Fundamentals
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basics
Wine
Basics
What is wine
Wine Bottle Facts
Basic Wine
Characteristics
Definition of wine, grape varieties,
regions, and whats inside a single
bottle of wine.
Definitions of the 5 basic traits
of wine: alcohol, acidity, tannin,
sweetness and body.
On drinking, sulphites, bottle sizes,
and ways that bottles are labelled.
winefolly.com / learn / basics / what-is-wine
What is wine?
Wine is an alcoholic beverage
made with fermented grapes.
Technically, wine can be made
with any fruit, but most wines are
made with wine grapes.
Vitis vinifera
Vitis Labrusca
Vintage refers to the year when
the grapes were harvested.
Non-vintage (NV) wines are a
blend of several harvests.
A temperate climate is where
grapes grow best. In North Amer -
ica, grapes grow from northern
Mexico to southern Canada.
Regions with cooler climates
make wines that taste more tart.
Regions with warmer climates
make wines that taste more ripe.
A single-varietal wine is made
with one grape variety (e.g., Pinot
Noir, pg. 100).
A wine blend is made by mix -
ing several wines together (e.g.,
Bordeaux blend, pg. 134).
Wine grapes are different than
table grapes. They are much
smaller, they have seeds, and
they are also sweeter than table
grapes.
Grapevines take a year to grow
grapes. The harvest in the
northern hemisphere is Aug.Oct.,
and the harvest in the southern
hemisphere is Feb.Apr.
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Wine Bottle Facts
DRINKING Facts
Standard Bottle Size
A standard 750 ml bottle contains
5 servings of wine.
Standard Wine Pour
A standard pour is 150 ml
and contains an average of
calories and 02 grams of carbs.
Healthy Drinking
NHS Change 4 Life recommends
that women have no more than
1 drink per day and men have
no more than
A Glass a Day
If you drink a glass of wine every
night of your adult life, you will
drink over 4,000 bottles of wine.
A bottle of wine contains the fermented juice of
Vitis vinifera grapes. Besides fermented grape juice,
there is also a small portion of sulphur dioxide (aka
sulphites) added as a preservative.
Sulphite Facts
Sulphites affect about 1% of the general population,
and wineries are required to label their wines if they
contain more than 10 ppm (parts per million). In
the US, wine has no more than 350 ppm sulphites
and organic wine has no more than 100 ppm. In
comparison, a can of Coke contains 350 ppm of
sulphites, french fries contain 1,900 ppm, and
dried fruit contains about 3,500 ppm.
Wine Bottle Sizes
winefolly.com / learn / basics / wine-label-101
By Variety
Wines can be labelled by grape
variety. This German wine has
the name of the grape variety
Rieslinglisted on the label.
Each country requires a minimum
percentage of the variety in the
wine in order for it to be listed on
the label:
75% USA, Chile, South Africa,
Australia
80% Argentina
85% Italy, France, Germany,
Austria, Portugal, New
Zealand, UK
By Region
Wines can be labelled by region.
This French wine is labelled as a
Bordeaux Suprieur. If you learn
about Bordeaux, you will learn
that this region grows primarily
Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon
and blends them together. Wines
labelled by region are common in:
France
Italy
Spain
Portugal
By Name
Wines can be labelled with a
made-up name. More often
than not, a named wine is a
blend of grape varieties that is
unique to the producer. Named
wines are occasionally found
on single-varietal wines in order
to differentiate between the
wines that the producers make.
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basics / wine-characteristics
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Basic Wine Characteristics
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basics / wine-characteristics
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basics / tasting-wine
Tasting
Wine
How to Taste: Look
How to Taste: Smell
How to Taste: Taste
How to Taste:
Conclude
The 4-step wine tasting method
is a professional tasting technique
that focuses a tasters ability to
separate and identify key char -
acteristics in a wine and improve
flavour and taste memory.
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basics / tasting-wine
How to taste: Look
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basics / tasting-wine
How to taste: Smell
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basics / tasting-wine
How to taste: Taste
winefolly.com / learn / basics / tasting-wine / palate-test
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basics / tasting-wine
How to taste: Conclude
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basics / handling
Handling
Wine
Wine Glasses
Serving Wine
Wine Temperature
Wine Storage
Different types of wine glasses
and tips on picking glassware.
How to open and decant still and
sparkling wines.
Wine temperature best practices.
Tips on storing wine short and
long term.
basics / handling / wine-glasses
Wine Glasses
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winefolly.com / learn / basics / handling / wine glasses
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basics / handling / serving-wine
Serving Wine
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basics / handling / wine-temperature
Wine Temperature
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Wine Storage
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basics / food-and-wine
Food and Wine
Pairing
FlavoUr Pairing Theory
Cheese pairing
