All the answers to your white wine questions, including red vs. white, health benefits of white wine, and food pairings, as well as some featured white wines to try.

What is the difference between red wine and white wine?

Red vs White Wine: Grapes and Skins

Well, obviously, grapes are involved. An easy, albeit inaccurate, answer would be that red grapes make red wine, and green lighter colored grapes make white wine. That’s true… but also not. The answer lies in the skin of the grapes, as that is where the color is actually found. The juice of the grapes almost always comes out clear, so the color and flavor is dependent on whether or not and how long the skins are in contact with the pulp during fermentation.

The skin color and thickness impacts the taste of the wine, and has a strong effect on the red color. In short, red wine is made from any grapes that are exposed to red grape skins, and white wine is made from white grapes or red grapes that aren’t exposed to the red grape skins during the fermentation process. There is another element of skin contact that contributes to red wine flavor, a compound called tannin that is present in the grape skins. Because white wines aren’t exposed to skins, they aren’t exposed to tannin and have less depth to their taste and feel.

Red vs White Wine: Fruit Flavor Tone 

While both red and white wines generally have fruity undertones, the fruits hinted at differ. Red wine, unsurprisingly, generally boasts deeper flavors of fruits in the red color family, such as raspberries, strawberries, cherries, blackberries, and red plum, while white wines usually have a more citrusy, tropical, and airy feel, including fruits such as apples, mangos, papayas, pears, lime, grapefruit, pineapples, and orange. 

Red vs White Wine: Secondary Flavors

Red wines tend to be deeper and richer, with secondary flavors including tobacco, chocolate, herbs, or leather, while white wines sometimes have more chalky or nutty flavor and aroma nuances. White wines are lighter, more acidic, and more crisp. White wines are often sipped chilled, and are associated with being more refreshing and light. Red wines, on the other hand, often have more depth and complexity.

Can You Buy Wine Online?

The answer to the question is a resounding YES. There are many places to buy wine online, but for a large selection of unique artisanal wine bottles, Tipxy.com is the finest choice for buying wine online. Us wine lovers have our favorites, but the mark of a true connoisseur is the drive to always be trying something new. The main perk of buying wine online, like buying anything online, is that it arrives straight on your doorstep with the click of a button. No need to brave the rain, the cold, the sleet or smell to get your wine. 

Ok, But Is There Free Shipping?

Each site is different, of course, but Tipxy.com offers free shipping for orders above $99.99. Tipxy’s shipping rates are pretty affordable at $14.95, and there are coupons and seasonal promotions involving free shipping as well. However, buying your alcohol in bulk is a good idea anyways, and with the unique beverages Tipxy offers, chances are shipping fees won’t be a problem. 

Is White Wine Good For You?

Yes, yes it is. While red wine is known to be healthy, what about the health benefits of white wine? White wine’s health benefits are underestimated, and it has much of the same benefits as red wine. 

What Are The Health Benefits of White Wine (Compared to Red Wine)?

1. Weight Loss

White wine has antioxidants as well as red wine, including epicatechin, quercetin, and resveratrol, which can stimulate weight loss.

1. Cancer and Disease Protection

Those antioxidants can protect against cancer as well, specifically breast and bowel cancer, in addition to Alzheimer’s disease. Antioxidants present in the pulp (what white wine is made of), not just in the skins (what red wine is made of) also helps lower risk of heart disease, showing that white wine can be just as beneficial to your health as red wine. 

1. No Hangover

Sipping that glass of refreshing white wine instead of the heavier red wine makes you less likely to be hungover the next day, because of the low levels of congeners in white wine as opposed to red wine. 

1. Lung Health

White wine is proven to have nutrients (those antioxidants again) that promote lung health even more than red wine.

How Many Calories Are In A Glass Of White Wine?

Since each type of white wine differs in the exact calorie amount, and each glass differs in its exact size, it is hard to predict the exact calories per glass of white wine, but there’s one thing almost guaranteed: it’s less than the calories in a glass of red wine. 

Red wine is great too, but it often gets all the credit, while white wine fades to the background. However, one way white wine really shines is with it’s food pairings. 

Best White Wine Food Pairings

Generally, wine pairings either match or complement the food being eaten during the meal. White wines with a sweet touch, such as champagne, can go very well with salty foods, to balance the meal, but they can also pair fabulously with dessert, specifically desserts where fruit is involved. Citrusy wines go well with strong salads, and certain cheeses go very well with some white wines as well. As many people know, fish pairs extremely well with white wine, especially light fresh fish with light fresh white wine. Pasta often goes well with white wine, depending on the sauce, and lighter white wines "helps tame the heat of spicy Asian and Indian dishes" as well. 

Now… The Best Affordable White Wines To Try

Bodegas Mocén Verdejo 

Description

The Bodegas Mocén Verdejo Selección Especial 2018 is a “medium intense golden yellow with occasional green hues,” containing “intense aromas of its Verdejo variety, hay and ripened tropical fruit.” This especial white wine is fresh and crisp, but at the same time flavorful and bold, incorporating nuances of peach and baked apple as well as freshly mown grass and fennel in a combination fitting for a meal of halibut, sea bass, oysters, or any other fish or seafood, as well as white meat such as chicken or duck.

Background

The winery, Bodegas Mocén, is located in Rueda, Spain, and is about 500 years old, dating back to the time of the Catholic Kings in Spain. Now a library and art gallery as well as a wine cellar, Bodegas Mocén is a lovely place to visit, and its historic and cultural roots are imbued in every sip of the Bodegas Mocén Verdejo Selección Especial.

Fabulously fresh and flavorful, the Bodegas Mocén Verdejo Selección Especial white wine is a wine to try for only $17.99.

Domaine de Papolle 

Description

Domaine de Papolle Quatre C 2018 is another affordable white wine to put on your wines to try list, with its award winning bright citrusy flavors and foretaste. Described as “Clear and bright, with a light pale yellow colour on grey golden reflections” with an intense bouquet in the first nose, including “a hint of citrus fruits such as orange, Chinese grapefruit, slightly floral,” lending to a subtle almost there kind of sweetness. Agitation shows this bottle’s undertone aromas of yellow kiwi and mango, and when finally tasted, it subtly impresses with that mango and a hint of lemon sorbet, as well as a deeply satisfying fizziness. The “festive” Domaine de Papolle Quatre C 2018 goes well with shellfish, white meat, and hard cheeses or goat cheese, complementing the flavors with its refreshing citrus spirit. 

Background

The Domaine de Papolle wine is made on the Domaine de Papolle estate, which goes all the way back to the 1600s. Bernard and Frédéric Piffard, father and son owners of the estate, are passionate about their wine making, and operate under a viticultural approach, saying, “we want the grapes to speak for themselves, and we allow this by interfering as little as possible while still maintaining the health of our vines. By doing this we hope to create a natural, pure product that expresses the terroir of our region.”

Celebratory and citrusy, the Domaine de Papolle Quatre C 2018 is worth a sip for only $16.99 on Tipxy.com.