Study of hotel management remains incomplete without a deep and a thorough study on wines. This beverage, considered to be the beverage of Gods dates back many years before Christ and is now one of the main courses of fine dining, and, indeed has caught a lot of popularity in India.
The Vatel Hotel and Tourism Business School, Sushant University Gurgaon, the best hotel school in Haryana makes sure that its students get a valuable exposure to wines through classroom learning, through its service at the Vatel restaurants, through internet and upon their various internships in India and in France.
Wine has been produced in the various parts of world since thousands of years. The earliest evidence of wine is from ancient China (7000 BC), Georgia (6000 BC), Iran (5000 BC), and Sicily (4000 BC). New World wine has some connection to alcoholic beverages made by the indigenous peoples of the Americas, but is mainly connected to later Viking area of Vinland and Spanish traditions in New Spain. Later, as Old World wine further developed viticulture techniques, Europe would encompass three of the largest wine-producing regions. Today, the five countries with the largest wine-producing regions are in Italy, Spain, France, the United States, and China.
Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grape juice. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol, carbon dioxide, and heat. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts produce different styles of wine. These variations result from the complex interactions between the biochemical development of the grape, the reactions involved in fermentation, the grape’s growing environment (terroir), and the production process. Many countries enact legal appellations intended to define styles and qualities of wine. These typically restrict the geographical origin and permitted varieties of grapes, as well as other aspects of wine production. Wines not made from grapes involve fermentation of additional crops including, rice wine and other fruit wines such as plum, cherry, pomegranate, currant and elderberry.
Knowing main types of wine is the first good step to start knowing the world of wine. Although many people may think that identifying wines into such the red or white wine can be as simple as using your eye to classify the colour, each wine type actually has its own character and identity which according to grape varieties and wine region and also including tannin level, aroma and bouquet, sweet, and alcohol level which all affect the flavours in some way.
To make it simple, we will classify the wine into 5 main categories;
Red, White, Rosé or Blush or Pink, Sweet or Dessert and Sparkling.
White wine
Many of you may understand that white wine is made of white grapes alone, but actually it can be either red or black grapes. The exact way to make white wine is to extract the red pigments away and utilize on grape juice only. Mostly, white wine will provide flavour character including bright, savoury, and creamy based on the inputs. Recommended varieties for wine beginners are Chardonnay, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and Moscato.
Food Pairing: Creamy cheese (Soft Cheese), white bread, meat, fish, seafood or salads
Red Wine
Production of red wine is quite similar to making white wine but only with the addition of grape skin, grape pip and seed incorporated into the fermentation process. Red wine will be fermented in higher temperature, to extract colour, tannin, aroma and flavours with different level of concentration varies by duration of fermentation.
Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, and Zinfandel can also be a good choice to start with for wine beginners.
Food Pairing: If it is a light-bodied red wine, go with grilled vegetables, white meat or chicken. A medium-bodied to full-bodied can get along well with meat dishes such as steaks, hamburgers or smoked meat or pairing wine with Asian dishes.
Rosé or Blush or Pink wine
Rosé wine with a pink rose colour is made from red or black grape with a short fermentation time, about 12-36 hours only. However, there is another popular style to make this Rosé, by just straight away blending red wine and white wine together. The flavour of this wine ranges from dry to sweet and comes with a pale to dark pink colour and a lower level of tannin.
Food Pairing: Rose wine always goes well with a light flavour dishes like fish, poultry, or fruit.
Dessert Wine
There is no constant definition for Dessert or Sweet wine. Mostly, it is because of the character of sweetness itself with the occasion of serving with desserts after the meal. But in some countries such as United Kingdom, people usually drink sweet white wine as an aperitif, before the meal, and sweet red wine to rinse their palate after. Sweet wine can be categorized into Port, Tawny, or Sherry and so on.
Food Pairing: In addition to the dessert, the wine can also be paired perfectly with smoked meat and soft cheese too.
Sparkling wine
When thinking of Sparkling wine, we will be reminded of a celebration. The sparkling bubbles from carbon dioxide (CO2) occur naturally or specifically are added during the fermentation process.
Sparkling wine can be categorized further by region, for example; Cava in Spain, Asti or Prosecco from Italy and Champagne from the Champagne region in France.
Food Pairing: If you are holding a party, try pairing the sparkling wine with salad, cheese, fish, or bread.
