What can be learned from

observing a wine’s color and clarity?

I recently opened a bottle of red wine, vintage 1985. It poured out of the bottle with the color of an old brown-brick building, and my immediate comment was “Perfect!” You can’t always judge a wine by its color, but often a visual inspection provides clues to its age and sometimes quality.
Young red wines show a deep purple more than red. After aging a few years, the color becomes more ruby-like. With an age of 10 to 20 years, or more, the color is lighter and takes on a tinge of brown at least around its edge, if not throughout.
As red wines turn a little lighter with age, white wines take the opposite path. Young white wines start very pale, maybe even with a greenish hue. As the wine matures, the color of straw yellow is normal. As white wines age to near 10 years and older, the color deepens to an attractive golden yellow.
Exceptions apply to sweet white wines like Sauternes, which are almost never pale and will become deep amber-yellow with age, and also with light red wines like Beaujolais, which rarely become deep in color, at any age.
Wines made from different grape varietals posses different shades. For example, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio and Riesling are paler than Chardonnay, which tends to be more yellow-gold. For reds, Pinot Noir, Sangiovese and Beaujolais are more translucent than Cabernet, Merlot or Syrah.
Judging a wine’s clarity involves holding the glass up against a white background. A white wine should be clear and bright while a red wine will be densely pigmented with color, depending on the grape variety. It may even have a little sediment, depending on its age, and still be pleasing and safe to drink.
The key is to look out for cloudiness in the wine. A bottle of very old red wine, say, more than 20 years old, may become a little cloudy when moved because the sediment is agitated. This is normal. My 1985 bottle was decanted to separate the wine from its sediment.
But a permanent, dull, cloudiness in wine is a bad sign. Fortunately, the quality of wine these days is so good that this is highly unlikely.

Len Napolitano lives in Central Coast wine country and is certified in wine by the Society of Wine Educators, Wine & Spirits Education Trust, and Chicago Wine School and continually gains knowledge from his frequent contact with California winemakers. More information is on his website, www.wineology.com . Send your questions about wine to: wineologist@earthlink.net or by mail to Len Napolitano in care of Wine Country This Week magazine. Wineology is a registered trademark of Len Napolitano.com