Still Wines
Still wines are wines that are not sparkling. The explanation of the name is as simple as that. Any wine is the result of transforming the natural sugar present in the grape must, which through the action of fermentation turns into alcohol at the same time as carbon dioxide is released.
Since the first fermentation takes place in an open environment, the carbon dioxide formed is naturally released into the atmosphere, remaining neither dissolved nor trapped in the wine, resulting in a still wine.
What Are Still Wines?
Still wines are, according to the rules of the Instituto da Vinha e do Vinho, the body that regulates wine production in Portugal, all those with less than 3g/L in carbon dioxide concentration and less than 1 bar of overpressure.
On the other side, we have wines that are not still, such as the carbonated frisante (semi-sparkling), the frisante, the carbonated sparkling wine and the famous sparkling wine — the last of these arising purely from fermentation.
The Characteristics of Still Wines
Still wines have very particular characteristics. We assess a wine by its colour, by its shades and intensities, by its aromas — fruity, herbal, floral, spiced, mineral, woody, among others. We also assess a wine by its flavour and texture in the mouth. Through all these avenues, we discover a countless number of characteristics, from which we exclude the bubble and its reactivity and texture, since in still wines we have no carbon dioxide.
At most, in some of these still wines we find the “spritz” effect, which is nothing more than a slight concentration of dissolved carbon dioxide. This is the case with the light wines of the Lisboa and Vinho Verde regions. In still wines from the Douro, for example, it would hardly happen.
Types of Still Wine
Within still wines — all those with less than 3g/L in carbon dioxide concentration and less than 1 bar of overpressure — we find three distinct types: still white wine, still rosé wine and still red wine. And within these, we find every possible variation in style and colour.
Rosé Wine
Still rosé wine has been winning ever more market and admirers. Whereas it used to be said that rosé was not wine, today everything is changing.
This is one of the types of wine that grows year after year. This type of wine can be the result of two ways in which the winemaker works the red grapes.
We can make still rosé wine from the “bleeding” (saignée) of red grapes destined for still red wine, concentrating the latter and yielding the rosé from just the “free run” of the red grapes. Alternatively, we can make rosé by direct pressing, as though it were a white wine. But since we are in fact pressing red grapes, the colour present in the grape skins is always reflected in the juice.
White Wine
Still white wine results from the pressing of white grapes on their arrival at the cellar, so as to have all the juice, or must, extracted, as we say in oenology, to then be settled and clarified, so that fermentation takes place in an already clean must, allowing an aromatically rich fermentation.
That said, the winemaker has a number of possible options in order to bring out a particular characteristic of the wine.
There are countless styles of still white wine, even wines whose white grapes are processed as though the aim were to make a red wine. We call these whites skin-contact, or orange, wines.
Red Wine
Still red wine is, of all of them, the most common of the still wines, since there are few sparkling red wines in the world. Red wine is the result of fermenting the must of red grapes that go through a process of curtimenta, or maceration.
Since colour and tannins reside in the grape skin, the maceration of the grape juice with its skins is the secret of red wines.
This curtimenta, or maceration, can take anywhere from a few days to several months. The result is, of course, always different, creating wines of every imaginable style.
Orange Wine
Orange wine does not really exist. It is a style of still white wine in which the winemaker decides to treat the white grapes as though they were red, and so the colour and structure of these white wines change radically when compared with traditional white wines.
These are very old winemaking techniques that fell out of use and have returned to the spotlight in recent years. If you have never tried one, do not miss out, but keep an open mind, because the aromas and flavours are not those of an ordinary white.
Portugal is a country rich in aromas and flavours, but nothing concentrates our essence as well as wine does.
The country offers a vast universe of national still wines and is one of the largest producers and exporters of wine in the world. And it is precisely still wines that underpin the sector’s global growth and, therefore, its exports.
From the page to the glass
- 1808 Colheita Tinto — Tinta Roriz from Beira Interior, organic and vegan.
- 1808 Colheita Branco — Síria and Fonte Cal at 690 metres, six months in French oak.
