Section I: The Fundamentals of Wine Chapter 3: The Winery – From Grapes to Bottle

Introduction  Wine is grape juice that’s been fermented by yeast.  Table wine Wine that accompanies food Most common wine consumed in the United States  Still wine = wine without effervescence  Dry wine = without sweetness

The Process of Fermentation  Yeast converting the sugar in grape juice to alcohol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process  Yeast ferments sugar to produce energy to sustain life and reproduce.  The species of yeast best suited for winemaking is called Saccharomyces cerevisiae.  Degrees Brix is the most common way to measure sugar content in North America.

Factors Affecting Fermentation  Temperature  Acidity  Nutrients  Alcohol  Sugar

R ED W INE C RUSH AND F ERMENTATION  Functions of the stemmer-crusher: Takes the berries off the stems Breaks the berries open to release the juice  Sulfur dioxide is the most common additive in wine.  After it’s crushed, the juice from most red wine varieties is clear.  Red wine color is extracted out of the berry skins.  A vigorously mixed cap results in a wine with more color, body and astringency.  Winemakers sometimes employ a cold soak before fermentation to increase the extraction of color and tannins.

C ARBONIC M ACERATION AND E XTENDED M ACERATION  Carbonic Maceration A portion or all of the grapes are loaded into the tank as whole clusters. The weight of the fruit cruses some of the berries at the bottom and releases juice.  Extended Maceration Fruit is crushed and fermented with typical cap management. Tank is topped off with similar wine from another tank. Skins are left in contact with the young wine for 1-8 weeks.

Pressing the Skins  Occurs when fermentation is complete and the winemaker is satisfied with flavor extraction  Free run = the first wine to come off  Press fraction = the wine removed at the end of the press cycles  Pomace = dried skins used for compost

W HITE W INE C RUSH AND F ERMENTATION  Special effort required to handle the grapes gently and transport them quickly to the winery  Juice is separated from skins before fermentation  Fruit can be: Crushed and pressed Crushed, dejuiced and pressed Whole-cluster pressed  After pressing, the juice is pumped to a settling tank in the fermentation cellar.  White fermentations take two to three times longer than red fermentations.

M ALOLACTIC F ERMENTATION  Malic acid = found in many fruits  Tartaric acid = unique to grapes  Malolactic bacteria uses malic acid as an energy source for growth  Malolactic fermentation has several effects on wine: Deacidification Makes wine more microbiologically stable Produces a compound with a distinct buttery character

Barrels and Aging  The qualities that barrel aging gives wine are so positive that barrels are still used for winemaking.  Reactions during aging: Wine undergoes a slow oxidation. Wine absorbs flavor components from the wood.  Oak is the chosen wood for wine-barrel production.  Beyond the type of Oak used, a barrels flavor depends on: The forest the wood is from How the wood is seasoned The various methods of production

Barrels and Aging (cont.)  Much of the flavor obtained from aging wine in barrels comes from what is extracted out of the oak.  However, the softening of the wine’s texture is due to the process of slow oxidation.  Time spent in oak depends on the winemaker’s taste and the body of the wine being made.  In moderately priced wines, the cost of aging in barrels can be prohibitive.

Finishing a Wine  After aging is complete, the wine is pumped out of the barrel and sent to the tank cellar.  Wines can be bottled from a single vineyard or batch, but more often different lots are blended together.  Sometimes winemakers will blend before or in the middle of the aging process to give the blend time to harmonize in the barrel.  After the blend is selected, two more steps must be completed before wine is ready to be bottled: clarification and stability.

Finishing a Wine (cont.)  The simplest and most gentle form of clarification is settling and racking.  The most common fining agent is bentonite.  Filtering is another way to get clarity prior to bottling.  Although a wine that is not fined or filtered may be less brilliant and less stable, it retains more of its natural flavor.

Bottling  Before bottling, the wine is analyzed and checked for stability one final time.  Any necessary adjustments are made.  The wine is then sent to the bottling room.  If the bottles are sealed with a cork, they are then sent to a capsule machine to have a capsule applied to cover the neck and the cork.  The final steps of applying the label and packing the bottles into cases then take place.  Bottling is some of the roughest treatment a wine will receive and can leave a wine with less fruity aromas and body for a period of time (bottle shock).

Sparkling Wine  Wine with bubbles or effervescence  First developed in the Champagne region of France in the 1700s  The result of cork and bottling innovations  Because of the tight seal, when the wines finish fermenting, carbon dioxide is trapped, giving them their effervescence.  Méthode champenoise = process used to make sparkling wine of the highest quality

Sparkling Wine (cont.)  Since the Champagne region is very cool, the grapes used for making sparkling wines are early ripeners.  The grapes used for sparkling wine are picked earlier than those used for still wines.  The base wine should be low in alcohol and should not have a lot of varietal character.  Press cycles for sparkling wine are longer.

Other Methods of Sparkling Wine Production  Charmat process Instead of having the secondary alcoholic fermentation take place in the bottle, it takes place in large steel tanks. After fermentation, the wine is racked off and the yeast is filtered out under pressure. The grapes that are used for the Charmat process are typically less expensive varieties  Little used methods to make sparkling wine: Transfer method Artificial carbonation

Dessert and Fortified Wines  Dessert wines Made with appreciable sugar Have higher alcohol to stabilize the wine and prevent it from fermenting in the bottle  Fortified wines Have had the addition of brandy during processing Can be either sweet or dry

Late Harvest Wines  Made from grapes picked at a much higher sugar level than grapes used for table wines.  Achieve this higher level of sugar concentration due to the fruit partially dehydrating on the vine.  This dehydration is increased by an infection of a mold that is usually considered a vineyard nuisance.

Port-style Wines  Full-bodied red wines that have about 10 percent sugar and 20 percent alcohol.  Native to the Douro River wine region in northern Portugal  Have their fermentation stopped halfway through while the must is still very sweet  Intensely colored red grape varieties are used for winemaking.

Sherry  Originated in Spain  Defining characteristic is that it is purposely oxidized. This gives Sherry its distinctive roasted nut aroma.  Neutral grape varieties are used for Sherry production.  Most popular style Sherry is the full-bodies oloroso.  The traditional method of aging Sherry is done in a fractional barrel system called a solera.

Flavored Wines  A wine made from grapes that has been augmented with natural flavorings such as herbs, spices, honey and fruit juice  Origin goes back to ancient times when herbs and spices were added wine to cover up imperfections

The Attributes of Wine  Wine is a complex mixture of nearly 1,000 different, naturally occurring chemical compounds.  These constituents come from three sources: The compounds that are present in grape juice The compounds that are produced by microorganisms fermenting the grape juice The compounds that are added by the processing and aging of the wine  Wine is mostly made up of water, then alcohol.  Chemicals in wine are determined by: Grape variety The vineyards’ terroir The production decisions made by the winemaker and grower