When considering the relative merits of different wines it is red wines that usually comes out on top, with many revering the subtle blends of French reds to the full blooded rawness of Australian Shiraz. There are many different types of red wine but their basic production is roughly similar. Obviously red wines are made from certain varieties of red grape, whereas white wines use the whiter varieties, but there are distinct differences between the way red wines are made as opposed to those employed with whites.
Much of the colour, flavour, body and character of red wine comes from the skins of the crushed grapes, so winemakers endeavour to extract a little or a lot of this, depending on the style of red they want to produce. They often crush the grapes so that the skins, pips, and even the stalks give up a lot of rich flavour, and, most importantly for red wine, their tannin into the resulting liquid. Tannins are a group of organic chemicals found in grape seeds, stems and skins that give red wine a lot of its rich structure and body. They can even make red wine taste chewy and tough when overdone. As a result tannins do not sound too tasty, but in fact they are essential to the structure of some red wines, and they do soften up with aging. The winemaker often leaves the solid bits, such as the skins and stalks, in with the juice to stew for a while, so even more colour and flavour comes out, a process favoured in the production of Italian red wines and certain French red wines.
During the fermentation of red wines, the skins and stalks tend to float on top, and they can be punched down into the liquid to keep them macerating in the red wine. Macerating is the process of soaking an ingredient in a liquid, and in this case this means basically the stewing of the grapes. In some red wines such as red Italian wines, the solid matter is pressed separately to get a really concentrated juice out of it.
On the other hand, to produce the lighter, softer style of red wine, one method is to press the grapes very gently so that barely any tannin and so the more gutsy flavour gets into the wine. Indeed in the production of some Californian red wines and Spanish red wines, the winemakers do away with the process of crushing or pressing the fruit, and just let them burst open naturally over time in the fermentation tank without any crushed skins getting into contact with the liquid, which is eventually separated from the solids. This is the technique also used in the production of the classic French red wine, Beaujolais, and is known in technical jargon as carbonic maceration. It produces red wines that are soft and juicy with low tannins. Given the many varied ways in which red wines are produced, it is not unexpected that they hold many wine enthusiasts affections. From full-blooded Australian red wines through the medium Italian red wines to the lighter French red wines and elegant Californian red wines, and even expressed in red wine sauces, red wine, be it sweet red wine or dry, tough red wine is the essential tipple.
