{"id":18772,"date":"2019-08-02T00:01:22","date_gmt":"2019-08-02T00:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/signaturecellars.com.au\/?p=18772"},"modified":"2019-08-02T00:01:22","modified_gmt":"2019-08-02T00:01:22","slug":"how-exactly-wines-get-their-colour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/signaturecellars.com.au\/wine-blog\/2019\/08\/02\/how-exactly-wines-get-their-colour\/","title":{"rendered":"How Exactly Do Wines Get Their Colour?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We are all well aware that wine is made from grapes; however, you probably might have wondered how wines get their colour. Some believe that red wine is made from red grapes. That is untrue, and they\u2019re made from dark-coloured grapes. Red wine colours are generally described as crimson, ruby, or even garnet colour. The colour of white wines varies from deep gold to straw colour.<\/p>\n<p>[vc_separator type=&#8217;normal&#8217; position=&#8217;center&#8217; color=&#8217;#fff&#8217; thickness=&#8217;1&#8242; up=&#8221; down=&#8221;]<\/p>\n<h3>How Do Wines Get Their Colour?<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The colour of grapes is a result of skin contact. Before beginning the fermentation process, the grapes are first harvested and destemmed. During the fermentation process, the red skin of the grape basically stains the wine.<\/li>\n<li>For white wines, however, the grapes are first removed from their skin before starting the fermentation process. A pigment known as anthocyanin is responsible for the red colour, and is also found in several different fruits like cherries and blueberries.<\/li>\n<li>Other aspects like duration of time it was on the vine, the thickness of the skin, extended maceration, and length of the cold soak are a few other contributors to the colour of the wine. The thickness of the skin is probably the most critical aspect and influences the colour of the wine the most.<\/li>\n<li>While comparing both <a title=\"Getting to know your cabernet sauvignon a little better\" href=\"https:\/\/signaturecellars.com.au\/2017\/10\/27\/getting-to-know-your-cabernet-sauvignon-a-little-better\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\">cabernet sauvignon<\/span><\/a> and <a title=\"The temperature that the pinot noir should be served at\" href=\"https:\/\/signaturecellars.com.au\/2016\/06\/24\/temperature-that-the-pinot-noir-should-be-served-at\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\">pinot noir<\/span><\/a>, the thickness of the skin varies. While both show a magnificent red colour, the cabernet sauvignon thick skin results in the wine having a deep and lively ruby colour.<\/li>\n<li>The soil has a significant impact on the colour of the wine as well. A heavy clay soil produces a lot more phenols, which results in the skin having a darker shade. While limestone soils give the skin a transparent colour.<\/li>\n<li>The colour of the wine goes through quite a change over time. At first, a young red wine will be more violet; however, as time passes, it gradually changes to ruby red or even brick red.<\/li>\n<li>However, this isn\u2019t always the case. A wine like Nebbiolo is ruby red even when it\u2019s young.<\/li>\n<li>On the other hand, the skin in white wines have a light colour to it and have a few anthocyanins.<\/li>\n<li>The vintner prevents the skin from having contact with the phenolic components by separating them from the juice instantly. This results in white wines being almost transparent.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">[vc_separator type=&#8217;normal&#8217; position=&#8217;center&#8217; color=&#8217;#fff&#8217; thickness=&#8217;1&#8242; up=&#8221; down=&#8221;]<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Additional facts that are related to the colour of the wine:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>A blend of both red and white grapes are used to make Champagne. Chardonnay grapes constitute of both Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier red grapes.<\/li>\n<li>While Zinfandel grapes are used for making red wine, white Zinfandel grapes are used to create a pink-coloured rose. The method of processing grapes is the only difference.<\/li>\n<li>You can determine the age of the wine by its colour. Red wines typically lose their colour as they age, and slowly turn into a brown colour.<\/li>\n<li>The wine will still look red even after losing over 85% of anthocyanin.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>[vc_separator type=&#8217;normal&#8217; position=&#8217;center&#8217; color=&#8217;#fff&#8217; thickness=&#8217;1&#8242; up=&#8221; down=&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p>We all have heard the older, the better when it comes to wine. But beware don\u2019t be so late that it turns brown.<\/p>\n<p>To find out about how <strong>Signature Cellars<\/strong> can help you <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" title=\"Signature Cellars are the experts in designing and building unique wine storage solutions\" href=\"https:\/\/signaturecellars.com.au\/signature-cellars\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">design and build a wine storage solution<\/a><\/span> that can help protect your investment and add value to your home, call us on <strong>1300 570 636<\/strong> or email <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"mailto:info@signaturecellars.com.au\">info@signaturecellars.com.au<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks for reading,<br \/>\n<strong>Neil Smallman<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Signature Cellars<\/em><br \/>\n<em>1300 570 636<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We are all well aware that wine is made from grapes; however, you probably might have wondered how wines get their colour. Some believe that red wine is made from red grapes. That is untrue, and they\u2019re made from dark-coloured grapes. Red wine colours are generally described as crimson, ruby, or even garnet colour. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,5,8,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wine-history","category-wine-tips","category-winemaking","category-wines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/signaturecellars.com.au\/wine-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/signaturecellars.com.au\/wine-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/signaturecellars.com.au\/wine-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/signaturecellars.com.au\/wine-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/signaturecellars.com.au\/wine-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/signaturecellars.com.au\/wine-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/signaturecellars.com.au\/wine-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/signaturecellars.com.au\/wine-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/signaturecellars.com.au\/wine-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/signaturecellars.com.au\/wine-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}