However, red wines differ largely on the scale from the sweetest to the driest and everything in between. Knowing what the words written on the label mean might bring you to the wine that fits your taste, not the better looking bottle or the more expensive one.
Firstly, let's ponder into the biggest difference there is between certain types of red wine. When ready to select red wine, the first and foremost thing you need to know is whether you prefer dry or sweet wine.
Whenever you read the words dry wine, bear in mind that this is a wine that has very little residual sugar and great amount of tannin. Residual sugar is the sugar that remains after the final fermentation is done. Therefore, these wines are rather sour and leave a bitter aftertaste in the mouth. Passionate wine lovers prefer these wines over sweet ones since they like to truly taste the grapes and their skins, which is why these wines taste as they do, the skins weren't removed in the process of the making. These wines have amazing aging abilities and are much loved by the wine investors. Some of the most prominent red wines are Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah/Shiraz, Zinfandel, Sangiovese and Bordeaux Reds.
Sweet Red Wine
In contrast to dry red wines, sweet ones have high level of residual sugar, therefore their sweetness takes over. These wines are usually described as fruity or light. Some sweet wines are made when the grapes are left to become more ripe in order to have more sugar present in their bodies. Some of the best sweet red wines are the ones called dessert red wines, such as Late harvest wines and Port wines. These wines should be served with sweet food.
Other Things to Consider
You also need to decide whether you prefer to select red wine that was left at room temperature or a little bit chilled. Are you interested in buying wine and let it age for a few years yourself? Everything changes, o does your preference. After a while, drinkers of sweet wines suddenly might want to opt for something more serious so to speak, of the opposite might happen and sworn dry wine lovers, might decide to let some sweetness in.