The Beauty of Red Wine - A Beginner's Guide

The hit comedy film Sideways is about a road trip in the wine country of sunny California where the two main characters, Miles and Jack, taste copious amounts of red wine while dealing with major life dramas. It's a hilarious film that touched so many people with its dark comedy and truly moving portraits of people dealing with love, pain, and wine-tasting.

But perhaps the greatest thing about Sideways was how it inspired so many people to go out and become connoisseurs of fine wine! According to the Internet Movie Database, the movie made so many of its fans want to buy Pinot Noir (a dry red wine) that sales significantly increased in the US and UK during and after its release. Talk about the effect of movies on people!

If you want to learn a bit more about red wine, dry red wine, and its other variants but feel clueless as to the whole thing, here's a quick wine guide; a red-wine-for-dummy guide if you like!

Why is Red Wine... Er... Red?

Red wine is so colored because of the grape skins involved. There are a multitude of grape types, each as diverse and colorful as the next. You have purple, maroon, deep red, light red--the list goes on. Each variety brings a unique shade of red to red wine and the various colors you can see in wine stores are a direct result of the many grapes used in worldwide wine-making processes. An individual wine's color depends largely on what type of grape was used to make it and how long the skin was left in with the juice before being extracted.

What Are The Different Types of Red Wine?

There are many different types of red wine but they are usually judged by their "body." For example, a light-bodied wine is not too demanding on the mouth and taste buds. It goes well with food that is flavor intensive. A good example of this kind of wine is the French red wine Beaujolais Nouveau.

On the other hand, there is the medium-bodied red wine which is a slightly heavier wine (e.g. Shiraz, Merlot, etc.) but not as heavy and as powerful as a full-bodied wine like French Bordeaux wines and Italian red wine like the Super Tuscans. Full-bodied wines are denser and have a higher alcohol content.

How Is Red Wine Served?

You may have noticed at some parties, tasting events, or formal gatherings that red wine is served in a particular glass. It is said that an oval or egg-shaped glass that narrows as it reaches the top (compared to a slim, tall glass) is the best way to appreciate red wine as it allows the wine to breathe and swirl better. The best temperature to serve red wine is 60-65 degrees Fahrenheit. Serve it too hot and the alcohol can be overly emphasized; too cold and it will taste bitter.

Red Wine--What Are The Different Varieties?

There are a number of red wines available from all over the world from dry red wine to full-bodied wine to age-old wine. There is really no such thing as the best red wine--what is tastiest to you should be considered the best. But then there are many red wines that come highly recommended like Californian red wine, Australian red wine, and then of course, every other kind of wine throughout Europe, like Spanish red wine and the ones previously mentioned. In time, you will be able to determine exactly what your type of red wine is. For now, why not sample the many great tasting wines out there like Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc... ?

How Healthy IS Red Wine?

Red wine 101 these days will tell you that red wine or dry red wine is actually good for you. There have been recent studies by scientists in the UK that suggest a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon-derived wines will do the heart very good.

So, if you're looking to spice up your meals or simply want to develop a healthier diet, red wine or dry red wine may be just the thing for you. Hopefully, this has been enough information to whet your appetite. Happy wine drinking!

How to choose the best red wine

What’s the best red wine? You’ve probably asked yourself this question a dozen times before. But how do you make that judgment call? Do you ask your local wine clerk or scan the labels for something that sounds familiar or prestigious?

The problem with wine recommendations is that they’re often very subjective. What works for one person won’t necessarily work for another, which leaves you with a tricky dilemma. Let’s look at a few ways you can discover a red wine that suits your preferences.

What makes red wine ‘great’?

A great red wine depends on personal taste. To choose the perfect wine for your palate, it’s important you try out as many grape varietals as possible. Red wine tastes different from white wine in a number of ways:

Higher levels of tannin
Higher levels of alcohol
Heavier body
Different flavour profile
Potentially increased complexity

All these qualities come from the fermentation process, where the grapes skins are left in the tank along with the juice. Barrel and bottle ageing also play a large part, with a more aerobic style of wine-making changing the way a wine matures. It’s the nature of these processes and the quality of the grape that has the biggest effect on the flavour and character of the wine.

Finding your sweet spot

Just because a wine is vintage or well-aged, doesn’t mean you have to enjoy it. Ageing aromas are an acquired taste, much like truffles or mature cheeses. For those new to wine tasting, it’s good to vary your options and get adventurous with your choices. We recommend you start with the following grape varieties to get a sense of what you prefer.

Pinot Noir – acidity

Pinot Noir is the perfect red wine for understanding acidity. If you like Pinot Noir, the chances are you’ll enjoy other highly acidic red wines such as Grenache. When you taste Pinot Noir for the first time, you’ll experience a puckering sensation in your mouth, as though drinking a fizzy drink. This is the acid at work. A good bottle of Pinot Noir has exactly the right balance of tannins and acidity to compliment the fruity nature of the wine.

Syrah/Shiraz – body

The body of the wine is also important. Red wine tends to be heavier-bodied than white because of their composition, but each varies according to its origins. Syrah or Shiraz (as the New World likes to call it) is an excellent example of a full-bodied red wine.

You should be able to taste darker flavours such as plum, chocolate and tobacco in Syrah, which add to its velvety/milky quality. If this hits the spot, we recommend you try Malbec for a similar wine tasting experience.

Cabernet Sauvignon – tannin

Next up are tannins. Cabernet Sauvignon is a notoriously tannic wine, which leaves your mouth feeling dry when you swallow. It’s perennially popular in the wine-drinking world, because of its rich, spicy flavour and complementary pairing with red meat. If you like Cabernet Sauvignon, you’ll also enjoy Merlot, Chianti and Rioja, which have similar qualities.

Zinfandel – alcohol

Most red wines are high in alcohol, but Zinfandel is one of the highest. A good bottle is around 15% ABV (the upper end of the scale). The high alcohol content causes Zinfandel to feel ‘bold’ and ‘full’ or, in other words, more intense.

High alcohol levels come from a high amount of sugar in the fermentation process, which the yeast converts into ethanol. You can taste this sweetness in Zinfandel through its ripe, fruity flavour. Shiraz and Madeira are other high-alcohol wines.

Don’t compromise on quality

Another defining factor of great red wine is its quality. You can drink all the tannic wine you want, but if it’s cheap, nasty plonk you’re not going to enjoy the experience. That’s not to say you have to spend hundreds of pounds at the auction house. In fact, it’s possible to pick up the perfect bottle of red wine for less than £40. Here’s what you should be looking for:

Complexity – this sounds a little pretentious, but really what you’re after is a wine with a large array of flavours. For example, a great Cabernet Sauvignon will have hints of cherry, blackcurrant, spice, green pepper, and, if it’s a little older, cigar box, leather, chocolate and savoury.

Intensity – how clearly can you identify each flavour? The more obvious they are, the more intense the wine, and the higher the quality.

Balance – the best wines hold all their flavours in balance. If it’s fruity, earthy, and well-structured, you’re on to a winner.

How to Use Red Wine in Your Cocktails

At first, mixing red wine and hard alcohol might not seem like the best idea. At best, it’s a souped-up sangria. At worst, it’s a dreadful hangover, the high school kind caused by drinking half empty bottles of whatever’s leftover in your parent’s liquor cabinet. But for the enterprising bartender willing to experiment, red wine can be a delicious and secretly versatile addition to cocktails, enlivening your bar menu with new flavors, aromas, and colors.

There are two directions you can go in when crafting a wine cocktail: one where wine is the base ingredient, or one where it’s in a supporting role. A predominantly wine-based cocktail has its advantages — for one, it’s an easy, familiar way to build a lower-alcohol drink.

But it’s when wine is used as a cocktail ingredient that the possibilities really start to open up. The incredible variety of red wines means that you’re only limited by the pairings you can come up with: almost any flavor you want to complement can be highlighted by wine. Want a fruity, jammy flavor? Want to incorporate a bolder tannic taste? Want to add acid in a way that’s not citrus? Bring in the wine.

That adaptability means red wine works with spirits across the board. At last year’s Tales of the Cocktail, Washington winery Ste. Michelle Wine Estates held a contest called “Shaking The Vine,” where bartenders came up with cocktail incorporating their company’s wines, including a tempranillo blend. There were over 300 entries, mixing red wine with everything from gin to bourbon.

There’s only one major rule when it comes to building cocktails around red wine, said Ryan Pennington, the winery’s Director of Communications: “Try to see the characteristics of the wine as complementary to the spirits, and use it less with spirits that have similar characteristics,” he said. “If a red wine has a smokiness from the oak, [like] barrel aging, I wouldn’t mix that with a mezcal. It’s too much. But beyond that, there are really endless combinations of how you can use red wine in a cocktail.”

H. Joseph Ehrmann, who owns San Francisco’s Elixir, first discovered wine cocktails in 2008, after a winery commissioned him to build cocktails with their varietals. He approached the task like he did every new ingredient — isolating the flavors and aromas of the ingredient, and testing what cocktail components paired well with it — and a whole new world of cocktails opened up for him and his bar. Since then, he’s featured several wine cocktails on the menu, and has used wine in every form he can: cooked down as syrup, an infusion in the style of a vermouth, and even atomized to create a vodka, Cabernet Sauvignon, and lemon sparkling cocktail.

The teeth-staining properties of wine also make it an ideal way to add some color to a clear cocktail. Even just a small amount can color a drink: Ehrmann recommends it as a substitute for a claret atop a whiskey sour.

“Ever since that first time playing with it, I consider it as viable an ingredient as an herb, fruit or liqueur,” Ehrmann said. His one rule? “Use good wine. If you're using wine that’s not fresh and of decent quality, you’re downplaying the quality of your end result.”

Wine-based drinks are also a natural fit for holiday menus. From Sweden's glögg to Turkey’s sicak şarap, people associate batches of wine simmered with warming spices with cozy winter nights. And if you're going to make a traditional mulled wine, get the most mileage out of it that you can: Ehrmann suggests adding small amounts of mulled wine to cocktails to add a wintery kick to any drink.

But don’t think that you can’t put a red wine cocktail on the menu year round. That atomized wine cocktail? Ehrmann came up with it while developing ideas for a Fourth of July barbeque. “It’s all in the marketing,” he said with a laugh.

That kind of creativity has been a boon for wineries like Chateau Ste. Michelle, but they weren’t always convinced that putting their wine in cocktails was a good idea, Pennington said. “To be honest, one of the other things we wrestled with in the beginning was, would it be seen as degrading to the wine?”

But the success of Shaking the Vine — and the hundreds of excited entries — convinced them otherwise, and they now serve wine-based cocktails at their winemaker dinners.

“People are paying so much more attention to the ingredients in their drinks, where they’re coming from, who’s making it, that there’s no negative connotation to having a wine in a cocktail,” he said.

“If anything, it helps elevate the wine as another artisan, craft ingredient that bartenders can use to make a special drink. It’s an area in the cocktail world that’s still up and coming, and I think more and more places are going to see wine-based cocktails as deserving of a permanent place on their menu."