Only highly qualified sommelier with many years of experience can understand all the intricacies and characteristics of the most diverse wines produced in all parts of the world. But to find out the most general provisions that will help, at least, navigate the long rows of bottles lined up on store shelves, is not so difficult. Let's try to find out exactly which classification of wines is adopted in Russia, and whether it differs from other generally accepted classifications. Domestic winemaking, especially in the Soviet period, has gone far from European traditions, so the division adopted here will by no means always correspond to international standards.
The most complex in the world, but also the oldest, is considered a multi-stage classification of French wines, followed by Italian and German.
According to the point of view of domestic winemakers, wines are divided according to two main characteristics: color and the presence of carbon dioxide in the product. By the first sign they are red and white, by the second - quiet and effervescent.
Further classification of wines implies a more detailed division within each of these general categories. So, still wines can be:
- The dining rooms. Such wines contain only alcohol, which is formed during natural fermentation, and do not allow other alcohol-containing additives. In this subgroup, in turn, it is customary to distinguish sweet (sugar content in which ranges from 3% to 8%), semisweet (from 1% to 2.5%) and dry (with a minimum sugar content not exceeding 0, 3%).
- Flavored. These are vermouths, which are produced using a small fraction of alcohol and infusions of some plants. The sugar content in such wines can reach up to 16%, and alcohol up to 18%.
- Fortified. It is considered possible to use rectified spirit in their production. They can be dessert, with a high percentage of alcohol (up to 17%), and strong, in which alcohol can contain up to 14%. Dessert wines are divided into liqueur, sweet and semisweet according to the amount of sugar contained in them.
Depending on the quality of the final product and the time spent on its production, still wines are usually divided into:
- Ordinary. These are wines in which the interval between the production of finished products and the direct processing of grapes takes three to four months. The domestic classification of wines classifies them as cheap and low-grade.
- Vintage. These are wines aged before clogging from one and a half to two years and created from the highest quality grape varieties according to special recipes.
- Collectible. This is a stand-alone group of vintage wines of the highest quality, which are additionally aged for at least three years.
Effervescent wines also have a separate classification. It is based on the method by which carbon dioxide bubbles are formed in the product .
- Champagne wines. In their production, carbon dioxide saturation is a direct consequence of the fermentation process that occurs in closed pressure vessels. Interestingly, only in Russia such wines are commonly called champagne. For example, the classification of Italian wines calls them somewhat differently, believing that only wine produced in France, directly in the province of Champagne, can be called champagne.
- Sparkling. For such wines, the secondary fermentation procedure is used.
- Carbonated. In them, carbonation occurs artificially by means of saturation. The classification of wines classifies them as the lowest grade of this kind of effervescent varieties.
- Natural sparkling semi-sweet. During their manufacture, grape juice is fermented in hermetically sealed pressure vessels, and the process is artificially interrupted at a certain moment.