Wine 101: Wine, Explained Well

Clear, jargon-free guides to natural wine, winemaking techniques, organic and biodynamic farming, and the science behind every bottle.

Illustration of a sparkling wine bottle with a pink label and a bunch of purple grapes in front of vineyard rows leading to a pink stone winery with cypress trees
Explainer 10 min read
What is Champagne?
Champagne is a sparkling wine made in one delimited region of northeast France, about 90 miles east of Paris, by starting a second fermentation inside the sealed bottle and leaving the wine on its lees for at least 15 months before release. Only wine from this region may be called Champagne. Sparkling wine made the same way elsewhere uses another name.
Illustration of a dark green wine bottle with a gold label and a bunch of purple grapes, beside a grower in a wide-brimmed hat working the vines on a red hillside
Explainer 8 min read
What is Prosecco Col Fondo?
Prosecco col fondo is Prosecco that finishes fermenting inside the bottle it is sold in and keeps its lees, the yeast left behind by fermentation. The name is Veneto dialect for "with the bottom," meaning the sediment in the base of the bottle. It is dry and cloudy, and most of it is lightly sparkling.
Illustration of three wine bottles in pink, dark green and purple, standing between leafy plants under an orange sun
Best of 2 min read
Best Chillable Reds to Try (2026)
The best chillable reds to try now: light, low-tannin natural reds built to serve cold. Lambrusco, Gamay, and carbonic-style bottles for easy drinking.
Illustration of three wine bottles in terracotta, dark green and sage green, set against torn paper shapes in purple, mustard and rust
Best of 7 min read
Best Orange Wines to Try (2026)
Orange wine is white wine made the way red wine is made. The juice ferments together with the grape skins for days, weeks or months, and the skins give it an amber color, tannin and more texture than a white wine has. Good first bottles are Gulp Hablo Orange and Field Recordings Skins; for more structure, Radikon and Denavolo; for the oldest version of the style, a qvevri amber wine from Georgia.
Illustration of six wine bottles in terracotta, dark green, sage green, mustard, purple and rust, next to a bowl of purple grapes and a leafy branch
Best of 3 min read
Best Natural Wines to Try (2026)
The best natural wines to try now, from crowd-pleasers like Gulp Hablo and Folicello Lambrusco to cellar bottles from Radikon and Frank Cornelissen. Customer favorites and staff picks across red, white, orange, rosé, and pét-nat.
Illustration of a glass of white wine beside a cork, green grape bunches and a vine leaf
Winemaking 35 min read
How White Wine Is Made: The Complete Guide From Grape to Glass
A thorough journey through every stage of white winemaking, from the vineyard to the bottle and the decisions that shape every glass. Introduction White wine is…
Illustration of a glass of red wine beside a cork, purple grape bunches and vine leaves
Winemaking 34 min read
How Red Wine Is Made: The Complete Guide From Grape to Glass
A step-by-step journey through every stage of red winemaking, from the vineyard to the bottle and everything in between. Introduction Red wine has been produced for…
Illustration of an old gnarled vine carrying ripe grape bunches above a sunlit vineyard
Farming 31 min read
Phenolic Ripeness in Grapes
A deep examination of how phenolic maturity shapes wine quality, from vineyard development to harvest decisions and cellar consequences. Introduction Every harvest decision comes down to…
Drawing of a terraced vineyard hill cut away to show layers of different soils
Explainer 9 min read
What Is the Impact of Soil on Wine?
Soil affects wine through the water, warmth and nutrients it gives the vine. The grapes do not take on the taste of the minerals in the soil. This guide covers nine soil types, from limestone and clay to slate and volcanic rock, and the wines grown on each.
Sulfites in Wine, a Primal Wine guide
Explainer 12 min read
Sulfites in Wine: The Complete Guide
Sulfites are sulfur dioxide and its salts, used in wine as a preservative against oxidation and unwanted microbes. Every wine contains some, because yeast produces sulfites during fermentation, so sulfite-free wine does not exist. EU law caps total sulfur dioxide at 150 mg/l for dry red and 200 mg/l for dry white and rosé; US law caps it at 350 ppm for every style, and requires a “contains sulfites” declaration above 10 ppm. Sulfite sensitivity is real but presents as asthma, not as a headache.
Pencil color illustration of a ladybug - primalwine.com
Explainer 11 min read
What Is Organic Wine?
Organic wine is made from certified organic grapes and vinified under organic rules that limit additives and sulfites. In the US, a wine labeled organic has no added sulfites, and one labeled made with organic grapes can have up to 100 parts per million. In the EU, organic wine can contain added sulfites, at lower limits than conventional wine.
Paper-cutout illustration of a wine bottle, a grape cluster and a vine leaf
Explainer 10 min read
What Is Natural Wine?
Natural wine is made from organically or biodynamically farmed grapes and fermented with native yeast, with nothing added in the cellar except, at most, a small dose of sulfites. No law defines it.