葡萄酒是什麼
Wine Basics – Part 2

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  • 葡萄酒是什麼?

葡萄酒是用發酵的葡萄汁製成的酒精飲料。從技術上講，酒可以用任何水果（即蘋果，蔓越橘，李子等）製成，但大多數酒是用葡萄釀造的（與一般我們食用的葡萄不同）。談到差異，葡萄酒和啤酒的區別在於啤酒是由發酵釀造的穀物製成的。所以很簡單，葡萄酒是由水果製成的，啤酒是由穀物製成的。

葡萄酒與食用水果葡萄不同：釀酒的葡萄較小，甜度較高，種子很多。大多數葡萄酒都是由一種起源於高加索的葡萄品種葡萄釀製而成的。葡萄品種中有數千種不同的品種 – 最常見的是卡本內蘇維翁（Cabernet Sauvignon）。

 

  • “Vintage” “年份釀造葡萄酒”一詞的由來

葡萄酒需要一整個季度才能成熟，因此，葡萄酒每年只生產一次。這就是“年份釀造葡萄”這個詞的來源，“年份釀造葡萄酒”意味著”釀造”及”年份”。所以，當你看到標籤上列出的年份時，那是葡萄被挑选和釀製成酒的那年。北半球（歐洲，美國）的收穫季節是從8月到9月，南半球（阿根廷，澳大利亞）的收穫季節是從2月到4月。

 

  • Non-Vintage (NV) Wine非年份釀造（NV）酒

有時，你會發現一個葡萄酒沒有在標籤上列出年份。通常，這是幾個年份的混合在一起的酒;而在香檳酒大多屬幾個年分混合，將會以“NV”代表“Non-Vintage”。

  • 單品種葡萄酒

單品種葡萄酒主要由一種葡萄製成。看到這些葡萄品種的名稱是常見的。例如，一瓶冰酒是由雷司令葡萄製成的。值得注意的是，包括多少比率才能被列為單一品種葡萄酒，是在每個國家都有不同規定的。

  • 混釀葡萄酒

混釀葡萄酒是由幾種葡萄混合而成的葡萄酒。混合釀造是一種傳統的葡萄酒釀造方法，今天在經典葡萄酒釀造地區有幾種著名的混合酒，通常是發酵（和熟成）完成後，大多數酒混合物混合在一起。另外也有葡萄混合在一起發酵時，它被稱為田間混合。波特酒的一個著名的例子是混合酒。

What is Wine?

Wine is an alcoholic beverage made with the fermented juice of grapes. Technically, wine can be made with any fruit (i.e. apples, cranberries, plums, etc) but most wines are made with wine grapes (which are different than table grapes). Speaking of differences, the difference between wine and beer is that beer is made from fermenting brewed grains. So very simply, wine is made from fruit and beer is made from grains.
Wine grapes are different than table grapes: they are smaller, sweeter and have lots of seeds. Most wines are made with a single species of grape that originated in Caucasus called Vitis vinifera. There are thousands of different varieties within the Vitis vinifera species–the most common is Cabernet Sauvignon.

The Origin of the term “Vintage”
Wine grapes take an entire season to ripen and thus, wine is produced just once a year. This is where the term vintage comes from: “Vint” stands for “Winemaking” and “age” implies the year it was made. So, when you see a vintage year listed on the label, that’s the year the grapes were picked and made into wine. The harvest season in the northern hemisphere (Europe, US) is from August–September and the harvest season in the southern hemisphere (Argentina, Australia) is from February–April.

Non-Vintage (NV) Wine
Occasionally, you’ll find a wine without a vintage listed on the label. Typically, this is a blend of several vintages together; and in the case of Champagne, it will be labeled with “NV” which stands for “Non-Vintage.”

Single-Varietal Wine
A single-varietal wine is made primarily with one type of grape. It’s common to see these wines labeled by the name of that grape variety. For example, a bottle of Riesling is made with Riesling grapes. It’s useful to note that each country has different rules for how much of the variety should be included in order to be labeled as a varietal wine.

Wine Blend
A wine blend is a wine made with a blend of several grape varieties. Blending is a traditional method of winemaking, and today there are several famous wine blends produced in classic winemaking regions. Just so you know, most wine blends are mixed together after the fermentation (and aging) is complete. When grapes are blended and fermented together it is called a field blend. A famous example of a field blend is Port wine.