The Color of Red Wine
… nothing is more overrated in advertising and publications — but why?
For over 15 years, I’ve been tasting red wines as an enthusiastic amateur. I’ve purchased them (not only) from retail chains and discount stores in Germany.
Lately, I’ve noticed increasingly in the advertisements of various online wine merchants that they always emphasize the color: “violet hues,” “rich red,” “ruby red”… what is that supposed to be good for?
Would you buy wallpaper based on its smell?
Probably not. Here, the color would likely be the deciding factor first — right? Exactly!
The “problem” isn’t quite trivial, because the motto is “if everyone talks about it, it must be important” — it doesn’t have to be!
There are certainly clues that the color of red wine can provide: tannin content, possible grape variety, years of aging in barrels.
But physics alone stands in the way of objectively characterizing a red wine by its color, because: color depends on light. On ambient light!
A wine in a wine cellar will look completely different in a glass than one in a living room. Different in a bright living room, different in a dimly lit living room!
Color is not a quality feature of wine — it’s just a characteristic.
And that’s exactly what the aforementioned sources are emphasizing: buyers should associate the product with something they know, and what is simpler than a color.
“Tannin-rich,” “fine structure,” “spicy bouquet” — these don’t resonate with the target audience of new customers, the casual buyers. Everyone needs to be addressed… to sell.
Color: Pretty simple — and useless for the wine lover.
So, just ignore everything about color when it comes to red wine. Feel free to buy, try it yourself, and if the wine then tastes good: even better.
This is a AI-supported translation of the original German article on medium.com
