Do you enjoy drinking wine? You do, you might wonder what the processes for creating wine that is made today. It is actually not that hard to understand. There are many steps that must occur, a time-consuming process, that can lead to the creation of your favorite type of wine. In this basic overview of the winemaking process used today, you will quickly understand how this process works, and why it may take several years for your favorite types of wine to be created and ready for sale.
How Winemaking Began
By most estimates, people have been making wine for thousands of years. It is considered to be an art, but in reality, it requires a specific type of science. There is actually very little that people have to do, a natural process that simply doesn't own thing, but different types of wine require subtle changes to create the vino that you love to drink. These steps include harvesting, crushing, pressing, fermentation, clarification, aging and bottling.
The Winemaking Process Used Today
The first set of the process is to grow grapes and harvest them at the appropriate time of year. Grapes are actually one of the few, if not the only, type of fruit that has all of the necessary tannins, esters, and acids that are necessary to simply make wine easy to make. There is a little bit of skill that is necessary when harvesting the grapes which includes old-fashioned tasting, and also checking for sweetness and acidity. There has to be a perfect balance before the harvesting can begin, and this can be augmented greatly by the weather. Whether this is done mechanically, or by hand, once they are taken to the winery, and sorted, the crushing and pressing will begin. The stems are removed, and they are crushed using either the bare feet of workers, but primarily today, this is done by machines that take care of this process. The pressing is done in order to remove the juice, and then fermentation must occur. Wild yeast is added, usually within 12 hours after the pressing, and this will allow you to be consistent if you are producing a significant amount of wine every year. Fermentation simply means that all of the sugar that is in the juice will be converted to alcohol. If sweet wine is the focus, this is as simple as stopping the process before all of the sugar is converted. The fermentation process can last up to 30 days, after which the clarification process begins.
Clarification Aging And Bottling
the final part of this process is to remove all the solids, transfer the wine into oak barrels, or sometimes stainless steel tanks, where the wine can be clarified through filtration. It can also occur with what is called fining where substances are added to the wine in order to make the clarification process much easier. After is filtered, clarified wine is then bottled and aged. It can take anywhere from a few days, to several years, in order to sell the wine that is now bottled. For those that like a smoother wine, this is typically aged for quite some time in oak barrels. That which is in steel tanks are typically zesty white wines. This basic overview of how winemaking process actually occurs should give you a little more respect for the entire process.