wine categories

[stevebody]

Pama,

"Table wines" are usually ordinary blended wines that are intended to accompany food. This doesn't mean that they aren't wonderful sippers; some wineries call their finest blended wines Table Wine as a sort of reverse snobbery. When you read that, it usually means that the wine has a hearty profile and a generous acidity that makes it food-friendly. Can be red or white, usually dry.

"Dessert Wines" are almost always very sweet and intended to either accompany dessert courses or to BE dessert. Good examples would be most ice wines, black muscat, Orange or Chocolate Ports, and the Italian Reciotos. They come in many flavors and can be dazzling or insipid, depending on the maker.

"Sparkling Wines" are just what the sound like: wines with bubbles. The name is properly used to describe bubblies from anywhere other than the Champagne region of France, where they're called Champagne. They range from the Cooks/Andre/Korbel swill to the Italian "frizante" (slightly sparkling) to world-class dry and off-dry bubblies from wineries like Iron Horse, Schramsberg, and S. Anderson.

"Distilled Spirits" are liqueres, like Amaretto, Calvados, or Frangelico or any sort of Scotch, Bourbon, Vodka, etc.

Hope that helps.