Wine material: what is it and other interesting information

Wine material is not a completely finished wine. Dry wine material has nothing to do with a powder to which water is added, and then poured into boxes and sold for 100 rubles per liter in any supermarket.

If we delve even further into the details of winemaking, we will see the following: absolutely all wines are made from dry wine materials. Both expensive and table wines, and even the aforementioned liquid in boxes. The quality of wine directly depends on the quality of the raw material, and not on its name.

Read more about wine materials

So, wine material is called finished wine that has not yet been packed in consumer packaging (bottles, boxes, etc.). д.). The word "dry" does not mean powder, but only the absence of residual sugar. In short, dry wine materials are just as drinkable as the final products.

Wine materials have their own quality classification, which, in turn, is divided into three categories:

1. Table wines

   This drink is the cheapest and lowest quality, and therefore the material can be made from absolutely any grape.

   Some unscrupulous producers even mix varieties to save raw materials, trying to literally "squeeze all the juices out of the berries".

2. Wines of the ZDU

   The protected graphic designation, marked with a similar abbreviation, indicates the percentage of raw materials from one region in relation to the total product.

   For example, Kuban wines are characterized by an OGC of 85%, which means that only 15% of the raw materials could be grown or purchased in another region.

3. Wines of the OOH

   Such beverages are considered the most valuable, because the protected designation of origin does not even denote a region - a specific variety and a specific vineyard where 100% of the berries for the drink were harvested.

   Such alcohol is demanded to be of the highest quality, and, as a rule, the drinks justify their considerable cost.

Why ready-made wine is sold at the price of wine material

The thing is that some vineyards are very small or located in climatic conditions where it is simply impossible to harvest all year round, and therefore the costs of their own production line are many times higher than the potential benefits of the brand.

Such producers have no choice but to resell the wine material poured into tanks or barrels to their fellow craftsmen.

In addition, there are companies that do exactly the opposite: they do not have their own vineyards, but the conveyors at the factories do not stop for a minute. Of course, selling wine without having your own raw materials is a risky business, but those who don't take risks don't drink champagne.

Types of drinks: champagne and marmalade wines

Speaking of champagne, it is essentially the same wine made using a slightly different technology - yeast is added to the finished wine material, which changes the taste and texture of the drink.

To make sure once again that it is impossible to produce powdered wine, let's conduct the following experiment: evaporate the liquid from the wine material.

In the process of evaporation, not only moisture disappears, but also all other substances that gave the wine its taste, aroma and strength. In short, the result is the same as boiling water.

However, there is another way to "drain" wine - instead of evaporation, it can be thickened, bringing it to the consistency of marmalade. Then it is frozen and crushed to make a powder for easy preparation.

After all the manipulations, the powder is diluted with warm water, and the resulting drink conditionally resembles wine: there is a strongly distorted wine smell, and the taste almost completely covers the sweetness of cyclodextrins (an analogue of starch, which was used to thicken the wine).

The "dark side" of inexpensive drinks

As mentioned earlier, cheap wine is also made from natural materials. However, no one talked about the excellent quality of dry raw materials. As a rule, producers who sell their goods for 100 rubles per liter buy second-pressed wine materials. And this is at best.

The worst-case scenario is as follows: in order to make a profit even from the notorious hundredth of a cent, producers buy outright "shmurdyak" - the vat sediment that remains after the best drink is drained and re-pressed. In other words, an alcohol-containing liquid of natural origin.

The six stages of filtration that these products must undergo completely kill the taste, smell, and even memories of wine.

To fix this, acids, sugar, and some other dyes are added to the drink, which "lubricate" and smooth out the disgusting taste of the liquid.

Sadly, many people buy even this kind of "stuff", proudly calling it "wine that you don't have to overpay for because of a beautiful bottle".

However, most of these "economists" and "wine connoisseurs" have never tasted really good drinks, and if they have, they have long forgotten their taste and flavor.

Update: 06.12.2019

Category: Wine and Vermouth