Simply stated, Vinification is the process that’s employed by the winemaker to turn harvested grapes into bottled wine. But it’s hardly simple and can employ many varied steps.
Harvesting: Timing is critical and varies year to year due to growing season and harvest-time weather, the grape variety itself and ripeness. Harvesting can be by machine or by hand.
Crushing: If you’ve ever seen the funny grape crushing scene with Lucille Ball on “I Love Lucy,” from 1956 or many similar clips on YouTube of crushing grapes in large vats by foot, it really was the common method historically. Today it’s accomplished often using large, sophisticated machines that can remove stems and seeds and achieve the primary goal of breaking the skins to release the juice.
Fermentation: The juice from the crushing goes into tanks made of either stainless steel, concrete or wood, either with or without the skins, where the natural yeast from the grapes or added yeast, converts the sugar into alcohol. Fermentation usually takes from one to two weeks but can last much longer. Red wines often go through maceration (a soaking process) during fermentation to release color, tannins and flavor compounds from the skins.
Pressing: For red wines, the fermented juice usually goes through pressing to release more juice and flavors but for white wines, pressing normally is done before fermentation.
Aging: Wine can be aged for long or short periods of time in wood barrels, usually oak, stainless steel or sometimes cement. It depends on red vs. white and many other factors based on what the winemaker wants to achieve. Chemical changes occur during aging, softening tannins and supporting flavor development. Aging takes place in a dark area with an environment of stable temperature and humidity.
Filtration: This is usually done before bottling to improve clarity by removing any remaining sediment and particles but some producers may choose to leave their wine unfiltered.
Bottling: The final step in the vinification process is bottling. While most wines remain in the bottle for further aging for short periods of time, some, depending on the wine type, regional requirements and the winemaker’s specific goals, may remain in the bottle for many months or even years of additional aging before being released for sale.
Cheers!
-Submitted by Jim Wolitarsky
(Image credit: Pixabay.com and Vinepair.com)