Unpolished Grape: Wine Color Guide

Wine Educator | DipWSET Candidate

Unpolished Grape: Wine Color Guide

Learn about wine color! What makes the color bright? Pale? Light? Deep? The color will tell you a lot about how the wine was made!

White Wines

White wines run on a color scale between lemon-green and brown. Fresher, or newer, grapes will make a wine closer to its original color of juice, which will be clear, or a have a slight yellow tint. Most white wines fall in the category of “lemon.”

There are several factors that cause white wines to develop darker hues:

Prolonged Skin Contact: Clear grape juice soaked with its golden skins
Wine-Making Techniques: Malolactic Conversion, blending or oak-aging
Oxygen: Wine deliberately exposed to oxygen over time
Age: The loss of vibrant color, leading to browning over time

Rosé Wines

Rosé wines run on a color scale between light pink and orange. In most cases, the pinker or darker a rosé, the more color and flavor extraction it has. However, it is important to note that the color is not a reflection of quality. Some of the most prestigious expressions are very light in color.

The amount of “red” displayed in the wine can be indicative of several factors:

Direct Press: Black grapes are gently pressed so as to add minimal color to the wine
Short Maceration: Black grapes soak on their skins for several hours for more color
Other Factors: Blending or oak-aging
Oxygen: Wine deliberately exposed to oxygen over time
Age: The loss of vibrant color, leading to “orangier” hues over time

Red Wines

Red wines run on a color scale between purple and brown. Fresher, or newer, wines still have their inky purple hues, and darken in the winery or over time. Most red wines are classified as “ruby.” One the most important color factors is the color of the actual grape. For example, Pinot Noir and Nebbiolo are more red in color, whereas Malbec was once nicknamed “black wine.”

There are several factors that can cause a red wine to develop darker or browner hues:

The Grape: The original shade and hue of the grape
Wine-Making Techniques: Blending or oak-aging
Oxygen: Wine deliberately exposed to oxygen over time
Age: The color will fade over time and develop a browner hue

Color Intensity

Another factor to consider when assessing a wine’s appearance is the color intensity. Some wines will display a pale, or lightly colored hue, whereas others are more pronounced. Please note, the intensity of color is not indicative of a wine’s quality. For example, some of the most outstanding wines, i.e. Barolo, are on the paler side and deceptively robust in intensity. Other wines are so deep in color that you cannot even see the glass stem.