What does the color of wine depend on?

Despite what one might think, the color of the wine does not depend on the color of the grapes but on the winemaking technique . The berries (grapes) in their pulp, whether they are red grapes or white or gray grapes, are always equally colorless. The coloring substances, with rare exceptions, are always present exclusively on the grape skin.
These coloring compounds present on the skin are responsible for the color of the wine and are technically called polyphenols and are technically divided into various types called: anthocyanins (responsible for the blue and red color), flavones (responsible for the white yellow color), and other shades defined by leucoanthocyanins and catechins.

White wines are obtained in most cases by vinifying white grapes. However, since the vast majority of the coloring substances of the grapes are present in the skin, it is possible to obtain white wines also from black grapes by carrying out draining , i.e. separating the skins from the must immediately after pressing, i.e. not carrying out no maceration of the skins together with the must.

Rosé wines are in turn obtained from black grapes, greatly limiting the contact of the must with the skins, i.e. reducing the maceration time as much as possible. It is also possible to obtain a rosé by blending a red wine with a white wine (think of the cuvée of sparkling wines); this technique is generally prohibited for still wines with a designation of origin.

Red wines are obtained very simply from grapes of black berry vines, draining after a suitable time of maceration of the skins in contact with the must, which varies from wine to wine and depending on the results you intend to obtain (generally a few days ).

Orange or macerated wines (or orange wines) are wines produced with white (or gray - as in the case of our Satres ) grapes but vinified as if they were red.
They are therefore obtained from a long maceration of the must (and then of the wine) with the skins, which can range from a few days to several months. The more or less pronounced color of the wine depends on the longer or shorter maceration time.

Each of the four basic colors (WHITE, RED, PINK, ORANGE) takes on different shades and tones in the wine, which depend on various factors, including: type and characteristics of the grape variety, duration of maceration, winemaking process, refinement method, age of the wine, etc.
But this is a whole other story that we will delve deeper into in a future article!

Cheers!!