Making wine is one of those time-honored traditions that has been around for almost as long as humankind has needed a drink. But even though wine has been a common pleasure throughout the centuries and across all cultures, there’s still a bit of mystery surrounding the details of how to make it.
Whether you’re talking about red grapes to produce a luscious Cabernet Sauvignon or white grapes to make an oaky Chardonnay, there are several processes essential for winemaking.
Here’s a quick rundown of how to make wine from grape
1. Harvesting
As with any other ripe fruit, harvesting is the process of picking and gathering wine grapes. Once the grapes are plucked from the vineyard either by hand or by machine destemming takes place
2. Pressing
Also called crushing, this is the step when the grapes are crushed to extract the grape juice that’ll later become wine. White wine grapes are pressed right away to avoid prolonged contact with the grape skins (hence the light color). Meanwhile, red wine grapes are pressed with the skins and seeds, which impart color and tannins.
3. Fermentation
Without a doubt, fermenting is the key to winemaking. Without it, you would simply have grape juice. Depending on the winemaker, fermentation is triggered either by cultured yeast or wild yeast, which converts the sugar in the grapes into ethanol and carbon dioxide (i.e., alcohol ). Fermenting also determines the sugar levels of wine if the yeast converts all the sugars, the result will be a dry wine. If fermentation is stopped early, there will be more residual sugar, creating a sweeter wine
4. Clarification
As its name implies, clarification simply means clearing up the wine to remove any sediment or other floaties that could make it look cloudy. There are a variety of ways to clarify wine, but two common methods are racking (moving the wine from one barrel or container to another) and fining, which involves the use of agents such as bentonite clay, egg whites, or gelatin
5. Maturation
This is the process when the wine continues to ferment and develop flavors, aromas, and complexity. While some winemakers age wine in stainless steel barrels, others opt for oak barrels, which can impart spicier, warmer notes. The amount of time that wine ages varies from one to another, but in general, white wines aren’t aged as long as red wines
6. Bottling
The final process in how to make wine from grapes is bottling. Some wines are aged in the wine bottle for years while others are ready to drink right away.
Content created and supplied by: GanyoEdem (via Opera
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