White Wine

White wine is produced from the juice of grapes — typically white varieties, though some white wines are made from red grapes with the skins removed early. The key distinction from red wine is minimal skin contact during fermentation, which keeps the colour pale and the tannins low.

Styles range enormously: from bone-dry, mineral Chablis to lush, oaked Chardonnay; from aromatic Riesling to herbaceous Sauvignon Blanc. Australian white wines are world-class, with regions like the Hunter Valley (Semillon), Adelaide Hills (Sauvignon Blanc), Clare and Eden Valleys (Riesling), and Margaret River (Chardonnay) each producing distinctive styles.

Beyond drinking, white wine is a kitchen essential — used to deglaze pans, build sauces, poach fish, and add acidity to risotto and soup. A decent drinking wine is always better for cooking than anything labelled ‘cooking wine’.

Farmed
photograph to come — from twenty years of markets, farms and kitchens

How it's made

Grapes are harvested and pressed quickly to separate the juice from the skins, seeds, and stems. The clear juice is fermented in stainless steel tanks or oak barrels using yeast, which converts the grape sugars into alcohol. Some wines undergo malolactic fermentation for a softer, creamier character. The wine is then clarified, filtered, and bottled.

Nutrition (per 100g)

Energy 72kcal
Protein 0.3g
Carbs 0.2g
Fat 0g
Fibre 0g Sugar 0.2g
Mass Distribution

What it costs the planet (per kilo)

Carbon ≈2.56kg
Freshwater ≈646.4L
Land ≈3.94m²

≈ Estimated — worked out from a category-typical value further up its supply chain. Where this comes from →

Where it comes from

Made from
Grape, fruit

In the kitchen

Used as

cooking wine and sauce base

Goes well with
seafood chicken garlic cream lemon
Classic dishes
  • Moules marinières
  • Risotto
  • Beurre blanc
  • Chicken piccata

Keeping one at home? Track yours in your cubud →

Where this data comes from

Nutrition data from

FSANZ

How it was calculated

Recipe

Full credits, licences, and methods: the sources page →

Where to next

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