One of the most popular alcoholic beverages of modern times, it’s no surprise that wine continues to be a source of fascination, tradition and pleasure. Whether enjoyed whilst on a date, during a fancy Sunday brunch, a night out with friends or alone at home, the time to buy wine online in Singapore is now!
Both affordable and easily accessible to the public, one does not need to be a connoisseur to enjoy wine. From less than $10 a glass or even $20 for a decent bottle, it’s time to equip everyone with essential wine knowledge!
Here are ten facts in no particular order about wine:
We have monks to thank for a modern-day wine
Wine as we know today is attributed to the monks of the Benedictine monasteries who both innovated and preserved the art of wine production during the Middle Ages. The earliest known wineries date back to 6000BC and 4000BC in Georgia and Armenia respectively.
Although wine was produced and consumed in ancient civilizations like Egypt, Greece and the Roman Empire, the production techniques and technology we have today is due to the research and development during Medieval times.
There are 9-12 steps in the production process
Winemaking has fundamentally remained the same for centuries being that sugar and yeast found naturally on and in grapes create alcohol when processed turning the grape juice into wine!
The process of making white and red wine is similar to several key differences. The chart above illustrates the process for red wine. For white wines, skins are removed before fermentation whereas for reds the skins are left on throughout to impart colour. White wines also ferment longer at lower temperatures and red wines are left to age longer than whites. In total, there are nine steps in the process of making white wine and 12 for red wine.
Colour tells you more about wine than you think
Did you know that the colour of wine tells you more than whether it is just red or white? The appearance of a wine is an indicator of its variety, age, geographic origin and even the winemaking techniques used to produce it.
There are six basic wine categories
No longer are we limited to the choices of only ‘red or white’. A stroll down the wine store in Singapore can render even the most decisive of us into a child-like state staring at all the options. There are many ways to classify wines. However, essentially, all modern-day wines can be put into one of six categories: Red, White, Rose, Sparkling, Dessert/ Sweet and Fortified.
How to taste wine: look, smell, taste, conclude
Nope, it’s not as simple as squinting at the glass, giving it a sniff and then swallowing it! Without allowing the wine to swirl around into all the crevices in your mouth you aren’t able to fully taste a wine. Sensory evaluation is the process of evaluating a wine through the senses and is broken down into three steps: Looking, smelling and tasting.
When observing take note of Pierre Damoy's colour, clarity, concentration and viscosity of the wine. Inhale deeply after bringing your nose into the opening of the glass and try to identify singular aromas as well as overarching smells (bouquets) in more mature wines.
Lastly, pay attention to how the wine feels in the mouth, the dryness, acidity, intensity, finish and of course its flavours. Sensory evaluation can be practised by anyone enjoying wine and in time will help you appreciate and understand the nuances in this beverage.
A standard glass of wine contains 100-150 calories
Nutrition labels tend to be absent from wine bottles. However, that doesn’t mean your indulgence was free of calories. Take note that the chart above uses six ounces as a single-serve.
A standard serving of 5 ounces or 150ml of red or white wine will set you back between 100-150 calories. Do take note, the higher the sugar or alcohol content, such as in sweet wine, brut sparkling or a full-bodied red, expect an average of 150-200 calories per pour!
The reason behind pairing red wine with red meat
Want a sweet wine with your steak? A red with your grilled fish? Go ahead! Honestly, no matter how unconventional your choices, few in this day and age will pass judgment. The logic, however, behind the traditional saying red with red and white with white is based on the principle of pairing rich foods with rich wines and light foods with light wines. Ultimately, good wine pairing means both food and wine will bring out the best in each other and be better together, even creating a new flavour only possible by pairing the two.
For example, a fattier cut of beef like a rib eye or New York strip would pair well with a more full-bodied acidic red wine which cuts through the fattiness whereas pairing the same wine with a white fish would be overwhelming. This doesn’t mean the best pairings for all red meat is a full-bodied red, some cuts fare better with a lighter or dryer red and even certain white wines.
Now that you know these, the next time you buy wine from an online store in Singapore, or the next time you walk down the aisle of a wine store, things would be easier! For more wines, visit our website now.
