Food - Drink
Why Red Wine Is Called Vino Tinto In Spain
By MELISSA CORBIN
Ordering wine at a restaurant can be overwhelming, especially if the wine menu is full of terms you're not familiar with. If you're at a tapas joint and want to order red wine, you might try to look for the phrase "vino rojo," or red wine in Spanish, but the proper Spanish term for red wine is actually "vino tinto," a curious term with Latin roots.
Coming from the Latin word "tinctus," "vino tinto" refers to the way red wine is made, rather than its actual color. Wine turns red because the grapes used to make it are left to ferment with their skins on, and the skins "tint" or "stain" the resulting drink, so the phrase "vino tinto" can be roughly correlated to "tinted wine."
Now that you know to ask for "vino tinto," try to seek out bottles from Spanish regions like Jumilla and Toro. If you're in Spain and want to order like a local, simply ask for "un tinto," and if it's the summertime, make sure to try the wildly popular tinto de verano or "red wine of summer," a cocktail made with vino tinto and limón (lemon soda).