Color in White Wines

Young modern wines are often pale with hints of yellow (which may be likened to straw, lemon or sunshine) and sometimes green highlights. Color deepens with age, tending toward full straw yellow or pale gold. More mature dry wines, particularly if aged in wood, take on rich golden tones, sometimes with hints of copper or brass. Any hints of red in a white wine are usually signs of defects. Wines long aged in wood or made from semi-dried grapes tend to take on amber shadings, described as tawny, old gold, rust or chestnut. Some turn almost brown from oxidation, favorable when controlled in certain dessert or fortified types such as Marsala, but unfavorable in normal whites.

Color in Rose' Wines

Young wines from dark grapes vinified with little skin contact show pale hues of pink or roseate or, sometimes, hints of orange, coral or salmon. Wines made with brief skin contact show deeper hues, sometimes associated with raspberries or plum blossoms. Some wines made with longer skin contact seem more red than pink. Some rose' takes on tawny shades with age, though usually signs of browning mean the wine is going off.

Color in Red Wines

Young red wines often show a deep purple or mulberry color before they begin to mature. Ruby is the term used most often to describe a healthy wine in the early stages of maturity, though other hues of red are also noted. With age, many red wines take on hues that are often referred to as garnet. Other descriptions are brick red or mahogany (or references to other woods) for wines that show a warm orange color at the rim. Pronounced yellow or brown colors at the rim indicate that the wine is past its prime, though a few types of aged red that show tawny or amber tones are still drinkable.

Clarity

Hold the glass so that you can see through the wine, first against a white background and then against a subdued source of light, such as a window not directly in the sun's rays or a candle or lampshade. Wines reveal degrees of clarity, ranging from bright to normally limpid to dull or murky. Clarity is mainly an indication of quality if the wine is at its prime, meaning that it has been in bottle for a reasonable time after any wood aging, filtering or stabilization processes. Commercial wine, whatever its category, should be clear, perfectly transparent and free of deposits or suspended particles. Any sign of cloudiness indicates defects. If it is so murky or dense that you can't see through it, it is definitely not drinkable Fluidity To judge a wine's basic texture and viscosity, rotate the glass so that the wine swirls around it. As the liquid settles along the sides, it will leave what are known as "legs" or "tears", arches that will be more numerous and remain longer in a heavy wine than a thin one. The understanding of a wine's weight and texture should then be completed and confirmed by the palate.

Effervescence

The effervescence evaluation applies only to sparkling wines, which for this purpose are divided in two main categories: a frizzante wine - sometimes also called vivace or brioso - has light to moderate effervescence (from 1.5 to 2 grams per liter of carbon dioxide), while a spumante (from the Italian spuma or foam) is a fully sparkling wine with 3.5 to 6 atmospheres of pressure.

The main sign of finesse in sparkling wines is the size and intensity of the carbon-dioxide bubbles that rise from the base of the glass. As a rule, a wine made by the classical method of fermentation in bottle will have small, persistent bubbles that, when rising, form what is known as the perlage. Wines made by tank method usually have larger bubbles.

Bubbles in frizzante wines are evident on pouring but often disappear or collect along the sides of the glass. In a good wine with carbon dioxide formed by natural fermentation, they create a pleasant, prickly sensation in the mouth.

Bubbles in spumante have more persistence. In the best quality wines made by the classical bottle fermentation method, bubbles are fine and continue to rise in a steady flow. Good tank-fermented spumante should also have relatively small, persistent bubbles. If the bubbles vanish or if they are large, disjointed or seem to hang in suspension, there is probably something wrong with the wine or the glass it is served in.