Red or black wine? The question might sound banal but often web users, doing a Google research, use the word “wine” with both “colors”.
Among the results of the first pages appear these combinations of words: “Rosso di Puglia”, “red wine matching”, “Nero di Troia matching”. It could not be otherwise, considering that the Nero di Troia (https://www.crifo.it/blog/il-vino-da-uve-nero-di-troia-gradazione-e-caratteristiche/) is probably the red wine par excellence of Puglia.
But let’s take a step back and try to understand why “red” and “black” are often used indiscriminately in online research.
Why is the wine red?
If you think the question is obvious, that is because it is made from black-berried grapes, you better know that it is not quite so. In fact, from black-berried grapes are made also rosè wines (https://www.crifo.it/en/product/grifone-castel-del-monte-dop-rosato/) or even white wines, among which the famous Champagne or the alike local Traditional Method. Exactly, you read right: it may sound weird, but two out of the four grape varieties that can be used for its production are white, White Pinot and Chardonnay, and the other two ones are black, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.
The same is true for white berried grapes that can make darker wines, such as orange ones, which to the taste seem more similar to reds. They are the so-called macerated wines, that you certainly know under the English name of Orange Wine.
Why, therefore, is the wine red? The color of the Gods’ nectar is not linked to the color of the grape, but to the time of the skins maceration. It is precisely this, in fact, that changes the color, while the pulp of the berries is always light in color. The color occurs when the skins are left in infusion with the must. To produce white wine, the skins are immediately separated from the must, to limit maceration; to make rosé (https://www.crifo.it/en/blog/silver-medal-for-apulian-rose-wine-at-the-concours-mondial-de-bruxelles/) are instead separated after hours; to produce red wine and Orange Wine, the skins are left to macerate for weeks or months.
It is also relevant the amount of anthocyanins – the pigments responsible for the coloring – present in the skins, the concentration of which depends on the characteristics of the grape variety.
Finally, we remind you that even time has an effect on the color of wine. The time passing, regardless of maceration, leads to “extinguishing” the color of the wine. This explains why not all red wine has the same color but each has its own shade between red, ruby, purple, garnet and orange.
Red or black wine? The answer is Nero di Troia
Nero di Troia (https://www.crifo.it/en/blog/nero-di-troia-flavors-somewhere-between-legend-and-reality/), as we said, is shown by Google as a result both for the search of the terms “red wine” and “black wine”. With its tannic hints (https///www.crifo.it/blog/se-dici-vino-tannico-dici-nero-di-troia/) and the high polyphenols content, that give it such an intense color so that it can seem black, this elegant wine on the palate represents the Italian region all over the world.
As it is for this reason, therefore, for a reunion with friends from Puglia or for pure and simple parochialism, it is impossible not to have at home at least a bottle of red wine number one of the heel of the boot!