posted 05-19-2003 01:55         

Welcome to the WineBoard! Your questions are not hard. Even I feel confident enough to respond (and I usually leave this to real experts).

Wine is made from grapes with different colored skins. That's the short answer.

Lighter grape varieties with green or yellow skins are used to make white wines, i.e. Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, Sauvignon (Fume) Blanc, Chenin Blanc, etc. In the U.S. wines are commonly named the same as the name of the grape variety they are made from, so we call them "varietal wines". Chardonnay wine, for example, is a white wine made (primarily) from light-skinned Chardonnay grapes. And so on.

Same thing with the darker grapes. Purple or red wines are made from purple or red grapes. The dark grape skins are left on the grapes as they are crushed and processed to make the wine. The most popular red varietal wines (and grapes)are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Shiraz, and Zinfandel to name a few.

Then there are rose or blush wines, which are sort of pinkish in color, i.e. White Zinfandel. This wine is made from red grapes with their skins removed (don't ask me how they do it). Removing the skins makes the wine less tannic and therefore "sweeter". Blush wines are often a favorite of newcomers to wine for that reason. New wine drinkers tend to enjoy sweeter wines like White Zin until they discover other wines....

Red wines are usually best served around 65 degrees (just under room temperature). A cool cellar or a little time in either a fridge or an ice bucket will do it. White wines & rose wines are best served around 55 degrees, so you should plan to refrigerate them for a few hours before drinking.

Ladies' drink??? Well, that's a matter of opinion. I don't think there is a feminine or masculine wine. I've seen plenty of guys drinking white zinfandel (which is actually pink) and enjoying it, albeit experienced wine lovers tend to prefer less sweet wines (unless it is meant for dessert).

I'm sure our wine board members will express their opinions on this question....

BTW, wined too much, we can't tell your gender... Are you wanting to FIND a feminine wine or wanting to AVOID such wines (if there are any). Reveal your aim and we can get a discussion going.

Hope this is useful. Welcome aboard.

Jackie

posted 05-19-2003 06:35         

To make a red, the winemaker will retain the grapeskins and then press them, under great pressure, to release the beautiful red pigments and intense flavor of the pulpy lining inside the grapeskin. To make a rose, the skins are simply dumped into the clear juice and left in contact with the soon-to-be wine for a brief period, anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days. This gentle contact, minus the pressing, results in the pretty pink-to-light-red color of the rose wines. The sweetness of the finished wine can be regulated by how much yeast is introduced into the juices. Yeast makes alcohol by converting sugars, so it can be added in sufficient quantity and left to act for enough time to make the wine dry or a smaller quantity can be added or the contact time reduced to leave residual sugars.

posted 05-19-2003 10:10         

All grape pulp is the same color, but not all grape skins are.

Red skinned-grapes are crushed and fermented and then pressed into wine after fermentation--the color of the skins is extracted during fermentation.

White (green-skinned) grapes are crushed and pressed into juice before fermentation.

Rose wines are (generally) produced by crushing the grapes, allowing them to ferment on the skins for a short time and then pressed and allowed to complete fermentation.

Some white wines are produced from red grapes--Champagne, for one, and some white wines are produced from pink grapes--Gewurztraminer, for one. If the grapes are pressed and then fermented there isn't time enough for color extraction.

There are a few ways to keep residual sweetness in wine, each depending upon technology plus local wine regulations. In some places, winemakers can add sugar; in others, they cannot.

Once fermentation begins, yeast multiply until all the sugar is consumed (yeast eat sugar, converting it to alcohol and creating carbon dioxide). So, to create a sweet wine, you must stop the fermentation before it completes. Yeast manipulation that applies to creating a sweet or a dry wine has to do with the type of yeast used, not the quantity. Some yeasts are easier to stop than others; some yeasts are good in cool fermentation; some yeasts, after fermentation begins, demand that you get out of the way.

As for wines solely for women; with the exception of one fellow on this board who refers to sissy whites, most of us view wine by its individual charcateristics. There is no such thing as a wine for men or a wine for women--there are wines for individual tastes.

Now, let's all go play golf at the PGA with the women...