The first thing you notice about a wine is it's color, and the color provides the initial clues about the quality of the wine.
In most grape varieties the juice is clear or slightly colored while the skins contain a variety of coloring compounds. Hence white wine is made from 'white' grapes and red wines are made from 'red' grapes. White grapes actually have green or sometimes slightly bronze skins, red grapes are really purple or nearly black.
Rose wines are usually made by crushing red grapes and leaving the juice in contact with the skin for a few hours during which time it picks up the just enough color to become pink. Some cheaper roses are made by blending a small amount of red wine into white wine after fermentation. This latter method is controversial and is the subject of a vigouros debate at the moment in France.
The Color of 'White'
White wines of course are not white, like milk for example, but rather they come in a range from almost colorless through to pale green, yellow through to gold or even amber or honey colored. The range of colors reflect the variety of the grapes used and the degree of ripeness at picking. As white wines mature they tend to become darker yellow gold and this is a hint to the taster about the age of the wine.
How Many Red Colors are There?
Red wines derive their color from a host of colored compounds called anthocyanins in the skin of the grapes. These pigments are the same ones that give such a range of colors in the leaves of deciduous trees in autumn.
Again there are differences between grape varieties, but many factors around the ripening period of the grapes also effect the color of the wine.
During the process of wine making there are methods to extract more color from the skin, for example by stirring the fermenting skin and juice.
Some varieties are known for the intensity of the colors in the wine they produce and are used in blends to add depth of color to otherwise good but insipid looking wines.
Teinturer Wine Varieties
Some red wine grapes have red pulp as well as skins. These are called teinturer varieties the word 'teinturer' means 'dyer' in French. The most common of these is Alicante Bouschet. This variety was bred by crossing Grenache and its Spanish name, Garnacha Tintorera reflects this.
There are red fleshed versions of the Gamay variety such as Gamay Freuaux, Gamay de Bouze and Gamay de Chaudenay.
The use of Teinturer varieties has diminished over recent years. Their major use was to add color to wines made from high yielding grape varieties. These are now going out of fashion.
The Russian or Georgian variety Saperavi also makes deeply colored wine. The flesh is colored, but not quite red, and most of the color is in the skins. The name Saperavi is derived from the word for dyer.
Does Wine Color Matter?
While color plays a part in the overall sensory experience of wine some observers say it doesn't matter. One Australian wine writer even likes to use black glassware to hide the color as he says it enables him to concentrate on the aroma and flavor of the wine.
In wine judging most scoring systems give a small proportion of points to the wine's appearance including color.
For the wine enthusiast color gives the first clues about the variety and condition of a wine. Older whites tend to become more yellow and red wines will tend to become more brownish. These clues are used in decisions about aging and storing wine.
Appreciating wine involves at least four of five senses. Seeing a well colored wine in fine glassware undoubtedly adds to the delights of wine.
Darby Higgs - Darby Higgs is a wine writer and webmaster based in Melbourne Australia. He is the Author of Emerging Varietal Wines of Australia: a guide ...
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