Learning About Wine: Part 2
On Winemaking:
There’s a ton of winemaking history – historians argue that winemaking first started in what we now know as Armenia around 10,000 years ago with winemaking equipment dating back to 6000 BC. Imagine just stumbling upon a barrel of rotting grapes that made this great, intoxicating drink that was (for the most part) probably safer than drinking water? What a dream…
I love being able to appreciate a part of an unbroken chain of history that is constantly adapted with each passing age, improved on, and altered to suit new styles, preferences, and trends. Industrialization has had a massive effect on commercialization and standardization of wine. It’s more sanitary, and the number of varietals and styles has grown substantially due to modern farming methods. In the last decade though, there has been a resurgence of winemakers adopting more traditional winemaking techniques. It’s a perfect blend of art and science.
So, wtf is wine? It is just fermented grape juice. I have created a fun infographic and also wrote a brief overview of the winemaking process:
To Note: this is a non-exhaustive overview. Many steps like grape or wine transportation, grape reception, and must modification, maceration, stabilization, fining, filtering among others are not included at all or briefly discussed.
still wine
The Grapes
Grape growers aim for grapes that are as perfect (for the style of wine) as possible before production begins. Once the grapes are healthy and at their optimal ripeness, they are picked and then brought to the winery. Ripeness happens at varying speeds, depending on a ton of factors including the varietal, the soil, the location of the vineyard, and other climactic influences like proximity to a body of water, aspect, timing of rain, wind patterns, etc.
Harvesting
Once the grapes are fully ripe, it is time for them to be picked. There is a range of technical equipment used in wineries to save time (and cost) but handpicking is still common practice in some of the world’s best regions. The grapes will then be chilled to avoid too much oxidation and sorted depending on quality. Most wineries will remove grapes which have withered on the vine (others make wine exclusively with rotten grapes), and the stalks/stems will sometimes be removed.
Crushing
After sorting, the grapes will be ready for crushing. It is the application of sufficient pressure to grapes that breaks the skins, releases the grape juice making it available for fermentation. The importance is to apply pressure that is gentle enough to not crush the seeds which can add bitterness to the wine. Many countries still practice crushing by human feet in a lagare – a shallow vat – where entire communities sometimes get involved in the process!
Here is where you see a radical difference in the way white, red (and even rose) wines are produced. Red wines get their color, tannin and body from the skins, seeds and stems and will often remain in contact with the juice for these qualities to be present in the final wine. The length of skin contact depends on the winemaker.
White wine is pressed and, in most cases, immediately separated from skins and seeds meaning they do not “macerate” and left to ferment. Some whites can have skin contact: orange wine as a category, aromatic whites like gewurztraminer or Riesling, and to make it even more confusing: red grapes with no skin contact produce white wine. My favorite white pinot noir here.
Pressing
The grapes are pressed to release the juice and to separate the juice from the skins and seeds. This step takes place at different times depending on the style of wine being made, whether it be white, red, rosé or an orange wine.
In white winemaking, the grapes are almost always pressed to extract the juice from the grapes and to separate the skins from the juice before fermentation. In red winemaking, the grapes are typically crushed before fermentation and pressed after the desired number of days on the skins or at the end of fermentation. In all styles of wine, care must be taken to not over press the wine. This can result in undesirable characteristics like bitterness. Yuck!
Fermentation
Fermentation is a natural process that occurs in all soft fruits after they have fallen and started decomposing (see: drunk animals in the wild). It is essentially a chemical process where sugars slowly turn into alcohol.
Both white and red wines require yeast to kick start and control fermentation. Some wineries use specially cultured yeasts or ambient/wild yeast. There are advantages and disadvantages to both but: the former is more reliable during fermentation and the latter can add complexity to the wine as different yeast species produce different aroma compounds.
You can ferment wine in stainless steel vats, concrete eggs, or wood barrels. Each help achieve a particular style of wine and have advantages and disadvantages.
Red wines require the most attention during fermentation. During fermentation, CO2 is created causing the skins to resurface at the top of the vessel also known as the “cap”. The winemaker, several times a day or week, manages this by “punching” the cap down or “pumping over” juice. There are a few more ways to fuss around with the cap as well.
Rose wine is a hybrid of both red and white winemaking. Essentially, it is made similar to the steps for white wine but with red grapes. Red grapes will be harvested and crushed like white wines, but only spend a brief time on the skins (5-12 hours as opposed to red wine that can spend several days on the skins) to get just a slight touch of color before being taken off of them. There are a few other ways to make wine including the saignee method and blending of white and red wines.
Maturation
A highly variable step in the winemaking process: wine can either be finished and packaged relatively quickly or it may be matured for a period of time before it is bottled!
Some countries, regions and sub-regions have strict laws and regulations dictating how long their wines must be aged for before being released (Ciao Italia!), other places leave it up to the individual vintner (Hello, California)!
Young, fruity or aromatic styles that have been protected from oxygen through winemaking (New Zealand Sauvi B or Pinot Grigio represent) are likely kept from oxygen during this stage to retain primary aromas and stored in stainless steel, kept protected by SO2 or blanketing with an inert gas such as Argon. They are finished and bottled shortly after fermentation. Most wine is made this way.
Oxygen doesn’t play a huge role in the aforementioned styles of wine, but it plays a significant role in maturation (exposure to Oxygen during maturation is the only way a wine can age effectively!) and will have an influence on the style and quality of wine. The method of gaining slow, gradual exposure to oxygen is to store wine in small wooden vessels. It leads to the development and concentration of flavors such as dried fruit, nuts, earth, wood, vanilla, tobacco, and leather flavors, the softening of tannins, and the concentration of acid.
Wines can mature in stainless steel or concrete, but the most common is an oak vessel. There are different types of oak: American, Hungarian, or French that vary in price, size and flavors they impart. Winemakers will also consider whether they want brand new oak barrels or barrels that have been one, two, three or four uses and the level of “toast” which is essentially the temperature and length of heat exposure the barrel has endured. Finally, the winemaker will also decide on the length of time in wood but generally, the longer the wine is aged in wood, the greater the extraction of compounds and exposure to oxygen. Oak aging is expensive so many commercial brands will add oak staves and oak chips to impart oak flavors: you’ll see this is a 99Crimes where the wine is ultra fruity but there are robust notes of vanilla and spices that are not quite as integrated as you would hope!
BOTTLING
After several tastes, additions, and opinions, the winemaker determines that the wine has reached its optimum expression in the barrel then it is time to be bottled. Bottling varies from country to country: think of a bold Bordeaux bottle versus a tall, thin bottle for Riesling. Legally, wines may be required to further age in the bottle or a winemaker can release it to consumers to be “cellared” in atmospherically appropriate rooms for decades before consumption.
Sparkling wine
Sparkling wine is also fermented grape juice but there are a lot of ways to making sparkling wine. Here they are:
Traditional Method
AKA: Methode Champenoise / Champagne Method / Cap Classique
Surprisingly this method is not the first, but generally considered the best. The Champagne method, which, thanks to the French wine regulatory bodies, it must legally be called the traditional method outside the Champagne region, is the classic sparkling vinification process. It is expensive, labor-intensive, and time consuming.
The traditional method requires a secondary fermentation to take place inside the bottle. So a base still wine is made, put into a bottle, and then a mixture of sugar and yeast (known as the liqueur de tirage) is added which kicks off a second fermentation resulting in CO2 and, of course, BUBBLES in addition to more alcohol and dead yeast cells aka lees (yum)! The wine ages on these lees for a time, creating texture, richness and complexity in the wine with flavors of cherry, almond, biscuit and toast.
Before the wine is ready for consumption, winemakers will remove the lees by a process called riddling or remuage as the French would say. They invert, and periodically rotate, the bottle until the sediment settles at the neck of the bottle. When the cap is removed, the bottle’s pressure forces the sediment out, at which point a mixture of sugar and wine called dosage can be added along with a final cork.
Ancestral Method
AKA: Petillant Naturel / Pet Nat
The OG methods that produces the now very popular pet nat style of wine.
Tank method
AKA: Charmat Method
This process begins almost exactly the same as the traditional method with the creation of an uncarbonated, still base wine. This wine is mixed with the liqueur de tirage, and then put in a large stainless steel pressure tank. The yeast and sugar cause a second fermentation in the closed tank, which is held under pressure so the carbon dioxide from the fermentation is forced into the wine taking anywhere from 2-6 weeks and bottled thereafter(much less time consuming).
The wine is fresh and fruity (think: La Marca Prosecco). This is the style you want to brunch with. It’s less labor intensive which means it’s more affordable.
Carbonation
This is the simplest method producing the simplest style. A still base wine is made and CO2 gas is forced into the wine. Since the bubbles aren’t fully integrated, the “mousse” (aka the stream of bubbles) doesn’t last very long and feels coarse on the palate. NFI who uses this method.
The End…
The more I study wine, the more complicated it gets. These blogs are hugely helpful to me as I study and hopefully helpful to you as you explore the wine world!