Types of Red Wine

When buying red wine, always be open to trying something new. There are many varieties from different types of grapes, flavoured aromas, different aging processes and productions. You’ll be surprised that with every new glass of wine, you’ll get new experiences. You could go with a red from your local Australian winery, an import from Italy, France or USA, merlot, shiraz or pinot noir. So many wines, so little time.

Pinot Noir

Pinot noir is a long-time favourite worldwide. It comes from France’s oldest black wine grape species, Vitis vinifera. It requires cooler climates to grow because otherwise, it’ll lose its finesse and trademark acidity. Because of its richness, pinot noir was planted worldwide, but the best countries to grow this grape are France, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Germany and Switzerland.

When you buy Pinot Noir red wine, you get a dry wine with light to medium red colour. It has bright acidity and silky tannins. You get rich and complex flavours of mushroom, forest floor, raspberry and cherry. If it’s aged in French oak, which some producers gladly do, you’ll also get vanilla and baking spice that brings a full textured wine. Like shiraz, warmer climates produce pinot noir with higher alcohol levels and vice versa. But overall, it varies between 12-15%.

Because it’s a dry wine, Pinot Noir is also low in calories. In one bottle of 750ml, you’ll get 625 calories or 125 calories in one serving of 150ml. You can serve the lighter varieties of this wine at a temperature of 12 degrees Celsius and the fuller-bodied ones at 18 degrees Celsius, this way; you’ll get the best out of it. Because Pinot Noir red wine is fruity, elegant, and has bright acidity, you can serve it with duck, lamb, pork, chicken, salmon. It also pairs well with vegetables, mushrooms and herbs into risotto or pasta.

Shiraz

Shiraz, also known as Syrah, is one of the most popular red wines. It was first produced in France and later planted and produced worldwide. It has aromatic notes of pepper spice, smoke and black fruit. The grapes come from warmer growing climates such as the Rhone Valley of France or Yarra Valley in Australia. Shiraz is bold in taste, has a ruby-purple colour from the red-skinned grapes, and looks terrific. Taste-wise, it offers blueberry and blackberry flavours, smoke beef jerky and bacon combined with pepper spice round up the whole shiraz taste story.

Its alcohol levels may vary from one region to another. If the region is cooler, alcohol levels will be lower (13-14%); if the region is warmer, alcohol levels go up (14.5-15.5%). Shiraz is generally a dry wine. This means that the sugar from the grapes is converted into alcohol with the help of yeast. Because it’s dry, it’s also low-calorie, and a bottle of 750ml has around 625 calories in total. Leaving it for 15 minutes in the refrigerator to reach approximately 15 degrees Celsius will make it perfect for consumption. You can serve it with game, mushrooms, pasta, duck, grilled meat and stews.

Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon was one of the most planted red grapes of the 20th century. It was created by accident when a red Cabernet and a white Sauvignon Blank grape were bred together in the 17th century. This happy accident led to the most famous and versatile wines in history. This plant has small-sized grapes with thick skins and a high tannin level. It’s simple to grow and requires warmer climates with more sunshine like Chile, Australia, Romania, Argentina, Italy and South Africa.

It’s very versatile, especially flavour-wise. It’s acidic and rich with aromas of cedar, mint, cherries and black currants. It also takes oak pretty well, and the woody flavour pairs with notes of tobacco, dried herbs and leather. One strange flavour is the green bell pepper, developed in under-ripened grapes. For the best experience, serve it at a temperature between 15-20 degrees Celsius and pair it with fatty food rich with proteins such as ribs, steak and sausages, but it also works with strong cheeses.

Merlot

The word merlot derives from the French “the little blackbird”. This wine offers a one-of-a-kind tasting experience with its soft and velvety texture. It can adapt to many climates, but its quality will fall behind its quantity if you overplant. Merlot is dry with medium acidity and medium alcohol levels. Because it’s adaptable, it can take many flavours like blackberries, herbs, plums, black cherries and cocoa, with hints of vanilla, clove and cedar.

It can have a deep ruby red colour with a sparkle of brick-orange tones. As it ages, it will lose pigmentation and turn garnet. When it comes to alcohol levels, merlot varies between 13-14.5% depending on the region it’s growing in. It’s commonly made as a dry wine with low calories, such as Shiraz and Pinot Noir. Like every other red wine, merlot has its serving temperature between 15-20 degrees Celsius. You can serve it with white and dark meat types like chicken and pork; it pairs well with pasta, pizza, and burgers.

Health Benefits of Red Wine

All of these types of red wines are not just tasty. Moderate wine consumption has many health benefits:

• In comparison with white wines, darker wines are richer in antioxidants that protect your cells;
• It lowers cholesterol levels;
• Keeps the heart healthy by preventing clotting;
• Regulates blood sugar;
• Helps with common cold;
• Reduces the risk of cancers;
• Can help you control your weight;
• Reduces depression;
• Good for the digestive system;
• It keeps your memory sharp.

In Summary

Drinking red wine can be a true blessing. You have so many choices, so many flavours and combinations. Remember to be a responsible drinker; too much of it can cause organ damage, brain damage, and weaken your immune system.

The post Discovering Red Wine and Its Delicious Types appeared first on Sherlocks.com.au Blog.

Today, 4 out of 5 wineries in Australia produce Shiraz wine, since the demand grows more and more every day, making this wine authentic for the Australian wine culture. Let’s learn a thing or two about this marvellous drink.

The Origin of Shiraz

The famous legend says that the cultivation of the Shiraz grape was first evidenced 2,500 years BC, in the eponymous city of Shiraz, the capital city of Persia (now Iran). By the 9th century, this city has already established a reputation for producing the finest wine in the world. In the 17th century, a French merchant brought the Shiraz wine to France and spread it in Europe as he attended banquets.

However, there is no clear evidence that Shiraz wine comes from Iran. But there is proof that this noble sort of grapes originates from eastern France, producing the famous red wine called Syrah.

The Shiraz wine’s name is an Australian variation from the French Syrah red wine. The red syrah grapes was first time introduced in Australia in 1832 by James Busby, the father of the Australian wine industry who took an example from the European wine production. The Australian landscape came out a perfect match for preserving this noble sort of grapes. The warm days, the cool nights, and the long growing season made it ideal to produce and preserve the Shiraz.

Since then, the Australians managed to keep the Shiraz red wine distinctive for the Australian ground and foster the heritage of being a Shiraz producing country. The Barossa Valley, Hunter Valley, McLaren Vale and Adelaide Hills are just a part of the Australian grounds where this noble wine is produced today.

What Makes This Type of Wine So Remarkable?

If you’re wondering what wine to open on your next celebration, don’t hesitate to get a nice bottle of Shiraz red wine. This wine will spoil your senses and give you the opportunity to enjoy the rich tastes combined perfectly in a single glass. After all, the Australians kept this noble wine as their cultural heritage throughout the years for a lot of reasons. Here’s just a few of them.

The Colour of Shiraz

The Shiraz sort of grape is produced by crossing Dureza, a dark-skinned berry with Mondeuse Blance, a white-skinned grape, which gives this wine a deep ruby-red to purple hue. The Shiraz wine is often inky and opaque purple-black at a young age. As it gets older, it tends to lose its pigmentation and get a magenta hue.

How Does Shiraz Taste Like?

The Shiraz red wine is made in a dry style. This means that after the grapes are pressed, the sugar from the grape must is converted into alcohol by yeast. But the Shiraz wine has a little touch of residual sugar that is left behind on purpose, to give this wine a hint of richness and sweetness.

When you taste this wine, you can expect a rich and juicy mid-palate. But there’s actually a little difference between the French Syrah and the Australian Shiraz.

Talking about the French Syrah, it’s a wine with brisk acidity and has a huge range of flavours from smoke, bacon, herbs, red and black fruits, white and black pepper, to floral violet notes. If this wine is aged in oak, it additionally gives the wine a vanilla spice.

The Australian Shiraz, on the other hand, is more concentrated than the Syrah and offers rich jammy aromas that range from blueberry and blackberry flavours to black pepper, bacon and beef jerky spices. If you’re looking for a bold, full-bodied wine, then you should definitely go for a glass of Australian Shiraz.

The Level of Alcohol in Shiraz

The alcohol level in the Shiraz wine is usually determined by the weather during which it was harvested, and the ground where the grape is grown. The Australian Shiraz can range from 14.5–15.5% of alcohol, due to the warmer climate in Australia, unlike the Syrah grapes that are grown in the cooler French regions.

The Health Benefits of Shiraz

While enjoying the rich tastes and aromas of the Shiraz wine, you can rest assured that when consumed in moderate amounts, it packs a lot of health benefits.

It’s generally known that dry wines contain less sugar and therefore fewer calories than sweet wines. Typically, a glass of Shiraz contains around 130 calories (120 from alcohol and 10 from carbohydrates). Therefore, it’s scientifically proven that a glass of wine per day doesn’t cause any gain of weight.

Consuming a glass of wine has many other benefits for your health too. The Shiraz grape is also known to contain flavonoids and the powerful resveratrol. The flavonoids in the Shiraz, such as quercetin and anthocyanin are very well known for their anti-inflammatory and antibacterial activities, and combined together have a great anti-cancer potential.

On the other hand, resveratrol is a very powerful antioxidant that is mostly contained in the skin of the Shiraz grapes, unlike the other sorts of grapes. The resveratrol is known for protecting cardiovascular health, has anti-aging properties, and helps to fight cancer too. The doctors recommend daily consumption of 2mg resveratrol for an average adult, which approximately equals one glass of red wine (1.9 ± 1.7 mg).

How to Consume Shiraz for the Best Taste?

Like any other wine, the Shiraz wine also has an ideal range of temperature for serving. This wine usually contains higher levels of alcohol and is ideally served in the temperature range of 15.5 to 18.5 °C.

In other words, it’s recommended to keep the Shiraz in the fridge for approximately 15 minutes before serving. This will give the wine a slight chill and will prevent a dull flavour. However, make sure you don’t serve this wine too cold because it will only make the flavours muted.

To get the most of the flavours of the Shiraz, combine it with dishes of red meats, such as game, lamb, beef stews and briskets, or beef ragu pasta. Not only the black pepper flavours will bring out the savoury taste of the meet, but red meets often require more robust wine to balance them and provide a rich counterpoint to the dish.

The Shiraz wine is also a great match for smoky-character cheese platers, such as blue cheese or cheddar. The fruity notes of the Shiraz will give the perfect contrast to the rustic, nutty tastes of these platers.

The post Discover the Facts on Shiraz Wine: From Ancient Persia to Australia appeared first on Sherlocks.com.au Blog.