What makes red wine

Wine comes in many different forms. This ranges from variation within broad types such as Pinot noir and chardonnay. That is a more granular version of the 3 broad types white, red and sparkling. What defines the three broadest categories is perhaps the simplest.

White wine is white. Red wine is red. Champagne or sparkling wine is carbonated.

The broad differences are easy to perceive but how you get there when brewing is a bit more complicated.

Red is different from white wine and champagne. The difference begins with the grapes selected. Red wine is made form dark grapes.

Yet despite the fact that white wine and champagne both use somewhat coloured grapes. You would think that at least some colour would permeate the grape but not really.

For some reason only red develops such a significant degree of colour.

It comes down to how the wine is made but not how and when you might think. It is the time in which red wine grape juice soaks in the skins and pulp of the grapes.

The soaking process extracts phenols and flavanoids. These lead to the very dark colour and strong flavours if red wine.

By contrast to white wine and champagne this period is much longer. That is a major reason why there is a very different colouration. By soaking for longer the colour gets stronger.