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BOOZY WORLD

Ah, red wine: friend to hearty dishes, enemy to white shirts. At its essence, red wine may be the simplest alcoholic beverage in the world: you simply harvest some red grapes, crush them (with a press, or—if you prefer—your feet), and let them sit with their skins for a while to add color. Then, you wait for some ambient yeasts to convert the sugar into alcohol. Unlike beer, there's no heating involved; unlike liquor, you don't need a still. You just need some grapes, a container, and Mother Nature.

The finest red wines of today follow this general pattern, with the addition of lots of innovations over the years, such as oak barrel aging, filtration, cultivated yeasts, and modern vineyard practices. These are all comparatively recent additions to the red wine experience. Traditions and mandates governing the production of red wine vary geographically: different regions of the world all have different rules dictating which grape varieties are permitted, how long the wines must age, what the final alcohol content can be, and how to label the wine.