Colour intensity

Colour intensity refers to the depth of hue in a wine, judged visually and sometimes measured by spectrophotometry as the sum of absorbances. It informs on grape variety, age, maceration and concentration: a dense, opaque red suggests strong extraction and ripe fruit, whereas a pale colour points to a light variety or an evolved wine. This reading opens the visual examination, ahead of assessing clarity and the character of the rim.