Varietals white

The North Coast area of California is well known for the excellence of its white table wines. Climate factors, primarily the cooling effects of the bays and ocean, provide optimum conditions for production of grapes and wines of distinctive character and proper balance. A history of wine production in the area has provided time for development and improvement of viticultural and vinification techniques. Recent substantial increase in demand for varietal white table wines has encouraged further development of new and improved winemaking techniques and has resulted in increased plantings of white wine grapes. 

Figure 5 Classification of 88 white wine samples of three varieties from five producers according to vintage by linear discriminant analysis - plot in the coordinates of two main discriminant functions (DF2 versus DF1) composed of 19 original variables (concentrations of volatile, aroma creating compounds). Explanation of symbols O denote the 1996 samples, x the 1997 samples, -i- the 1998 samples. Probability ellipses express the 95% probability level. (Reproduced with permission from Petka J, Mocak J, Farkas P, Balia B, and Kovac M (2001) Classification of Siovak varietal white wines by volatile compounds. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 81 1533-1539 John Wiley Sons Ltd.)...

White wines not containing anthocyanin (red) pigments d) With (usually) distinguishable varietal aromas... 

Pennington, N. et al., Red and white wine varietal authenticity using FTIR spectroscopy and chemometrics, in Abstracts of Papers, 229th ACS National Meeting American Chemical Society, San Diego, CA, 2005. 

Duncan, B. (1992). Varietal differences in white grape protein Implications for bentonite fining. Aus. New Zealand Wine Ind.. 7,189-193. 

Somers, T.C. and Pocock, K.F., Phenolic assessment of white musts varietal differences in free-run juices and pressings. Vitis 30, 189, 1991. 

Berg, H. W., Varietal Susceptibility of White Wines to Browning. I. Ultra-... 

White tea is produced in a manner different from all other teas. The leaves come from special varietal bushes and are not processed but are dried in the sun. Only special leaves are selected the ideal is two leaves wrapped around a new shoot. After drying the leaves are again selected and sorted by hand. 

Vin Santo is made by starting with the choice of the best grapes (scelti) of the white varieties that are grown in each zone. As a "sweet wine that is little characterized by terpene aromas, the making of Vin Santo can use non-aromatic or semi-aromatic grape varieties. Not all of the "non-varietal" grapes, however, are suitable for producing Vin Santo,... 

Fermentation of the base white wine, used in producing the fortifying brandy, follows standard procedures. In Cognac, nonaromatic varieties, such as Trebbiano and Baco 22A, are used, where in Armagnac, Trebbiano is preferred. These cultivars have little varietal aroma, retain high acidity, and have limited alcohol production potential. In California, French Colombard, Thompson Seedless, and Tokay are the cultivars without distinctive flavor used to produce a brandy base wine. 

Q. alba (American oak) is used less frequently with white wines than red wines, and it is widely acknowledged that American oak has a distinctively different effect on wines chemical and sensory properties than does European oak. The strong and distinctive oakiness of Q. alba can overwhelm the varietal character of a white wine, if not used with care. Some winemakers combine use of both European and American oak in their oak-aging practices. 

By careful processing, the winemaker brings the wine to a finished state. The white and rose wines will have maintained their bouquet and aroma and flavors. The red table wines will have been softened by careful fining with such agents as gelatin and PVPP, will be fruity, and will have distinctive varietal aromas and flavors with minimal astringency. 

Varietal differences between white (top) and red (bottom) grape juices. 

Bayly, F.C., Berg, H.W. (1967). Grape and wine proteins of white wine varietals. Am. J. Enol. Vitic., 18, 18-32... 

On the other hand, using toasted oak chips has been reported to cancel out the varietal attributes by increasing the wood attributes and adding toasted and smoky aromas that can mask the white wines fruity aromas (Guchu et al. 2006b). 

Masa, A., Vilanova, M., Pomar, F. (2007). Varietal differences among the flavonoid profile of white grape cultivars studied by high performance liquid chromatography. /. Chromatogr. A 1164, 291-297. 

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