Red Wine Ma
Prepare grapes for fermentation
After the harvest, grapes head to the winery. The winemaker decides
whether or not to remove the stems or to ferment grape bunches as whole
clusters.
This is an important choice because leaving stems in the fermentation adds
astringency (aka tannin) but also reduces sourness. As an example, Pinot
Noir often ferments with whole clusters, but not Cabernet Sauvignon.
During this step, grapes also receive sulfur dioxide to stop bacterial spoilage
before the fermentation starts. Check out this eye-opening article about
sulfites and your health.
What happens is small sugar-eating yeasts consume the grape sugars and
make alcohol.
The yeasts come either from a commercial packet (just like you might find in
bread making), or occur spontaneously in the juice.
Spontaneous fermentation uses yeast found naturally on grapes!
Commercial yeasts allow winemakers to produce very consistent wines year-
in-and-out.
Natural yeasts are more challenging but often result in more complex
aromatics.
Grapes picked too early may result in tart and thin-tasting wines.
Grapes picked too late may result in wines that taste overly ripe and flabby.
For all winemakers, the grape harvest season is the most critical (and very
tense) time of year!
Press the wine
Most wines take 5–21 days to ferment sugar into alcohol. A few rare examples, such
as Vin Santo and Amarone, take anywhere from 50 days to up to 4 years to fully
ferment!
After the fermentation, vintners drain the freely running wine from the tank and put
the remaining skins into a wine press. Pressing the skins gives winemakers about 15%
more wine!
Malolactic fermentation (aka “second fermentation”)
As the red wine settles in tanks or barrels, a second “fermentation”
happens. A little microbe feasts on the wine acids and converts sharp-tasting
malic acid into creamier, chocolatey lactic acid. (The same acid you find in
greek yogurt!)
Nearly all red wines go through Malolactic Fermentation (MLF) but only a
few white wines. One white wine we all know is Chardonnay. MLF is
responsible for Chardonnay’s creamy and buttery flavors.
Clarifying the wine
One of the final steps of how a red wine is made is the clarification process.
For this, many winemakers add clarifying or “fining” agents to remove
suspended proteins in the wine (proteins make wine cloudy).
Then, the wine gets passed through a filter for sanitation. This is important
because it reduces the likelihood of bacterial spoilage.
Bottle aging
Finally, a few special wines continue to age in the winemaker’s
cellar for years. In fact, if you look up different types of red wines
(like Rioja or Brunello di Montalcino) you’ll discover that this step
is considered essential for reserve bottlings.
So, the next time you open a bottle try to figure out what went
into it!
