Discover›Spirits guide

Wine

From the vineyard to your glass

Wine is the fermented juice of fresh grapes. Its colour and taste come from the grape variety, the vineyard, the year and the choices made in the cellar. Here is how red, white and rosé wines are made, what words like ‘DOCG’, ‘Grand Cru’ or ‘Riserva’ on the label mean, and how to taste.

See our wines in the shop →How it’s made ↓

A short history

Eight thousand years of wine

Grapes were among the first fruits people learned to ferment. Wine spread from the Caucasus around the Mediterranean, followed the Romans north and became the drink of trade, faith and the table across Europe.

c. 6000 BCIn the South Caucasus, in today’s Georgia, villagers keep grape wine in large clay jars: the oldest chemical traces of grape wine found so far.
c. 600 BCGreek settlers found Massalia, today’s Marseille, and bring the vine to Gaul. The Romans later plant vineyards across the country, from the Rhône to Bordeaux and the Moselle.
1152Eleanor of Aquitaine marries Henry Plantagenet, soon King of England. For three centuries Bordeaux ships its light red ‘claret’ across the Channel.
1855For the Paris Universal Exhibition, Bordeaux brokers rank the best châteaux of the Médoc and Sauternes. The 1855 classification has barely changed since.
1863Phylloxera, a tiny American insect that feeds on vine roots, is first spotted in France. Within decades it ruins most of Europe’s vineyards, which are saved by grafting vines onto American rootstocks.
1935France creates the appellation d’origine contrôlée. Châteauneuf-du-Pape, whose growers had written their own rules in 1923, becomes the first wine AOC in 1936; Italy’s DOC system follows in 1963.

How it’s made

From vine to bottle: eight steps

Every wine starts as a bunch of grapes. What happens in the vineyard and in the cellar decides whether it becomes a crisp white, a fresh rosé or a deep, long-lived red.

01
Vineyard & terroir
Wine grapes come from Vitis vinifera, the European vine. It grows best between about 30° and 50° of latitude, north and south, where summers are warm enough to ripen the fruit and winters cool enough to rest the vine.
The French call the sum of soil, slope, sun and climate terroir: it is why the same grape tastes different in Bordeaux and in Tuscany. Each winter the vine is pruned to control how much fruit it carries; fewer bunches usually mean more concentrated grapes.
3 yearsbefore a young vine gives its first crop
02
Black grapes, white grapes
Thousands of grape varieties exist, but a few dozen make most of the world’s wine: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sangiovese, Grenache and Pinot Noir among the reds; Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio among the whites. A wine may come from one variety or a blend.
The colour is in the skin: the juice of almost every black grape is clear. So white wine can be made from black grapes, as many champagnes are, while red wine needs its skins. Skins also bring tannin and aroma; the pips are bitter, so they are left whole.
≈ 1.2 kgof grapes for one bottle of wine
03
The harvest
Grapes are picked about a hundred days after the vine flowers: from late August to October in Europe. The grower tastes the berries and measures sugar and acidity to find the moment when the fruit, and for reds the tannins, are ripe.
Picking by hand lets the team choose the best bunches and bring them in whole; it is required for champagne and still the rule for many fine wines and steep slopes. Machines straddle the row and shake the berries off the stems, quickly, and at night if needed, while the fruit is cool.
≈ 100 daysfrom flowering to harvest
04
Destemming & pressing
At the winery the bunches are sorted, usually stripped from their stems and lightly crushed to split the skins. From here white and red wine take different paths.
For white wine the grapes go straight into the press and only the clear juice is fermented. For red wine the crushed grapes go into the vat whole, skins and pips included, and are pressed only after fermentation. Rosé sits in between: the juice stays with the black skins for a few hours, just long enough to turn pink.
Hoursof skin contact for rosé, days or weeks for red
05
Fermentation: white and red
Yeasts turn the sugar in the juice into alcohol and carbon dioxide. White wine ferments cool, at about 12 to 18 °C, usually in steel tanks, which keeps its fresh, fruity aromas; rich whites may ferment in oak barrels.
Red wine ferments warmer, at about 25 to 30 °C, to draw colour and tannin from the skins. The skins float up and form a cap, which is pushed down or soaked with juice pumped over it several times a day. After one to four weeks the new wine is run off and the skins are pressed.
≈ 17 gof sugar per litre for 1% of alcohol
06
A second, softer fermentation
Once the yeasts have finished, most red wines and some whites go through malolactic fermentation: bacteria turn sharp malic acid, the acid of green apples, into softer lactic acid. The wine becomes rounder and more stable.
In Chardonnay it can bring a buttery note. Crisp, aromatic whites such as Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio are usually kept from it so they stay fresh. The wine is then racked off its lees, the spent yeast, or left on them for extra texture.
Most redsgo through malolactic fermentation
07
Ageing: steel, oak and time
Fresh whites and rosés are often bottled within months of the harvest. Many reds and some whites are first aged, élevé as the French say, for months or years in steel or concrete tanks, large old casks or small oak barrels.
The Bordeaux barrique holds 225 litres. New oak adds vanilla, toast, spice and soft tannin; older casks add little flavour but let the wine breathe slowly. As wine evaporates through the wood, barrels are topped up regularly.
225 Lin a Bordeaux barrique
08
Blending & bottling
Before bottling, the winemaker blends tanks or barrels from different plots, varieties or ages, then clarifies the wine and often filters it. A little sulphur protects it from oxygen and microbes, which is why labels say ‘contains sulphites’.
The bottle shape often hints at the origin: high shoulders for Bordeaux and wines in its style, sloping shoulders for Burgundy and the Rhône, a tall, slim flute for Alsace and Germany. Most wine is made to drink within a few years; only some is built to age for decades.
0.75 Lthe standard wine bottle

Styles

Eight styles of wine

Grape, climate and winemaking combine into countless wines, but most belong to a few families. These are the styles you are most likely to meet.

Crisp whites

Light, dry and fresh, fermented cool in steel and drunk young: Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, Muscadet, Vinho Verde. Good with seafood and as an aperitif. On our shelves: Ruffino Lumina Pinot Grigio, Ruffino Orvieto Classico and Henry de Blainville Sauvignon.

Rich whites

Fuller whites from riper grapes, often fermented or aged in oak: white Burgundy and other Chardonnays, white Rhône, Viognier. Creamy, with notes of butter, nuts and vanilla; serve them a little warmer than crisp whites.

Rosé

Made from black grapes with only a short time on the skins, from pale Provence pink to deeper Tavel. Dry, fresh and best young and chilled. On our shelves: Ruffino Rosatello and Henry de Blainville Rosé.

Light & medium reds

Bright fruit, fresh acidity and gentle tannin: Pinot Noir, Beaujolais, Valpolicella, Chianti, Merlot. Easy with food, from pasta to poultry. On our shelves: Ruffino Chianti, Valpolicella from Righetti and Pasqua, Henry de Blainville Merlot.

Full-bodied reds

Deep colour, ripe fruit and firm tannin from warm sites or long ageing: Bordeaux, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Barolo, Amarone, Rioja Reserva. Made for red meat and game, and often for the cellar. On our shelves: Château Elisée Pomerol, Clos Junet Saint-Émilion Grand Cru, Aime Arnoux Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

Sparkling

The bubbles come from a second fermentation, in the bottle for champagne, cava and crémant, or in a large tank for most prosecco. ‘Brut’ means dry. On our shelves: champagnes from Deutz, Gosset, Devaux, Veuve Clicquot and more.

Read the champagne guide →

Sweet wines

Made from grapes so rich in sugar that some remains after fermentation: picked late, shrivelled by noble rot as in Sauternes and Tokaji, dried after picking as for Vin Santo and Recioto, or frozen on the vine for ice wine.

Fortified wines

Wine strengthened with grape spirit. Port stays sweet; sherry and Madeira range from bone dry to rich and sweet. Pineau des Charentes is fresh grape juice blended with cognac and aged in oak. On our shelves: Jules Gautret Pineau des Charentes.

The rules

What the label means

Each country has its own system, and the EU sets common rules for every label. The headline rules, simplified:

France: AOC / AOP

Since 1935

Grapes grown, and the wine made, in a mapped area
Only the grape varieties listed for that appellation
Maximum yields, minimum ripeness and set winemaking methods
Inspections and tasting checks by independent bodies
Below it: IGP (vin de pays) and Vin de France, with freer rules

Italy: DOCG, DOC, IGT

Since 1963

DOCG: the top tier, for wines that have been DOC for at least 7 years; analysed and tasted before release
DOCG bottles carry a numbered state seal on the neck
DOC: area, grapes, yields and ageing set for each wine
IGT: a wider region and freer rules, home of many ‘Super Tuscans’
Classico: the historic heart of the zone. Riserva: at least 2 years of ageing for reds, 1 for whites

French words

Bordeaux, Rhône and beyond

Château, domaine, clos: wine from one estate’s own vineyards
Grand Cru Classé: ranked in an official classification, such as Bordeaux 1855 or Saint-Émilion
Saint-Émilion Grand Cru: a stricter appellation, not the same as Grand Cru Classé
Pomerol has no official classification at all
Mis en bouteille au château: bottled at the estate

EU label rules

All wine sold in the EU

A vintage year: at least 85% of the grapes from that harvest
One grape variety named: at least 85% of that variety
Dry: up to 4 g of sugar per litre, or 9 g with enough acidity; medium dry up to 12 g, medium sweet up to 45 g, sweet above
Alcohol, volume and allergens such as ‘contains sulphites’
Wine made since 8 December 2023: energy on the label, ingredients and nutrition on it or via a QR code

A simplified summary; each appellation’s rules go into more detail. Spain uses DO and DOCa, Germany ranks its best wines by the ripeness of the grapes, and wines from outside Europe often name the grape variety first.

Words to know

A short wine glossary

Terroir: Everything about a place that shapes its wine: soil, slope, sun and climate.
Cépage: French for grape variety, such as Merlot or Chardonnay.
Vintage: The year the grapes were harvested: millésime in French, annata in Italian.
Tannin: Compounds from skins, pips and oak that give red wine its drying grip.
Lees: The spent yeast that settles after fermentation; wine aged sur lie gains texture.
Malolactic: The second fermentation that softens a wine’s acidity.
Barrique: The 225-litre oak barrel of Bordeaux, now used around the world.
Assemblage: The blend of varieties, plots or barrels that makes the final wine.
Appassimento: Drying grapes for weeks or months before pressing, as for Amarone and Recioto.
Decanting: Pouring wine into a carafe to leave the sediment behind or to let a young wine open up.

How to taste

Five steps to taste wine

The glassA tulip-shaped glass filled about a third, so you can swirl. Serve whites and rosés cool, around 8 to 12 °C, and reds a little below room temperature, around 15 to 18 °C.
LookTilt the glass against something white. Whites range from pale lemon to gold; reds are purple when young and turn ruby, then brick-red with age.
NoseSwirl, then smell: fruit first, from citrus and apple to cherry, plum and blackcurrant, then flowers, spice and oak, and with age leather, earth and forest floor.
TasteNotice the sweetness, the acidity, the grip of tannin, the warmth of alcohol and the body. The longer the flavour lasts after you swallow, the finer the wine.
At the tableMatch weight with weight: crisp whites with fish and seafood, Chianti or Valpolicella with pasta, Bordeaux and Châteauneuf with red meat and game. Decant a young, full red an hour ahead.

Not sure which wine to open for dinner? Come and see us at the shop: we’re happy to help you choose.

Plan your visit →

In our shop

Wine on our shelves

Bordeaux from Pomerol, Saint-Émilion and beyond, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Chianti from Ruffino, Valpolicella from Righetti and Pasqua, fresh Italian and Charentes whites and rosés, and champagne. Collect them at the shop or get free local delivery.