Red wine or black wine? The question might seem trivial, but often web users, when searching on Google, use the word “wine” with both “colors.”
Among the results on the first pages, these word combinations appear: “red from Puglia,” “red wine pairing,” “Nero di Troia pairings.” It couldn’t be otherwise, considering that Nero di Troia is probably the quintessential red wine of Puglia.
But let’s take a step back and try to understand why “red” and “black” are often used interchangeably in online searches.
Why is wine red?
If you think the answer is obvious, that is, because it’s made from black-skinned grapes, know that it’s not quite so. From black-skinned grapes, in fact, you can also get rosé wines or even white wines, including the famous French “champagne” or the similar local “classic method.” That’s right, you read that correctly: it might seem strange, but of the four grapes that can be used for its production, two are white, Pinot Blanc and Chardonnay, and two are black, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.
The same goes for white-skinned grapes that can produce darker wines, like orange wines, which taste more similar to reds. These are the so-called macerated wines that you surely know by the English name Orange Wine.
So why is red wine red? The color of the nectar of the Gods is not linked to the color of the grape but to the maceration time of the skins. It’s precisely this that changes the color while the pulp of the berries is always light-colored. The coloring occurs when the skins are left to infuse with the must. To produce white wine, the skins are immediately separated from the must to limit maceration; to produce rosé, they are separated after hours; to produce red wine and Orange Wine, the skins are left to macerate for weeks or months.
It’s also important the amount of anthocyanins – the pigments responsible for the color – present in the skins, whose concentration depends on the grape variety.
Finally, remember that time also affects the color of the wine. As time passes, regardless of the maceration time, it tends to “dim” the color of the wine. This explains why not all red wine has the same color but each presents its own shade between red, ruby, purple, garnet, and orange.
Red wine or black? The answer is Nero di Troia
Nero di Troia, as we mentioned at the beginning, is returned by Google as a result for both the search terms “red wine” and “black wine.” With its tannic notes and high polyphenol content that gives it a more intense color, so much so that it might seem black, this elegant wine on the palate represents the Italian region worldwide.
For this reason alone, whether for a reunion with Puglian friends or for pure and simple local pride, it’s impossible not to have at least one bottle of the number one red wine from the heel of the boot at home!
