Winemaking Flashcards
What are the five common wine-making processes?
Crushing (splitting the grape skins to release some of the grape juice), pressing (squeezing grapes in a press in order to extract as much juice as possible), alcohol fermentation (a process by which yeast feeds on sugar and produces alcohol and carbon dioxide), storage and maturation (often only a few months, which does not change the flavours much at all, but sometimes much longer, which allows the flavours to mature), and packaging (usually in glass bottles, though bag-in-box, plastic bottles and bricks are also options).
How is a dry red wine made?
From black grapes. The skins must be used to impart a red colour and tannins. The typical method is: crushing, alcoholic fermentation, draining, pressing, storage/maturation, packaging.
How is a dry rosé wine made?
The two most common methods are short maceration and blending.
How is a dry white wine made?
Usually from white grapes (though black grapes can be used if they are pressed only very gently). The typical method is: crushing, pressing, alcoholic fermentation, storage/maturation, packaging.
How are colour and tannins extracted from the skins of black grapes?
The skins must be thoroughly mixed with the fermenting liquid. Two of the most common methods of doing this are: punching down (a plunger is used to press the cap down into the liquid) and pumping over (liquid from the bottom of the vessel is pumped up through a hose and sprayed over the cap).
How is a dry rosé wine made via short maceration?
The wine is made from black grapes and starts in the same way as red wine. However the fermenting wine is drained from the skins after just a few hours, and fermentation then continues at white winemaking temperatures.
How is a dry rosé wine made via blending?
A white wine is mixed with a red wine. This method is not permitted in many parts of Europe.
How is a sweet wine made? (4 methods)
- Concentrated grape sugars (i.e. the grapes have so much sugar that the yeast cannot eat it all before fermentation ends), 2. Removing the yeast (so that there is some sugar left in the wine) - this requires the use of extremely sophisticated filters, 3. Killing the yeast (most commonly by adding alcohol to the fermenting grape juice, a process known as fortification - Port is made in this way), 4. Adding sweetness to a dry wine (using sugar that comes from grapes, or by mixing the dry wine with a sweet wine).
What adjustments might be made to a wine by a winemaker and why?
In cool climates/years the level of sugar in the grapes may be low, resulting in low alcohol and lacking in body. This can be corrected by adding sugar to the grape juice. The acid in the grapes can also be high which is corrected by neutralising some of the acid. Conversely, in warm climates the level of acid in the grapes can be too low, which is corrected by adding some acid.
At what temperature are red wines typically fermented?
A higher temperature than white wines - between 20C to 32C. These high temperatures are needed to help extract colour and tannins from the grape skins.
At what temperature are white wines typically fermented?
A lower temperature than red wines - between 12C to 22C. At the lower end of this range fermentation can produce fruity aromas.
At what temperature are rosé wines typically fermented?
If it is made by maceration, it is typically fermented at a temperature similar to white winemaking after it has been drained from the skins.
What two categories of materials are winery vessels made from?
Oak and inert materials such as stainless steel and concrete.
What are the characteristics of inert winery vesels?
They do not add any flavour to the wine and can be made air tight, preventing oxygen from interacting with the wine.
What are the characteristics of oak winery vessels?
Oak adds flavours to the wine and can allow the flavours of the wine to develop via contact with oxygen, producing caramel, dried fruit, and nut to develop, and softening the tannins.
