How Wine Is Made
Every wonder how wine is made? I did …but needed to have it in layman terms. So I thought I would share the basics with you.
Lets start with Harvesting grapes: precisely when to pick the grapes is an agonizing decision for growers. Sa grapes ripen, their acid levels reduce, while sugar, color and tannins increase. A wines need for acidity must be balanced with the desire for richness. Red wine benefits from riper grapes, but delaying harvest increases the risk of damage from rot, hail, and autumn frosts.
Harvesting by hand is slow and labor intensive, but does allow pickers to choose the best grapes .When putting the grapes in shallow vessels, stops the grapes from being bruised.
Did you know that sometimes grapes are dried? I didn’t. Drying grapes reduces their water content, concentrating their sweetness in a similar way to noble rot. Historically, grapes were dried because the wines they made were more alcoholic, thus more stable and longer lasting. Italian Passito and French vins de paille continue the tradition today. In Italy grapes are dried on bamboo racks or hung up, for two to four weeks.
Making White Wine: White wine is made from white grapes, although black grapes can be used if they are not crushed and are pressed immediately. After the juice has been allowed to “fall bright”- any sediment has settled- fermentation follows. This process is longer than for a red wine, but exact temperature and duration vary with the style of the wine made. Here are the 5 basic steps that take place.
1. Grapes must be transported with care from the vineyard to winery as soon as possible after harvest, to make sure they stay in peak condition.
2. Before the grapes are lightly crushed to release the juice and bring it into contact with yeasts on the grapes skins, stalks, and seeds are removed ( a machine removes the stalks).
3. The crushed grapes may be pumped into a tank called Vinimatic (revolving tanks with fixed blades) to be macerated-steeped with their skins for 12 to 48 hours to extract flavors and aromas stored in the skins.
4. Only juice that runs off (free-run) and that from the first pressing is fresh and fruity enough to be used for making white wine. This juice is allowed to fall bright and may also be filtered. Extra yeast may be added to cleansed wine.
5. Fermentation takes place in either stainless steel vats or in oak casks. Most white wine are filtered and bottled right away to preserve their freshness. The catalysts for fermentation is the yeast on the skins of ripe grapes, it converts fruit sugar into alcohol, turning grapes juice into wine.
Making Red Wine: The process of making red wine is similar to that for making white. the difference is that the grape skins are kept in contact with the fermenting juice, giving much greater depth of flavor and color.Fermentation, lasting from 10 to 30 days, is at a higher temperature than whites. Wine may age in casks or vats before bottling. Here are the 5 steps for reds:
1. Red wine is almost always made from black grapes. Much of its character comes from tannins. These chemicals in the grape skins and seeds play a key role in aging red wine.
2. The Stems & stalks are taken off: the tannins they contain are often too harsh. Grapes are then lightly crushed to release their juice, allowing fermentation to begin as quickly as possible.
3. Both juice and skins are put in a fermentation vat, where conditions are subject to very strict control. Grape solids give the juice color and tannins.
4. After fermentaion on skins, free-run wine is drained off, and solids squeezed to release press wine. A portion of this much more tannic liquid may be used at a later stage to balance the finished wine.
5. Some inexpensive wine may be bottled right away, but most is run into oak casks or stainless steel vats to age. Racking (running wine off sediment) and fining (clarifying wine) may be a part of the process.
Cheers!
Dale
Fine Wine On Line
www.winetasting-dale.bolgspot.com
Lets start with Harvesting grapes: precisely when to pick the grapes is an agonizing decision for growers. Sa grapes ripen, their acid levels reduce, while sugar, color and tannins increase. A wines need for acidity must be balanced with the desire for richness. Red wine benefits from riper grapes, but delaying harvest increases the risk of damage from rot, hail, and autumn frosts.
Harvesting by hand is slow and labor intensive, but does allow pickers to choose the best grapes .When putting the grapes in shallow vessels, stops the grapes from being bruised.
Did you know that sometimes grapes are dried? I didn’t. Drying grapes reduces their water content, concentrating their sweetness in a similar way to noble rot. Historically, grapes were dried because the wines they made were more alcoholic, thus more stable and longer lasting. Italian Passito and French vins de paille continue the tradition today. In Italy grapes are dried on bamboo racks or hung up, for two to four weeks.
Making White Wine: White wine is made from white grapes, although black grapes can be used if they are not crushed and are pressed immediately. After the juice has been allowed to “fall bright”- any sediment has settled- fermentation follows. This process is longer than for a red wine, but exact temperature and duration vary with the style of the wine made. Here are the 5 basic steps that take place.
1. Grapes must be transported with care from the vineyard to winery as soon as possible after harvest, to make sure they stay in peak condition.
2. Before the grapes are lightly crushed to release the juice and bring it into contact with yeasts on the grapes skins, stalks, and seeds are removed ( a machine removes the stalks).
3. The crushed grapes may be pumped into a tank called Vinimatic (revolving tanks with fixed blades) to be macerated-steeped with their skins for 12 to 48 hours to extract flavors and aromas stored in the skins.
4. Only juice that runs off (free-run) and that from the first pressing is fresh and fruity enough to be used for making white wine. This juice is allowed to fall bright and may also be filtered. Extra yeast may be added to cleansed wine.
5. Fermentation takes place in either stainless steel vats or in oak casks. Most white wine are filtered and bottled right away to preserve their freshness. The catalysts for fermentation is the yeast on the skins of ripe grapes, it converts fruit sugar into alcohol, turning grapes juice into wine.
Making Red Wine: The process of making red wine is similar to that for making white. the difference is that the grape skins are kept in contact with the fermenting juice, giving much greater depth of flavor and color.Fermentation, lasting from 10 to 30 days, is at a higher temperature than whites. Wine may age in casks or vats before bottling. Here are the 5 steps for reds:
1. Red wine is almost always made from black grapes. Much of its character comes from tannins. These chemicals in the grape skins and seeds play a key role in aging red wine.
2. The Stems & stalks are taken off: the tannins they contain are often too harsh. Grapes are then lightly crushed to release their juice, allowing fermentation to begin as quickly as possible.
3. Both juice and skins are put in a fermentation vat, where conditions are subject to very strict control. Grape solids give the juice color and tannins.
4. After fermentaion on skins, free-run wine is drained off, and solids squeezed to release press wine. A portion of this much more tannic liquid may be used at a later stage to balance the finished wine.
5. Some inexpensive wine may be bottled right away, but most is run into oak casks or stainless steel vats to age. Racking (running wine off sediment) and fining (clarifying wine) may be a part of the process.
Cheers!
Dale
Fine Wine On Line
www.winetasting-dale.bolgspot.com
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