How is wine being made ?

The basic of making wine consists of 5 Steps, Harvesting, Crushing and Pressing, Fermentation, Clarification, Age and bottling.

5 steps of wine making

1. Harvesting

The grapes from the vineyard would be collected once it is ready. Winemakers would either use hand or mechanical to harvest their grapes but most of them would use hand which would prevent lesser damage to the grapes vine.

2. Crushing and Pressing

After the first process, the grapes would then be crush and press in the second process. In the earlier days of making wine people would use their feet to crush the grapes but nowadays winemakers would use mechanical to do the job as it shows more effective and efficiency. The difference between white wine and red wine making is that the the grapes skin is remove during the process of white wine and the skin of the grape is kept for the red wine.

3. Fermentation

After crushing and pressing, fermentation comes into play. The juice of the crushed grapes can begin fermenting naturally within 6-12 hours when aided with wild yeasts in the air. However, many wine makers intervene and add a commercial cultured yeast to ensure consistency and predict the end result.

Fermentation continues until all of the sugar is converted into alcohol and dry wine is produced. To create a sweet wine, wine makers will sometimes stop the process before all of the sugar is converted. Fermentation can take anywhere from 10 days to one month or more.

4. Clarification

Clarification is the process in which solids such as dead yeast cells, tannins, and proteins are removed. Wine is transferred or “racked” into a different vessel such as an oak barrel or a stainless steel tank. Wine can then be clarified through fining or filtration.

5. Aging and Bottling

The final stage of wine making. Winemaker would either bottle up the wine straight away or keep the wine in additional aging. Further aging can be done in the bottles, stainless steel tanks, or oak barrels. Aging the wine in oak barrels will produce a smoother, rounder, and more vanilla flavored wine. It also increases wine’s exposure to oxygen while it ages, which decreases tannin and helps the wine reach its optimal fruitiness.

source: laurelgrey

Video of wine making process from Discovery UK: