The 8 steps a fine wine must go through: in particular
1. Raw material selection
Quality grapes are the foundation of a quality, high-end dry red wine. Some people say that seven ingredients and three processes are a bit impossible. The core competitiveness of wine making is the raw material of grapes. Where do quality grapes come from? To borrow a foreign term, terroir, there is a key point in this term – the human factor cannot be ignored. Excellent winemaking philosophy and strong winemaking beliefs are indispensable factors in making quality wine.
2. Grape pressing and destemming
The grape skins contain pigments, tannins, pectin and aromas, the flesh contains some aromas, and the stems and seeds contain large amounts of poor quality tannins. When the grapes are crushed, the grapes are too crushed, which brings a lot of bad tannins to the juice, thus giving the wine a bad flavor.
3. Adding auxiliary materials
The juice is pumped out of the fermentation tank under the action of the saccharification pump. At this time, auxiliary materials such as pectin and yeast should be added. The use of clarifying auxiliary materials in the post-processing stage also directly affects the quality of the wine. When selecting various auxiliary materials, they should be chosen according to the characteristics of the raw materials and the type of wine required.
4. Alcoholic fermentation
The maceration and fermentation of the grapes are carried out simultaneously. This process is mainly used for temperature control and monitoring. The degree of maceration, winemaking temperature, sugar content, alcohol content, etc. Usually, a specific gravity meter is used to monitor both specific gravity and temperature changes. When the industrial production is large, not all indicators are titrated at will, so only some qualitative indicators are usually analyzed. After alcoholic fermentation is complete, the wine is separated from the grape skin residue. Note the different treatment of artesian juice and pressed juice, and the degree of pressing of the grape skin residue.
5. Malolactic fermentation
Malolactic fermentation is carried out after alcohol fermentation, but is not required. Malolactic fermentation not only reduces the acidity of the wine and improves its bacterial stability, but also increases the complexity of the wine’s taste and aroma, and improves the wine’s flavor.
6、Aging
The maturation of wine can be divided into two parts: storage in large containers and storage in bottles. Aging wine in large containers can greatly improve the quality of wine. It removes the carbon dioxide gas produced during the fermentation process and the effect of yeast on the taste and appearance, removes possible astringency, makes the wine softer, adds more character, and complements rather than obscures the original flavor.
In aerobic conditions, the wine maintains and preserves as much of the fruit aromas as possible, especially the various aromas and flavors. Oak barrel aging is commonly used. This process extracts the aromatic substances from the oak. The wine can evaporate through the oak barrels.
The space created by volatilization enhances the wine’s contact with the air and oxidation, which can gradually change the color of red wine from a freshly fermented purple-red to a ruby red. In addition, stainless steel tanks are also used for aging, which is much less effective than oak barrel aging, but is very useful for those who are not comfortable storing high capital or wine quality in oak barrels.
7. Deployment
Blending is the most artistic stage. Blending is a reflection of the winemaker’s skill (personal opinion). The winemaker considers the integration of the final wine based on varietal, vintage, different processes and other factors. The final product is a blend of individual wines in a certain proportion to highlight the overall quality of the wine and to try to overcome the defects of the individual wines.
8. Post-processing stage
This stage includes chilling, clarification and filtration. The method varies greatly from producer to producer. Some wineries choose not to chill, filter, or otherwise process their wines, but rather to bring out the natural flavors of the wine as much as possible.
