(How wines are made can vary. This is just one example.)
Harvesting
The Italian grape harvest season is usually every September/October (depending on the weather). From the time the grapes ripen, they are picked fairly quickly in order to get the best out of them.
Destemming/ Crushing
The stems are then removed from the grapes and the grapes are crushed to free the juice, while leaving the bitter pips untouched. These two processes are usually done using machinery (a destemmer and a crusher).
Difference in Processing
It is at this point that the process starts to differ between red and white winemaking. ‘Skin contact’ means when grapes are left to sit for a while to draw out the aroma and flavour from the skin. This is rarely important for white grapes - once white grapes are crushed, their skins are removed almost immediately (i.e., pressed).
However, with red grapes, skin contact is very important. Why? – because much of the colour of red wine is derived from the skin of the red grape, not from its flesh. The juice from red grapes is just as clear as the juice from white grapes. It’s the skin of the red grape that gives red wine its colour. Therefore, once crushed, the skin is left to sit in the juice.
Fermentation/ Aging
Yeast is then added to the grape juice to ferment it (to convert the juice to alcohol).
With red grapes, the fermentation process would have already begun from the time the skin is left to ‘stew’ in the juice (especially as some of the skin already contains natural yeast). They are left to ferment in large stainless steel tanks. Once fermentation is over, the skin & pulp is separated from the juice (pressed), then the juice is poured into oak barrels or a tank to age.
White grapes follow the same process (except that they would have already been pressed at a much earlier stage).
Filtering
Upon aging, and before it’s bottled, the wine is filtered to remove any particles and sediments (especially if it’s been aged in a barrel).
And there you have it.
Ciao!
(img by: rdesai)