Wine Course - Understanding the 4 Vs of Wine - Andrea Wine (2024)

FAQs

What are the four V's of wine? ›

The world of wine can be a bit overwhelming, especially with so many brands, types, and tastes out there. We wanted to make it easier, so enjoy our no-frills guide to the 4 basic types of wine where we'll explore the differences between white wines, red wines, rosés, and sparkling wines.

Our Level 2 Award in Wines introduces you to the WSET Systematic Approach to Tasting (SAT), on which you'll learn how to correctly assess and identify the appearance, nose, palate and quality of wines.

We've all heard a million and one ways to describe wine, earthy, oaky, zesty – the list goes on. Well today, we're taking it back to basics, helping you understand the 5 main profile defining characteristics of wine. These five characteristics are, sweetness, acidity, tannin, alcohol and body.

Results for Letter v. Varietal: Refers to a wine labeled with a single grape variety. Used predominantly in the United States and Australia, the term "varietal" denotes a wine named after and made from a single grape variety.

The 3 V's stand for: Vineyard, Varietal, and Vintage.

The classification of wine is based on various criteria including place of origin or appellation, vinification method and style, sweetness and vintage, and the grape variety or varieties used.

For many beginners, off-dry (also known as “Demi-Sec”) wines such as Moscato d'Asti and Pinot Noir are a great entree into wines.

That said, understanding the basics of the three most popular types of wines — red, white, and rosé — is certainly a good start.

What are the 4 characteristics of wine? ›

The sweetness, acidity, tannin, and alcohol are the four factors working together to make up the wine's body. When describing the body of a wine, we talk about them being either light, full, or medium-bodied. Light-bodied or 'lighter' wines generally hold more acidity, less alcohol, tannin, and sweetness.

Harvesting. The first key to harvesting grapes is determining when they are ready to be picked. This decision is based on the sugar content of the grapes, which is measured using a refractometer tool. Winemakers typically perform tastings on the grapes to determine if they are ready for harvesting.

To name a few: The wine should be sweeter than the food. It should have the same intensity of taste as the food. Red wines go best with strong tasting meats (red meat)

Wine Basics

Wine is mostly made with grapes and wine grapes (latin name Vitis Vinifera) are smaller, sweeter, have thick skins and contain seeds. For commercial production, there are over 1,300 wine grape varieties but only about 100 of these varieties make up 75% of the world's vineyards.

As for technique, one that we find particularly useful is called “The Five S's,” which stands for See, Swirl, Sniff, Sip, and Savor. Let's unpack what each one means. Hold your glass of wine up against a piece of paper or white table cloth so you have a nice clean backdrop.

Wine-lovers the world over crave the renowned Barolo, Barbaresco and Brunello di Montalcino, the famed 'Killer B's' of Italy.

an average glass of white wine (150mls) has 1.4 standard drinks. an average glass of red wine (150mls) has 1.6 standard drinks.

There are five dimensions that contribute to a wine's structure; Sweetness, acidity, body, tannins and flavour notes.