What each one is, what it tastes like, and how it feels in the glass.
Written by Missy WineSydney · 4 min read
The wine list lands on the table, everyone goes quiet, and eventually someone says "you pick".
If that pause feels familiar, read on. You don't need to memorise regions, remember vintages, or learn to swirl properly.
Almost every wine you'll ever be handed falls into six groups. Learn those six and the list stops feeling like a test. You can order for a table without stalling. You can hold your own at a work dinner. And you can pick something decent for someone you'd like to impress.
Overview
One
Fermented with the grape skins for days or weeks
The skins give it colour and tannin. Tannin is that drying grip on your gums, like black tea you left steeping too long. Expect berries and plum, sometimes pepper or chocolate.
Ask forShirazCabernetPinot Noir
Two
Juice taken off the skins straight away
No skins means no tannin, so it feels cleaner and lighter. Usually citrus and apple, and crisp. If it has spent time in oak it turns richer and rounder.
Ask forSauvignon BlancChardonnayRiesling
Three
Red grapes, skins removed after 2 to 24 hours
Long enough to take colour, too short to take tannin. Strawberry and watermelon, fresh like a white. And despite the colour, good rosé is almost always dry.
Ask forProvence roséRosadoRosato
Four
A second fermentation, with nowhere for the gas to escape
Trapped carbon dioxide makes the bubbles. Do it in the bottle and you get bready, biscuity notes. That's Champagne. Do it in a tank and it stays fruity and floral. That's Prosecco.
Ask forChampagneProseccoTasmanian sparkling
Five
Grape spirit added, lifting it to 15–22% alcohol
Richer and stronger, so it comes in a small glass. Dried fig, caramel and nuts. Some are bone dry, like fino sherry. Others are properly sweet, like Port.
Ask forPortSherryRutherglen Muscat
Six
Fermentation stopped early, so the sugar stays in
Honey, apricot and marmalade, with enough acidity to stop it cloying. That balance is the whole trick. Often sold in half bottles, because a little goes a long way.
Ask forSauternesIce wineLate-harvest Riesling
Crush any grape, red or white, and the juice runs out clear. Colour comes from the skins. So it's really just a question of how long the juice sits with them.
Sparkling, fortified and sweet aren't colours. They're what happens next. Trap the bubbles, add spirit, or stop the fermentation early.
These scales show a typical example of each type. Individual wines vary a lot. An oaked Chardonnay is fuller than the white scale suggests, and fortified runs from bone dry to very sweet.