Wine has been made for centuries without too much fuss. The basic process is quite simple: you take ripe grapes, ferment them, and filter them into the appropriate vessels.
The chemical equation for fermentation looks something like this:
Sugar + Yeast = Alcohol + CO2.
Reduced to its most basic, it is quite simple. But the techniques used to make different types of wine (red wine, white wine, sparkling wine, and rosé wine) are remarkably different and have a significant effect on the finished product.
What Is Wine?
Wine is an alcoholic beverage that is made from fermented fruit (usually grapes). These grapes are not table grapes that we would eat, but rather are specially cultivated for the purpose of manufacturing wine. Different wines are made from different grapes and production processes.
What Is Wine Made Of?
The ingredients in wine will vary depending on the specific product. However, there are some common ingredients, including:
Black or white grapes;
Grape must;
Yeast;
Calcium carbonate;
Water;
Casein;
Grape juice concentrate;
Potassium sorbate;
Potassium metabisulfite.
Some of these ingredients are meant to add flavor to the final product, while others aid in the chemical process.
Steps in the Wine Manufacturing Process
Specific production processes vary depending on the specific winemaker and product. However, there are some typical steps, including:
Cultivation: The winemaker chooses the grape variety and plants it strategically, cares for it, and allows it to ripen as needed. In some cases, they may take special steps, such as freezing.
Harvesting: Once the grapes have reached the desired ripeness, the winemaker harvests them. The winemaker may do this by hand or by machine.
Crushing: Crushing is sometimes also called pressing, and involves crushing the grapes into a liquid. Traditionally, winemakers did this by stepping on the grapes, but now they typically do it with a machine.
Fermentation: The winemaker chooses a type of yeast strategically and adds it to the liquified grapes, leaving the liquid to ferment for a specific period of time.
Clarification: This is the process of removing precipitates and other solids from the wine. The winemaker siphons and filters the liquid, adding fining agents such as clay and egg whites.
Aging and Bottling: The wine is allowed to age in barrels or is immediately bottled.
The overall process of turning grapes into wine is sometimes called “vinification.”
How Was Wine Made in the Past?
While there are some winemakers who use various traditional methods, many aspects of the vinification process have been updated for the sake of flavor, consistency, and efficiency. Some notable ways that the process was different in the past include:
Using feet to crush grapes;
Allowing grapes to ferment and age naturally;
Using wild grapes;
Adding things such as seawater, gypsum, ashes, and herbs to fend off rot and mask unpleasant smells.
Major innovations in the winemaking process include the artificial selection of grapes, the use of machinery, and updated preservation and storage methods. Many cultures have contributed to the modernization of the winemaking process over time.
How White Wine Is Made
White grapes, like Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, or Sauvignon Blanc, are picked when ripe and sent straight to a crusher-destemmer, which separates the grapes from their stems. The grapes are then immediately put into a press, which gently squeezes the juice from the fruit. The resulting juice is then transferred to a vessel of some sort — stainless steel tanks, t-bins, carboys, or barrels — to ferment.
The winemaker may choose to add yeast or use natural wild yeasts. Adding yeast generally makes the process more predictable. Once the yeast has converted all the sugar to alcohol, the wine is transferred into another vessel to settle before bottling. It may go through a secondary, malolactic fermentation, but not always. The wine will rest until the winemaker considers it ready to be bottled.
How Red Wine Is Made
Red grapes are also sent to the crusher-destemmer, but not always. Occasionally the winemaker will choose to destem only a portion of the crop and leave the rest on the stems. The wine is then transferred to a tank for fermentation (note that it does not get pressed just yet). Yeast is added (or not), and the wine is punched down and pumped over to extract as much color and tannin as possible during fermentation.
Once the red wine is finished fermenting, it is pressed and then transferred to another vessel, where it goes through secondary malolactic fermentation. Almost all red wines go through malolactic, but there are a few notable exceptions. Malic acid is incredibly harsh, and malolactic converts those acids into softer lactic acid, making the wine more pleasant to drink. Finally, the wine is finished according to the winemaker’s preference. It may go into a barrel, have oak chips or staves added, or if the intention is to be unoaked, it will rest for a while before being filtered and bottled.
How Rosé Wine Is Made
Rosé wines are often made similarly to red wines. However, there are several methods of making rosé.
Saignée
The saignée method bleeds juice off the top of a tank filled with red wine grapes. The juice has had minimal skin contact, so the color is not as deep as a finished red wine. The remaining wine is made as a typical red. Saignée rosé is often richer and more full-bodied than other types of rosé.
Extended Maceration
Rosé wine made using this method is left on skins only for a short time (compared to red wine). The juice remains on the skins for up to 48 hours and is then pressed and racked off into another vessel. The short time it spends on the skins imparts less color.
Blending
Many rosés are made by blending red and white wines together. This gives winemakers a more complex palette to work with in terms of color and flavor profiles. You will not often find old-world rosé wines made in this method as appellation laws do not allow it.
How Sparkling Wines Are Made
The major way that the production process for champagne and other sparkling wines differs from other winemaking processes is the need for two phases of fermentation. The second fermentation introduces carbon dioxide into the wine. Additionally, sparkling wines are stored under much greater pressure than other types of wine, so as to maintain the carbonation and make the bubbles more fine.
There are six major strategies that winemakers commonly use to produce sparkling wine. They are as follows:
Traditional Method: This is the method popularly used in the Champagne area of France, and involves secondary fermentation within the bottle.
Tank Method: In the tank method, secondary fermentation takes place in a pressurized tank.
Transfer Method: Secondary fermentation is done in the bottle, and then the wine is transferred to a pressurized tank where it is filtered and then rebottled.
Ancestral Method: The wine is bottled before the fermentation process is complete and the wine finishes fermenting in the bottle.
Continuous Method: This is an adaptation of the tank method that involves pumping the wine through a series of pressurized tanks.
Carbonation Method: In this method, carbonation is artificially added through pressurization.
If you are interested in the wine production process, it may be useful to try different types of wines that have been produced through differing methods. You can go about this in many ways, such as personally visiting wineries or subscribing to a wine delivery service.
