How wine is made Flashcards
What are the 3 main components of stems?
Tannins, acid, water
What are the 2 main examples of presses?
Vertical press, bladder press
What is racking?
Allowing sediment to gather at the bottom of a vessel, then draining the liquid from the tank, above the sediment level
How long does alcoholic fermentation normally last for white wines?
Roughly 2 weeks
What is the ideal temperature for white wine fermentation?
18-22c
What is malolactic conversion?
The conversion of malic acid to lactic acid
What are the 4 favourable conditions for malo fermentation?
- Between 17-20c
- PH between 3-3.6
- No presence of sulfites
- Not pasteurized, filtered
How long does malo conversion take?
2-4 days
What’s the difference between ageing and maturation?
Ageing refers to bottle age prior to release, maturing refers to the time a wine has been spent in a vessel prior to bottling
What are the features of a stainless steel tank?
- Easy to clean
- Temp controlled
- Scalable
- Doesn’t impact flavour
- No contact with oxygen
- Long life
What are the features of a concrete tank vessel?
- Slightly porous
- Doesn’t impart flavour
- Self-regulated temperature control
- Hard to move
- Long life
- Harder to clean
What are some features of oak barrels?
- Imparts flavour, complexity
- Porous
- Expensive
- 3-5 years of life per barrel
What are the features of clay amphoras?
- Equally as porous as oak
- Softens mouthfeel, adds texture
- Difficult to clean
- Can use forever
- Easy to move
- Self-circulate the wine
What are some features of glass globes?
- Don’t impart flavour
- Not porous
- Allows producers to have small batch wines
- All the same advantages of stainless steel in a smaller format
Why is blending of vessels necessary?
Homogenises the wine
What is fining?
Introducing an agent (egg white, gelatin, potassium caseinate or chickpea puree), binding with the targeted element, most commonly tannins or proteins
What is filtration?
Passing wine through a filter under high pressure
What are 4 chemical changes caused by a whole bunch ferment?
- Acidity increases
- Alcohol decreases
- Tannin increases
- Colour decreases
What are 4 advantages of whole bunch ferments?
- Fermentation starts and completes more efficiently
- Fermentation is slower and fresh primary flavours develop
- More structure, increased potential to age
- Lower the effects of hot vintages (decreased alc, increased acid)
What is maceration?
Extended contact with skins during fermentation.
What is cold soaking? What are its effects?
Blocking the fermentation by decreasing the temperature below 10c. This produces brighter fruit flavours
What are the 2 methods of increasing tannin and colour extraction during a red wine alcoholic ferment?
Pump over (extracts more tannin, colour), punchdown (more delicate)
Why is it good to raise temperatures towards the end of a red wine ferment?
To ensure a thorough finish of alcohol conversion
What is the name of the left over skins removed in the racking process?
The pomace
