Light Reds

Light red wines generally have a lower alcohol content of less than 12.5 percent. They also have less tannins than medium- or full-bodied wines.

Light-bodied wines are more delicate and leaner. They typically contain the lowest amount of alcohol content, and they are lighter in the mouth. Due to their lightness, many people find that light-bodied wines are more approachable and pair well with lighter foods, such as white meat, seafood, or salads.

A wine drink who prefers white wine is more likely to enjoy a Light Red than a medium or full body red.

The body of the wine is "how the wine feels in your mouth" The reason alcohol is the main contributor to a wine’s body is because alcohol is what gives a wine its viscosity and is responsible for either the heavy or light mouthfeel we experience when we sip a wine. Viscosity is that term we learned in high school science, which is used to define a liquid in terms of how easily it responds to stress (e.g., water is less viscous than honey because it has less weight and moves more easily).

As a wine contains more and more alcohol, it becomes more viscous (i.e., it becomes heavier, and thereby feels fuller in our mouths). This is why we call a heavily viscous wine full-bodied and a low viscosity wine light-bodied.

Gamay is one of the best example of a light red.

Gamay is a purple-coloured grape variety used to make red wines , most notably grown in Beaujolais and in the Loire Valley Its full name is Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc. It is a very old cultivar , mentioned as long ago as the 15th century. It has been often cultivated because it makes for abundant production; however, it can produce wines of distinction when planted on acidic soils, which help to soften the grape's naturally high acidity 

Gamay is grown in the BC Okanagan, and Ontario 

Zinfandel is a variety of red grape planted in over 10 percent of California vineyards . DNA fingerprinting revealed that it is genetically equivalent to the Croatian grapes Crljenak Kaštelanski and as well as Tribidrag the Primitivo variety traditionally grown in Puglia (the "heel" of Italy ), where it was introduced in the 18th century. The grape found its way to the United States in the mid-19th century, and became known by variations of the name "Zinfandel", a name of uncertain origin. 

The grapes typically produce a robust red wine, although a semi-sweet rosé (blush-style) wine called White Zinfandel has six times the sales of the red wine in the United States. The grape's high sugar content can be fermented into levels of alcohol exceeding 15 percent. 

The taste of the red wine depends on the ripeness of the grapes from which it is made. Red berry fruit flavours like raspberry predominate in wines from cooler areas

Pinot Noir , Gamay's more elegant cousin, is a popular and versatile light to medium bodied wine also produced around the world in countries including, Canada, US, France, Italy, Germany, Australia and New Zealand. It's packed with red fruits like raspberries and cherries on the nose and delivers a long smooth finish on the palate. 

Nebbiolo is an Italian red wine grape variety predominantly associated with its native Piedmont region. Nebbiolo can be found in the Okanagan and Ontario but seems to have higher tannins and alcohol content than the Italian regions. Some would move Bebbilio to the medium bodied wines.

Perhaps the light red of all is Lambrusco, which is the name of several wine grapes native to Emilia-Romagna in Northern Italy (Same region as Parmigiano-Reggiano). There are about 15 kinds of Lambrusco grapes. Some call it the perfect wine to pair with Turkey.

Zweigelt is a red wine grape variety developed in 1922, at the Federal Institute for Viticulture and Pomology Austria , by Fritz Zweigelt . It was a crossing of St. Laurent and Blaufränkisch . It is now the most widely-grown red grape variety in Austria. The grape has practical mild disease resistance to the common mildews and is relatively cold hardy to approximately -20c.

Zweigelt vines have made in roads in the Canadian wine regions of Ontario 's Niagara Peninsula and of British Columbia. Stonehill (no longer open) planted the first Zweigelt in British Columbia in 1997 Arrowleaf Cellars among the first planting 2 acres in 1999. Other producers include Kalala Organic Estate Winery

Isabella winery in Richmond has a Zweigelt icewine as does Summerhill Pyramid Winery in Kelowna. 

St. Laurent an Austrian grape is in the same family as Pinot Noir! Wines are typically darker and richer than Pinot Noir. Some BC wineries and Ontario (PEC) are planting the grape. Saxon Estate in the Okanagan grows some. Nichols on the Naramata Bench grows some. Harwood Estate in Ontario has St Laurent.

Pinotage a red wine grape that is South Africa's signature variety. It was bred there in 1925 as a cross between Pinot noir and Cinsaut (Cinsaut was known as "Hermitage" in South Africa during that time, hence the portmanteau name of Pinotage). It typically produces deep red varietal wines with smoky, bramble and earthy flavours, sometimes with notes of bananas and tropical fruit . Pinotage is often blended, and also made into fortified wine and even red sparkling wine . The grape is a viticultural cross of two varieties of Vitis vinifera , not a hybrid . 

Lake Breeze Vineyards may have been the first winery in Canada to grow and produce Pinotage, Pinotage in BC is produced by The View Winery, Stoneboat, , Hillside and Inniskillin Okanagan. Del Gatto Estates and the Cape in Ontario produce a Pinotage.

Grenache (pronounced gren-aash ) is one of the most widely planted red wine grape varieties in the world. It ripens late, so it needs hot, dry conditions such as those found in Spain , the south of France , and California. It is generally spicy, berry-flavoured and soft on the palate with a relatively high alcohol content , but it needs careful control of yields for best results. It tends to lack acid , tannin and color , and is usually blended with other varieties such as Syrah , Carignan , Tempranillo and Cinsaut . 

Its use in BC is more experimental. Stag Hallow release a Grenache.

There a few other light red grapes, they are not common to Canada. They include Cinsault common to the south of France. Primitivo an Italian grape. Blaufränkisch which is a German grape.Some wineries have tried in Canada.

Landot noir has been tested in Quebec. Landot 4511 a hybrid grapes created in 1950 after crossing several grapes. It can be found in New York state Ontario and Quebec. Used for blending. 

Wines Under 12.5% alcohol (the alcohol percentage should always be written on the wine’s label) are said to light-bodied. These are generally the white wines we think of as crisp and refreshing.

Wines between 12.5% and 13.5% are considered medium-bodied. Good examples of these wines are Rose, French Burgundy, Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc.

Finally, any wine over 13.5% alcohol is considered full-bodied. Some wines that are normally over this alcohol level and considered full-bodied are Syrah/Shiraz, Cabernet, Merlot and Malbec. While the majority of wines over 13.5% alcohol are usually red, Chardonnay is a great example of a white that often can also be considered full-bodied.

 Looking Back

Looking back I can recall my adventure into the wonderful world of wine began in 1992. My wife and I were married in Lake Tahoe on our honeymoon we traveled to Yosemite National Park. After touring the park our plan was to head back on the same road we arrived on, however that did not happen. But luckily this road led us to the Napa Valley of California. Here is where we spend the remainder of our honeymoon. What an exciting time it was!

Prior to our stay in Napa we were not huge wine drinks. In fact we seldom had alcohol in the house. But boy those wines were good. Back home I began to teach myself to create a website. It was just a fun site no special topic. However one day we decided to buy some wine at the local store. Barbara came to me with a pamphlet about BC wineries. She said "Why don't you do a website on Wine".

My wife is a good influence I took her advise and began to build a site on a free hosting service, popular at the time. I called my site Wines of the World. Here, based on a book Wine by Andre Domaine I listed all the wine regions around the world. Canada was not listed in the book. 

Once that was done I started to list all the BC wineries in the Pamphlet. Little did I know it had a number of errors. For example it listed Sandra Oldfield as winemaker at Crowsnest. Sandra began and finished her Winemaking career at Tinhorn Creek. Thankfully the winery notified me of the error.

There were no websites to Google back then. I found two books to help me, one by Tony Adler and the other by John Schreiner. I realized just how little I knew about the Canadian wine Industry. There were more wineries and more wine regions all across Canada, there was work to be done

This meant a change in my website. The Wines of the World was too big a subject to cover and we changed to Wines of Canada. I was amazed to find the domaine name was available. Our tag line Wines of Canada Challenging the World.

There was only one other website covering Canada's wine industry. I was more of a chat room than an information site. It soon disappeared. I was the only website dedicated to our wines and wineries. This last for a few years before other regional sites popped up. In 1994 I was quite excited to get thirty hits a day. Today thats a disappointing number for just one hour.

In 94 we took our first trip to the Okanagan based mostly upon the wine route in a Pamphlet . Our first stop was Crownest Winery in the Similkameen Valley. We found the lane with a chain across it and the driveway covered in vegetation. It had been closed for sometime. The winery did re-open with new owners and are doing quite well.

Our next stop was St. Laszlo Vineyards Estate Winery our first experience with Fruit wines. Here we were warmly greeted by Joe Ritlop and enjoyed a wonderful tasting experience.

We were now off to Kelowna. Our first winery we visited in Kelowna was Mission Hill. It was perhaps the most talked about winery of the day. Although this was before its rebuild and architecture it is know for today. We took the tour. It was not the greatest experience too many people in a small space with a guide hired for the summer. I do not remember the tasting room experience. 

In 1994 Mission Hill Family Estate put the Okanagan Valley on the map by winning the International Wine & Spirit Competition in London for 'Best Chardonnay in the World' and at the time the Master of Wine Judges were in such disbelief they re-tasted all of the wines and Mission Hill won a second time. 

From Mission hill we went to Quails' Gate Estate Winery in Kelowna, in which had opened in 1989. We were impressed by the winery, the staff and the wines. 

The following day we visited Summerhill Pyramid Winery. The organic winery was opened in 1987. I do not recall if the restaurant was open on that trip. However we never miss having lunch at the winery on all our Okanagan trips.

From there we visited St Hubertus and Oak Bay Vineyards which originally planted in 1928 by J.W. Hughes during a time when good agricultural land was plentiful. Since 1984, the Gebert Family use sustainable farming practices on their 76 acre vineyard. By chance I came across Leo Gebert who gave me a tour of the winery and vineyards. Barbara was in the gift shop.

Finally we spend the evening at the Okanagan Wine Festval event in Kelowna. I remember it been crowed and the room been rather small. Here is where I first met John Schreiner who was there signing his book. It was also here we met the owners of Hainle estate winery. I was very excited about that since they were known for Ice Wine. The winery dates back to 1988 with the real story beginning in 1972, when the winery's original founder, Walter Hainle, produced North America's first icewine. 

They invited us to visit the winery which we did the next day on our way home. We had a most enjoyable time there.

So now we were home with new insights and new information. On that trip no one knew about Winesofcanada.com. But that would change by 2004 we were close to three million hits a year. By 2010 the blogger began to arrive.

We have been blessed to be Canada's number one wine website. It was a hobby perused mostly during the winter months. As we went from a handful of wineries to over 800 (counting Meaderies and Cideries) now its a daily task often without much reward.

Today we are THE website representing Canad's wine industry. We like to take about the wines, the winery and people of the wineries. Since all provinces license cideries and meaderies along with wineries we list them too. It means we have our eyes on over 800 business. It is a huge task.

We are non profit our reward is the kind words received by our many visitors and people in the industry