floral
- Dried Apricots
- Herb