After a long, hard day of work, there’s nothing more satisfying than getting relax. You’ve earned it. Pour yourself a glass of your favorite bottle of wine.
Kick your shoes off. Cozy up on the couch, or a nice spot near the fireplace. You can picture it, can’t you?
While you’re enjoying your glass of wine here are some secrets about wine you still may not know.
Not So Real Oaky Hint
We’ve all heard it before from the know-it-alls of the wine world, “This wine has a detectable oaky flavor”.
If you happen to have read that in a sophisticated, French accent, good. That’s exactly how I meant it.
But the truth is, most wines don’t get that oaky flavor from the usual fermentation process in oak barrels.
Instead, it’s been increasingly more common for winemakers to use oak extract.
Like how you would use vanilla extract in cakes.
Using this method of oak extract instead of aging the wine in oak barrels, winemakers save themselves thousands of dollars.
In case you were wondering, just one oak barrel costs between $800-$1,400.
$50 Bottle vs. $150 Bottle
So, when it comes down to shelling out money for a bottle, is it truly worth paying $100 more?
The pricing differences of wine has a lot to do with quantity and accessibility.
More expensive wines are made with the ripest of grapes. Whether they’re grown or purchased.
Winemakers produce very little wine from those grapes. By doing this they can keep demand high, which in turn is why they can charge what they do.
Speaking strictly from an average person’s point of view, the biggest difference between the two is the buzz factor.
These riper grapes in the more expensive wines, contain more sugar. The more available sugar gives the yeast a chance to convert more sugar into alcohol.
Resulting in a stronger buzz.
The Color of Wine
Surprisingly, the color produced by both red and white grapes is actually white.
But how?
Red wine gets its color during the process of Cooling Wine. This is the stage where the skin of the grapes is mixed with the wine juice.
It’s the skin of the red grape that give its red color to the wine. The pigments contained within the skin when in contact with the juices is what give red wine its color.
The longer this process, the deeper or richer the color.
Protects Heart
A glass of wine does do wonders for your body.
Wine contains polyphenols, which are antioxidants that have properties than can help and keep blood vessels flexible.
This flexibility helps reduce your risk of having unwanted clotting in your veins and arteries.
Since everything flows to and from the heart, this is extremely helpful in keeping your heart healthy.
But please use moderation.
Heavy drinking does have the adverse effect on your body.
Rarer Wines
The more notoriety a wine has the more expensive it typically is. Again, the supply and demand is at play.
However, generally low-production wines are usually a much safer bet.
Truth is, you’re paying for the name on the bottle, not the actual wine.
Low production wines are made with much more care than the run of the mill, common store shelf wines.
Winemakers of such low production wines take much more pride and passion about their product. They assist much more in its making process than those high-production winemakers.
They may be cheap is price, but generally they drink rich.
Fights Colds
Here come the antioxidants to the rescue again!
The antioxidants in wine may help keep you healthier.
They are believed to help your body fight infection, and protect your cells from free radical attacks. Like bacteria and virus’.
They also have been linked to playing a role in lowering sex hormones levels, which help protect against breast cancer.
Almost done, by now your glass should be nearly empty.
Or completely empty depending on how long your day was.
The next time you’re looking to chat over some wine, remember these six secrets.
Maybe they’ll find it as entertaining as you did.