The Basics of Wine and Wine Making

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Wine can be a very intimidating subject to handle. Whether you are led to a winery for your very first wine tasting, speaking to a waiter at a restaurant, or trying to pick up a bottle for a dinner with your significant other, the subject of wine can be overwhelming. When there are many subtleties, differences and special qualities of wine, there are some general and easy characteristics too.

All wine is produced of the fermented juice of grapes. The process of fermentation is that the breakdown of sugar into carbon dioxide (CO2) and alcohol. Sugar is a natural ingredient found in most grapes. Yeast, the catalyst of turning sugar into alcohol, is a natural substance currently held in the skin of grapes. Below is a general summary of the 3 main types of wine and the winemaking process.
Red Wine

Red grapes are collected in vineyards and set into a crushing system that eliminates all of the grape stalks. Along with stem removal, the crushing process also brings out from the wine the color from the skins. Depending on the amount of"dryness" for the wine, fermentation has been continuing to turn the preferred amount of sugar into alcohol. The average quantity of alcohol this process produces is 13-15%. Fermentation is stopped until all the sugar is used up to make a sweeter wine. Alcohol is subsequently added into the rotten wine to give it its 13-15% alcohol content. Dry red wine is generated when all the sugars in the grape pulp are fermented. The wine is then put in wooden barrels for aging. French oak is one of the more traditional and popular storage components for dry red wine.


White Wine

The procedure for white wine is quite like that of red, but with a couple of important differences. White and red grapes are fed into the crushing machines to eliminate the stems breaks loose the grape pulp. For white wine, the crushing equipment then eliminates the colored skins. Next, similarly to red wine, dry white wine is allowed to naturally ferment, while sweet white wine includes unfermented sugars left in the liquid, and alcohol added. White wine is generally stored and aged in stainless steel rather than oak barrels and is generally served chilled.

Champagne
True champagne can only be produced from grapes grown in the champagne region of France. The difference gap in champagne is there is a second fermentation process that takes place from the jar. The grape harvesting and crushing process is similar to that of red and white wine.

These are a few of the simplified facets of wine and wine making. To make different kinds of wine requires specific grapes, such as the white grape of chardonnay, pinot grigio, riesling, or even the red grape of cabernet, pinot noir, or Norton. It's the growing, harvesting, and aging procedure which differentiates the quality and expense of the wines. Want to know more information click the link to winemakers guide