Wine Color

In tasting wines or reading descriptions of them you may encounter numerous different terms that are used to describe their colors. Color can tell you how a wine was made or its age. White wines get darker as they get older, and red wines turn lighter with age. To view the color of a wine, look down and across the glass while holding it at a 45 degree angle against a white backdrop. Take a look at this lingo and you'll be an expert when tasting your next wine.

* Soft straw yellow: Very young wines with a light body and alcohol content. This color can also indicate a defective wine that has been over-filtrated or that uses too many clarifying agents.
* Straw yellow with green tones: A very fresh white wine with greenish reflections because of the presence of chlorophyll. The wine tends to retain the green pigment of the grapes.
* Straw yellow: A term for white wines that are at peak maturity.
* Golden yellow: Indicates that a white wine is aging and oxidizing.
* Yellow amber: Typical of wines made from partially dried grapes or fortified grapes. When straw yellow wines develop this color they are losing their quality due to oxidation.
* Pink: Wines with a reddish color and soft, lighter reflections.
* Pale pink: Wines with a soft red color, almost transparent.
* Cherry red: Wines with no more than 100 milligrams per liter of anthocyanins (plant pigments that produce a blue to red color) and that are made with longer skin contact.
* Purple red: A red wine with purple reflections towards the edge of the glass.
* Ruby red: Describes a healthy red wine in the early stages of maturity.
* Garnet: Burgundy color typical of mature red wines with a remarkable structure.
* Reddish-Orange (Mahogany): Wines with a warm orange color at the rim of the glass during their prime maturation period.