Appears in
Oxford Companion to Wine

By Jancis Robinson

Published 2006

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red wines, actually vary in colour from dark pink to almost black, with an enormous variation in the amount of blue or yellow to be seen at the rim. Their colour depends on the grape varieties used, the vintage characteristics, the health of the grapes, the winemaking methods (in particular the extent of maceration and the method of extraction), the wine’s ph, and the amount of time it has spent in tank, barrel, and bottle. A red wine that has suffered oxidation or is many decades old may be the same deep tawny colour as a very old white wine.