White Wine

White wine is best served chilled and goes well with white meats and fish as it has a much lighter flavour to red wine.

The popular grapevines for producing white wine are Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc and Reisling. White wine can also be named after the regions such as Chablis and Burgandy. Wine regions produce white wine with different flavours and body due to the different climates in the countries and the way the wine is fermented. Regions produce wines that can be dry, medium or sweet and this is due to how long the wine is left to ferment and this is what many wines are sold on the basis of. France is a major dry wine producer and Germany tends to produce the sweeter, lighter wines such as Liebfraumilch.

A famous, regional specific wine is Champagne which is produced in the Champagne region of France. It is a sparkling wine which undergoes a second phase to the fermentation process, which locks in the carbon dioxide which gives the wine the bubbles that it is renowned for. The classic champagnes are produced with the white Chardonnay or black Pinot Noir grapes. The amount of sugar that is added in the second fermentation changes the dryness or sweetness of the drink. It ranges from brut zero which is the driest champagne, through to brut which is the most popular, on to demi-sec and then doux which is the sweetest. Champagne is extremely popular at any celebration.