Color

One of the distinguishing characteristics of wine, color is derived primarily from grape skins. White wines vary from pale straw to greenish yellow to yellow-gold amber; reds from garnet to crimson to brick red to lipstick red to purple. While the color of a wine is a tip-off to its variety (zinfandel is usually purplish in color, for example) and an indication of its age (white wines get darker as they get older; red wines get lighter), color is not a predictor of a wine’s flavor or quality.

According to a new survey by Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, millennials are drinking less beer because:

A. Beer makes you fat

B. Beer makes you burp

C. Beer isn’t as sexy as other beverages

D. Beer’s flavors are too predictable

Ok, we know it’s supposed to be a wine quiz, but who doesn’t like an occasional beer (question)? In any case, for the survey, Bank of America/Merrill Lynch surveyed 1,000 millennials in the U.S. and the U.K. Of those surveyed, 27% said they were ditching beer. And the number one reason? Because “it makes you fat.” Millennials appear to be cutting back on alcoholic beverages of all kinds, with beer being hit harder than either spirits or wine.

For wine lovers, the discovery of terroir is a breakthrough that cannot be unbroken. Once you’ve found it, you’ll seek it in all wines for the rest of your life.

—Patrick Comiskey,
from the Forward to the upcoming book Wine and Place by Tim Patterson and John Buechsenstein (UC Press)

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