White Wine...or Yellow? - Part 1

We have seen how the colour of a wine is not a characteristic necessarily connected to the type of grape processed but derives from a precise choice that the producer makes between the white or red vinification method. If the first involves the prompt separation of the must from the pomace, the second makes use the colouring substances concentrated precisely in the pomace, which are transferred to the must through more or less prolonged contact.

It has also been highlighted how the chromatic reference contained in the names of these two different procedures (white and red) can easily be misleading, as it could suggest an unequivocal correlation between the type of grape being processed and the vinification method. On the contrary, it is possible to make red vinifications of white grapes as well as obtain white wines from red grapes.

As you may have noticed, wine is a topic that has its own specific language, and precisely in this regard we offer you a reflection on one of its most singular characteristics, namely the use of the adjective white to refer to things that are actually a completely different colour!

The term white is in fact used to refer to elements, that is the grapes and the wines themselves,  the hues of which actually belong to shades of yellow and sometimes green.

It is no coincidence that precisely in the description of the colour of a white wine, the vocabulary used in tasting provides for the use of the term yellow (straw yellow, golden yellow, amber yellow).

So why don't we distinguish the wines as red and … yellow?

[TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT INSTALMENT]