Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Wine Bottles
You will need wine bottles. Usually, light-colored wines are
bottled in clear bottles and dark-colored wine in green or
brown bottles. This is predominantly a social convention,
though the darker glass serves the purpose of protecting the
coloring matter in the wine from being bleached out by
ultraviolet light and sunshine. Your wine should be stored
well away from sunshine anyway.
Either way, you will certainly want to use real wine bottles
that require a cork. Real wine bottles usually have a concave
section at the bottom that allows for solid sediments to remain
separate from the wine and have a top made to facilitate a
perfect seal with a cork.
There is debate among experts over the use of plastic,
screw-top caps, or genuine cork, and whether this has an
effect on the long-term taste and quality of wine. In my
opinion corks are best simply because they are easiest. Corks
are inexpensive in quantity, easily inserted for a perfect seal
using simple equipment, and will literally last forever if a
bottle is stored on its side to keep it wet. Unlike the experts, I
can't tell the difference between a wine stored in a corked
bottle as opposed to one using a screw closure, but I
recommend corking because it is easier and cheaper in the
long run. Also, it just looks better, and the presentation of
your wine is as important as any of its other qualities in terms
of the reception it receives.
If you decide to make a sparkling wine, you will need to get
bottles specifically for that purpose because ordinary wine
bottles aren't rated for that pressure. You will also need
