CATEGORIES OF WINES

Wine can be made from almost any vegetable matter. However, when referring to grape wine, there are three basic categories; red, white and rosé (pronounced "rose-ay") which is a pinkish wine. More on this later.

Wine contains sugar. The less sugar the "drier" the wine. When you buy wine at a wine store, you will notice that each bin is usually classified with a number "1", "2" or "3". The higher the number, the sweeter the wine.

The alcohol content of wine is between 9% and 12%. This is because the yeast used to make wine reaches its tolerance at about 12% then it stops fermenting. But, you ask, what about brandy, sherry and port? Their alcohol content can be as high as 20%. True.

Spirits are alcohol which is made by means of distillation. Brandy, sherry, and dubonnet are distilled from grape wine. Liqueurs however are generally distilled from fruit wines. Distilled wines are call Apertifs (ah-pair-teefs) and are usually served before a meal with or without an appetizer. No further information is available on this site about distillation except to say that doing it at home is illegal and can kill you if you don't do it exactly right. Beware the evils of methyl alcohol. Condsider yourself warned.

Table wine is served (surprise) at the table with dinner. Usually the wine will be dry in order to complement rather than compete with the food being served. As an only very general rule, white wine is served with white meat and, conversely, red wine is served with red meat. The reason being is that the flavours of most white wines are subtle as are the flavours of most white meats, therefore there is no competition for the taste buds. Red wines generally have a stronger flavour as do most red meats and the taste buds can handle the equality of flavours.

Still not sure which wine to serve? Compromise and delight with a rosé. It is fairly dry, goes with almost everything and generally pleases everyone.

Dessert wines are sweet and usually served with (surprise again) dessert. Mosëlle and sauternes are such wines.

After-dinner wines are (take a guess) served after dinner. They are sweet wines which are either spirits (see above) or fortified wines which means alcohol was added to the wine after fermentation stopped. Port, sherry and brandy fit this category. So do liqueurs.