Two Colors in Wine Red & White
There are only two colors in wine-red and white.
Any wine containing the slightest tinge of red is a red wine.
White wines range from the very palest straw-color to deep, dark brown.
There is no wine that is absolutely colorless.
Red wines are generally dry. (Exceptions are Port and Port-type wines, some Italian and one or two Hungarian table wines, and, of course, kosher wines.)
White wines vary in sweetness, from the extreme dryness of a Manzanilla to the rich sweet lusciousness of a Tokay Eszencia.
The word “dry” is used in the wine trade to describe the opposite of sweet. Literally, it means lacking in sugar.
Four Main Classifications of Wines
Light Beverage (Natural still wines) – Red and white Bordeaux, Burgundy, Italian, Rhine, Moselle, Alsatian, Tokay, Hungarian table wines, American, California, etc. Alcoholic content 14% or less.
Sparkling – Champagne, sparkling Burgundy, Asti Spumante, sparkling Moselle, etc. Alcoholic content 14% or less.
Fortified – Sherry, Port, Madeira, Marsala, Malaga, etc. Alcoholic content 16% to 23%.
Aromatized – Vermouth, both Italian and French, quinined wines, etc. Alcoholic content 15% to 20%.
Wines with less than 14% alcohol will improve after bottling. Fortified and aromatized wines will improve very little or not at all, with the exception of Vintage Ports.
It is advisable for the hotel, restaurant or club manager to keep his service personnel well-informed. After all, they are his sales staff and they cannot be expected to increase the sale of beverages if they are not familiar with them. This applies equally to the wholesaler or distributor. The sales staff which is trained and can give information will become salesmen instead of order takers.
The leaders of the industry are unanimous in preferring that more people drink and enjoy beverages, rather than that the individual drink more. 
One of the leading Champagne shippers illustrated this point when he told me: “When I ship my wine, my name appears on the label. It is I who guarantee the quality. My reputation is more important to me than any pecuniary profit I may derive from the sale. It took my forebears 200 years to establish this reputation for shipping wines of quality, and rest assured that I am going to pass on as good a name to my successors as I received.” It is men of this type who have placed the wine and spirit trade on the high plane which has become traditional.
The beginnings of the liquor industry are lost in the mazes of the past, almost as old as man himself, and our knowledge of it is made up of widely scattered information from the dawn of time in every language written or spoken. The entire subject lacks finality. It is continually developing and consequently is always intriguing. Like living things, it is subject to growth and fluctuations, and in that fact lies, perhaps, its chief fascination.