Wine Making

Wine-making, starts right from the selection of grapes and ends at the bottling process. Once the grapes acquire maturity, they are ready for harvesting. Maturity of the grapes is usually determined by parameters such as the level of sugar, PH level, ripeness, berry flavor, tannin development, disposition of the grapevine and weather forecasts. The level of sugar in the grapes determines the final alcohol content of the wine and is an indirect index of grape maturity.

Harvesting the same crop at different times decides the quality. The decision of time of harvesting is taken by the winemaker or trained or experienced individual who knows how to make wine the right way. Harvesting can be done manually or by using mechanical harvesters. Although mechanical harvesting is easier and faster, most premium wine makers go for manual harvesting, that is, handpicking, since mechanical harvesting is indiscriminate and more often than not, loose debris also get included.

. For obtaining red wines, the grapes are crushed by mechanical crushers to break open the skins and fermented in tanks. This is an essential step for color-extraction. For white wines, this step is bypassed and the grapes are passed directly to the presses. The wine obtains its color, tannin and flavor from the grape skins

The fermentation temperatures influence not only the speed of fermentation but also the final taste of the wine. For red wines, it is around 25-28° C, whereas for white wines it is around 15-18° C. The fermented mash is pressed to separate the juice (wine) from the grape pulp and skins, after which it is run through a couple of heat and cold stabilization processes to get rid of sediments and other precipitation crystals from the wine. The wine so obtained is then stored in oak barrels for the secondary fermentation process, commonly known as aging. This process may take from three months to a year…..  The wine is judged for its appearance, fragrance, taste and after-taste. The key characteristics that a wine-taster looks for are clarity, integration, expressiveness, complexity, and connectedness…

 

This is what I tell my team (specially Gitesh) ,…..everytime…… they ask me for their share of Blog prize of the wine bottle….. it takes time………… if you see the process…....

Prashant