Many people like to lump all wines together as just one kind of alcoholic drink type. However, the multiple wine variants actually have a lot of differences between them. Knowing these differences can help you pick the right kind of wine for each situation…
Wine Variants: Know The Differences
Red wines
The first of the wine variants to look at are red wines. Red wines tend to be pretty complex flavor-wise, ranging from sweet to very dry. Furthermore, experts tend to recommend that these wines be at room temperature, or slightly chilled. Plus, red wines tends to be good for cooking, such as in stews or heavy sauces.
The most popular red wine is the Cabernet. This wine goes very well with poultry, beef, or lamb because of the high tanninlevels. Pinot noirs are usually more dry, and work well with fish or duck. There’s also Merlot, which compliment pork, pates, and veal, among other things.
White wines
The next of the wine variants to look at are white wines. White wines tend to also be sweet or dry, but are much more acidic than red wines. Plus, these wines can be either chilled or served straight out the bottle. They also are useful for making punches or sangria.
There are a wide range of white wines you can choose from. For example, there is Riesling which goes well with white and meaty fish like snapper. There’s also pinot grigio, which works good if you’re cooking a recipe that uses white wine. If you want something a bit more fancy, you can opt for a chardonnay, a higher-end wine which goes well with salads, salmon, and shrimp.
Dessert & sparkling
The last of the wine variants are dessert and sparkling wines. These wines tend to be used more for special events or occasions. They also tend to have higher amounts of alcohol content in them when compared to the other wines. If you’re curious, you can check the labels on these wines to see if they have any extra alcohol.
Dessert wines are very sweet, and tend to follow a meal rather than accompany it. This includes ports, sherrys, and marsalas. Sparkling wines tend to be used for special events, and are light and crisp. The most well-known example of these wines is champagne.
