How Wine is Made

The process of making wine is simple: turn grape juice into wine by allowing the grape to naturally ferment where sugar changes to alcohol and carbon dioxide gas which is brought about by yeasts. All that is needed is to have the grape skin broken and the process begins.

Under normal circumstances, the yeast will go on working until all the sugar in the grapes is converted to alcohol, or until the alcohol level reaches about 15% of the volume.

Wines differ from each other because of the differences in the grapes and the manner in which the fermentation occurs. The winemaker uses skill and experience to create the best possible wine with the grapes provided.

Let's take a look at the basics of the various types of wine:

SWEET WINE

Fermentation is stopped while some sugar remains by adding sulphur or by fine filtration.

SPARKLING WINE

Wine to be made sparkling (such as Champagne) is taken from the vat and bottled before fermenattion is complete;y finished. The process continues in the bottle.

DRY WINE

Wine left in the vat until it is fully fermented has all the sugar converted to alcohol, leaving the wine quite dry.

ROSE WINE

Rose is basically a white wine made from red grapes and given a little color and flavor by being left a short time with the skins. The juice is run off almost immediately to ferment on its own. Normally, it is allowed to finish its fermentation naturally and is, thus, completely dry.

BRANDY WINE

Brandy is made by distilling wine rather than by vat fermentation. If the grape skins are distilled, the product is called grappa and becomes clear.

PORT WINE

Fortified wines have their fermentation arrested with alcohol and need aging to blend their different elements. The juice is run into a vat to ferment until half its sugar is converted to alcohol, when it is mixed with brandy to raise the alcohol level above 15%. This stuns the yeast and stops fermentation, so that the wine is both strong and sweet. Port wines require many years to reach full maturity.

WHITE WINE

White grapes are fed into a crusher-stemmer which tears off the stalks and pumps the broken grapes into a pneumatic press. The press revolves and an airbag inside is inflated, pressing the grapes against the cage walls. The skins are left behind as the juice falls through a screen and is pumped into a fermenting vat. After the fermenting is completed, the wine is transfered into oak barrels for aging.

RED WINE

Red grapes are fed into a crusher and pumped into a vat where they ferment in contact with their skins. The wine gradually draws out the color and tannin from the skin. Fermentation is allowed to continue until all sugar is gone (up to 14 days). The wine is transferred into oak barrels for aging.