The colors of wine

• Author: BERNARD VALEUR
• Publisher: Quae Editions
• Publication date: 05/2023
• Number of pages: 112
• Dimensions: 14 x 20 cm
• Weight: 20g
• Format: Softcover
• ISBN: 9782759236978

Presentation :

When tasting a wine, sight is the first sense used. The color of a wine deserves to be examined from every angle: first and foremost the color, the palette of shades of which is astonishingly diverse, but also the brilliance, limpidity, fluidity and possible effervescence. The color of a wine depends on the polyphenols initially present in the grapes and which vary according to the grape variety, the terroir of origin, the maturity of the grapes and the vintage.

In addition, the color evolves during vinification, aging and cellar aging. Excess light can alter it, which justifies the use of tinted glass bottles for conservation. How to characterize the color of a wine? The classic semantic description, as evocative as it may be, is insufficient while the comparison to a color chart already offers a more rational approach. Oenologists, for their part, favor quantitative methods (spectrophotometry and colorimetry).

The color palette is not limited to the shades of white, red and rosé wines. Many wines feature surprising colors: orange, mahogany, brown, and even almost black. The winemaking processes and aging conditions are specific to them. And what about “blue wines”? During a tasting, the perception of color has an influence on the olfactory and taste perceptions that follow. Not to mention that our previous personal experiences, our education and our culture condition the "expectation" that the prior colored vision has produced.

The Author:

Bernard Valeur is Professor Emeritus at the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts.

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