Red Wine

Red wine is recommended to be drunk with red meats and cheeses as the flavour of the wine compliments these foods. It is best served at room temperature and given about an hour before serving to "breathe". Red wine can be described as a heavier wine to white wine and much more full bodied.

There are popular grape vines for producing red wine and the most well known are Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, Merlot, Zinfandel and Pinor Noir. The name of the wine can come from the name of the vine but often can be the name of the region that the grapes were grown in, such as Bordeaux, Rioja, Mosel, Chianti and Burgundy. Wine producers will also blend the grapes and develop the vines to produce a new wine that will carry certain characteristics from both grapes.

The most successful countries for producing red wine are France, Italy and Spain, but the new world countries are now reaching the standard of quality expected such as Chile and the USA.

Anyone who drinks wine will have their favourite grape or blend from a particular region due to how we taste the wine on the palate. There is such a huge variety of wine available it is just a matter of trying different types to find the one that suits you best.

A good wine merchant or stockist will be able to recommend wines that will suit different preferences and today there is normally a lot of information in the stores on the labelling to describe the flavour and the body of the wine.

A very popular fortified red wine is known as Port. Traditionally Port comes only from the Douro Valley in Portugal. Port can be described as strong, full bodied and sweet as the wine has been fortified part way through the fermenting process while there are still sugars left in the wine. Similarly to Champagne, there are many imitations of the true Port that is based in one region.