For true varietal color and flavor in your wine
In California a varietal wine is a wine
that must be made with at least 75 % of the grape that the wine is named.
The varieties that have an A
(Red A) in our lists are the
varieties that are noble enough to make a wine that has the variety’s unique
characteristics and can sustain or improve those characteristics with age.
BLENDS
A blend is a wine made from at least two varieties of grapes with no variety being over 75% of the blend.
Burgundy
is a dry,
dark colored, full-bodied red wine that is usually fermented on the skins until
all the sugar is fermented. Cabernet
Sauvignon and Petit Sirah are considered Burgundy type grapes.
Claret
or Bordeaux is a red wine, not too dark in color with a medium body, good fruit
flavor and bouquet. Depending on
the color desired most fermentation occurs on the skins. They can have a slight
hint of sweetness. Chianti and
Zinfandel are considered claret type wines.
Rose
or Blush is made from red grapes that are lightly pressed right after crushing or a
wine made with a blend of mostly white grapes and a few red grapes for coloring.
It can be either a sweet or dry wine depending when the fermentation is stopped
or with the addition of sugar.
White
wine
is usually made from white grapes. The
grapes are crushed and immediately
pressed. No fermentation occurs on the skins.
It can be either a sweet or dry wine depending upon length of
fermentation and the amount of residual sugar. The white varieties are listed
separately and most varieties can be blended with each other.
Champagne
or Sparkling Reds
can be made from any of the above wines that are re-fermented with the addition
of sugar or carbonation.
Dessert or Sweet Wines have various spices, sugar and alcohol added to the finished dry wine.
A
proper balance of alcohol, acid and PH level is essential to make a fine wine
that will not spoil. A lot of
California grapes tend to be sweet enough to make a sufficient amount of alcohol
but they tend to have low acid levels. If
you do not use various commercial acid additives, blend into the wine a high
acid variety. Always use
some sort of bisulfate when you are making the wine and each time you are
racking or bottling.
Without
bisulfate the wine will probably oxidize (turn brownish with a sherry taste) or
turn acidic (vinegary). Another
good practice is to use commercial yeast to ferment your wine.
Commercial yeast that is made for the type of wine you desire will help
the grapes produce that wine. In
the process of using commercial yeast you will also destroy any bad yeast spores
that are present.