5 Red Wines You Must Know

Hi and welcome back to my wine diary everyone, the channel where everything revolves around wine. Today we are talking about five red wines that you must know about. There are so many different types of wine in the world and I wanted to discuss the five main types that you would most likely see in a store, in a restaurant, or most likely hear about. I have built them from the So let's look into it and see what those five are. Wine number one that we're discussing today is Pinot Noir. Pinot Noir is a burgundy wine, one of burgundy wines, and it's actually the lightest one out of the wines that I am talking about today. And it's been around for a while, it's been around since 12th century. And while Pinot Noir is most definitely one of my favorite wines, it is also one of the most desired wines on earth. It's from a colder climate and it delivers notes of fruit of red color, bright red color, think about cranberries and strawberries. And looking at Pinot Noir in a glass, you see translucence in it. It's definitely on the lighter side of the red wine spectrum, as the skin of this grape is lighter in color and it's thinner, so it delivers less density. So Pinot Noir is actually wine that I'm drinking right now. Because of its lightness, a lot of times it's almost equal to white wine with food pairing. So because of how light the body and taste is, a lot of times you would pair it with foods that you would normally pair with white wines, such as very, very light meats like chicken and poultry or fish. So the second red wine that we're talking about today is Merlot. And Merlot is tremendously known around the globe. It actually is one of the Bordeaux red wines. And if it's grown and when it's grown in colder climates like Italy, for example, a lot of times it resembles your Cabernet Sauvignon. And a lot of times they're actually called the kissing cousins too. But when Merlot comes from a warmer climate like Chile or California, you see more divergence in aromatics and it's easier to tell the two apart. On the nose, Merlot gives more herbal scents and the fruit note colors get a bit darker and smelling like blackberries and plums. So think about darker colored fruits and berries. When it comes from a colder climate, it gives out woody tones like cedar. Merlot is not particularly my type of wine. I find it a little bit higher in alcohol content. And for that reason, I prefer other red wines over it. But that doesn't mean that millions of people around the globe absolutely adore Merlot. And a lot of times, like I've mentioned before, they confuse it with its kissing cousin, Cabernet Sauvignon. And one of the reasons why Merlot is so loved around the globe is because of how well it's suited to foods. The third red wine that we're talking about today is that kissing cousin of Merlot. It's Cabernet Sauvignon. So Cabernet Sauvignon is another wine of Bordeaux and it is one of, if not the best known red wine in the whole world. Cabernet Sauvignon is an amazing wine. It's my personal favorite type of red wine, of course, depending on where it comes from. My personal preference is Napa Valley, or I really, really enjoy some of the French Cabernets as well, or Bordeaux, actually coming from the region of Bordeaux. So really enjoy Cabernet Sauvignon. Very, very versatile red wine. And it's got amazing aging potential as well. So that's why a lot of wine makers prefer that grape and they really like bottling it and keeping it for many, many years. So Cab's great aging potential really has to do with the fact that Cabernet Sauvignon grapes are smaller and they have much thicker skins than Merlot. When fermented, it gives us that double dose of color and flavor. In the nose, Cabernet gives us similar smells as Merlot, darker color fruits like blackberries and cherries, but then it also adds some flavors to it like chocolate, coffee, or maybe even licorice. Cabernet Sauvignon is definitely one of the finest wines of Bordeaux and it's very much so a power house of a red wine when it comes to its flavor as well. It always delivers, pretty much never disappoints. So the next two types of red wines are a little unconventional in the sense that a lot of wine lovers don't really think that they're the must know types of red wines. I, however, really, really greatly enjoy the two and they after Cabernet Sauvignon are my two favorite types of red wines. So number four on today's list is your Syrah. So Syrah comes from the Rhone area of France or Cote d'Oron as you probably might have heard it before. And you can also sometimes meet that same wine type by another name of Shiraz. So depending on where the wine was produced and where that grape variety was grown, it will be called either Syrah or Shiraz. But the thing to remember here is that genetically, it is indeed the same grape just depending on which hemisphere of the world it was grown. Syrah or Shiraz has the same color and density of the skin as Cabernet Sauvignon, but it really doesn't have such a complex tannic structure. So that's why it's often made as a drink me now style of wine. In other words, it doesn't age too well. When it comes to its nose, on the nose here you get flavors of a blackberry pie and black pepper. Interesting flavors to taste when you think about wine, aren't they? But this is a great wine nonetheless and it definitely serves a punch. So just for us to draw a definitive line here, when this grape variety is grown in the northern hemisphere such as Cote d'Oron or Rhone territory of France, it is called Syrah. When it's grown in the southern hemisphere, places like Australia or South Africa, it is known by its alter ego Shiraz. My wine number five for today and my final wine that I think you absolutely must know is Malbec. Malbec is one of those unconventional types of wines that by a lot of wine lovers for some reason is not even considered to be the OG of wines and in the old world it was not that recognizable. I will go ahead and completely blow your mind here by telling you that Malbec doesn't come from Argentina. Malbec actually comes from France, so it's another French wine and for centuries and centuries in France, Malbec was used as a mixing wine. So it was used in red blends mixed with other wine types and it wasn't up until 18th century when it was brought to Argentina by a very popular demand and a climate that fits it there from France. It's since then that Argentina became a top producer of Malbec wines. French Malbecs are lean and tart in their flavor. Think of cranberry and coffee bean. They're also amazingly aged for at least three or five years. Argentinian Malbecs on the other hand are bolder in flavor. Those are very big wines with notes of oak, blackberry and vanilla to them. French ones you can pair perfectly with duck, pate or foie gras. Argentinian ones like steak and stews. Malbec is an absolutely wonderful type of wine. It is my second favorite type of red wine after Cabernet Sauvignon and actually nowadays it has grown in very very many different parts of the world just like a lot of grape types nowadays in general. So it doesn't only grow in Argentina and France where it originated but now you can find it in California. You can find it even on the east coast of the United States. And here we have it. We have the five red wine types that I think you absolutely must know. Go ahead and tell me in the comments down below which one is your favorite red wine type. I would really like to know it. As I said mine are Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbecs. Third one would probably be Syrah. I really really enjoyed that one. Although I feel like my wine preferences really greatly are affected by the temperatures outside, by my mood. So like right now I live in Florida and it's really really hot outside so I drink Pinot Noirs mostly because they're lighter in their body. Or if I have a Cabernet Sauvignon maybe I'll put an ice cube in there and gonna make it a little bit lighter on my own so to say. So please let me know which one is your favorite red wine type. At some point I will do the same type of video on the white wines as well. So I thank you all very much for joining me today. Please do not forget to subscribe to my channel and also click on that little bell for your notifications to come through. Leave any comments down below and until the next time, cheers!