Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Touring The World For Wonderful Wines

By Chris Channing

The classification of a good wine is very speculative. From the taster standpoint, flavor and aroma are key factors in the determining of a great wine. Other factors can make or break a wine's reputation when not done consistently over time. There are also off days or years when wine is produced that used a lesser quality crop of grapes to make the wine. These are off years that should be considered for their unique or unorthodox flavor and quality.

Many times the flavor of the wine is a major deciding factor of classification of the wine. Obviously, more expensive wines have a more sophisticated flavor that will leave the palate very satisfied. Other times, small changes in flavor are determined by the process in which the wine is aged. Many times, aging in something other than a glass bottle will add different flavors to the wine.

Many times aging is the process which determines quality and flavor or aroma of a wine. This is because aging allows for the wine to actually become a wine through the fermentation process. The various different wines may produce separate flavors caused by the type of vessel in which it was aged within.

Aging wine in bottles allows for a mild and very agreeable flavor for most wines. This allows for all of the available sugars in the wine to be fermented when the wine reaches full maturity. Aging in bottles also allows for pressure to be built up during the fermentation process and creates carbon dioxide. This is what makes the wine fizzle when you pop the cork. Many people enjoy fizzy wines and cannot get enough of it.

The quality of the wine can be greatly altered by aging the wine in wooden barrels. Many times different types of wood and wood quality will be used to produce different flavored wines. Wooden barrels provide many benefits to the wine aging process. They produce more alcohol because sugars in the wood allow the fermentation process to continue many years after the available sugars in the grapes are gone. This lets the quality of the wine go very high up.

Additives and additional ingredients may be added to the wine to help it ferment better or to add a flavor or aroma. These additives can change the flavor, aroma and quality of the wine and should be done carefully. Centuries of experimentation has brought the current wines into existence today.

Closing Comments

Many people enjoy wine around the world. When wine creating practices are followed for centuries, the wine will be relatively the same. New practices in wine making allow for greater variation in wine selection and price range. - 15437

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