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Wine Production Basics

Posted: March 10, 2008
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Author: James DeRosa
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Filed under: Process
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Tags: basics, Process, steps, wine making

Although this does not cover every detail of the wine making process. It gives you a general idea of how wine is made and what each step is.

Most wines follow this basic process with some changes here and there depending on the wine makers taste and/or secrets.

Wine Process Flow

Harvest - The grapes are harvested when they are mature, typically determined by flavor and sugar content.

Stemmer/Crusher - This device removes the stems from the grapes, and crushes them so that they are exposed to the yeast for fermenting. Also by crushing the grapes you expose the skins, which help richen the color of the wine.

Remove Free Run - The best quality wine is made just from the juice portion of the must. It is removed and the remaining must (at this point called pomace) is sent to the press.

Press - This squeezes the remaining juice out of the pomace.

Fermentation - Yeast convert the sugar in the juice into alcohol. carbon dioxide and heat are by products of this reaction.

Pumping Over - A process of pumping juice over the cap during fermentation to accelerate extraction of color, flavor, and tannins. This also ensures that the cap doesn’t dry out and develop unwanted bacteria.

Settle – Letting wine sit so that the sediment falls to the bottom of the holding reservoir.

Oak Aging - This allows a very slow introduction of oxygen into the wine and it imparts the character of the wood into the wine.

Rack(ing) - The process of moving wine from one reservoir to another. Separating the wine from the sediment that has collected at the bottom. This also serves to aerate the wine and reduce cloudiness.

Malo-Lactic Fermentation - This process of a change in wine is where the tart malic acid is converted to softer-tasting lactic acid. Some, but not all white wines go through this step. See more info here.

Fining – Also known as clarifying or refining. A process that helps remove anything that may be making the wine cloudy.

Filtering - A procedure that eliminates any fining agents, or other unwanted elements in the wine through mechanical means

Bottling - This final step is done carefully so that the wine does not come in contact with air. From this the bottles are corked and labled.