From Vine to Wine

Wine making: from vine to wine

Nothing could be simpler or more complex than wine making. The process of wine making was discovered thousands of years ago. Fermentation, necessary for wine making, can take place naturally inside whole grapes. The product of natural fermentation is intoxicating but not especially savory. The history of wine making has been one of refinement.

In the vineyard

While grapes can be grown anywhere climate allows, the best grapes for wine making are a marriage of varietal and location. Climate, sun, and soil influence grape quality and constitute terroir, a wine making term referring to the particular characteristics of a vineyard.

Other factors include whether vines are trellised or grown as individual plants, a practice known in wine making as “head-pruning.” This is common in southern France and is preferred for California Zinfandel. Trellised vines lend themselves to mechanical harvesting, reducing the cost of wine making.

Low-production vineyards concentrate flavors for wine making. Heavy-bearing varieties such as Carignane are often “green harvested.” This wine making process removes young clusters before wine making begins to concentrate the vine’s energy in fewer clusters. This increases wine making costs.

In the winery

Wine making can be as simple as crushing grapes, fermenting the “must” in barrels or tanks, then separating juice from solids. The resulting wine is aged for some time (often 0-3 years) in oak barrels. These wines are truly “made in the vineyard.”

Winemakers have tools to tweak the wine making process. New oak barrels add spice, coconut, smoke, and vanilla during wine making. Older barrels give a rounder, softer character. Harsher malic acids can be converted to softer lactic acids by encouraging the malolactic process during wine making, almost universally used in red wine making. Winemakers can blend other varietals during wine making to supply weak or missing qualities such as perfume, color, or structure. In red Bordeaux blends, Cabernet Sauvignon is softened by adding Merlot during wine making. Additional color and aroma come from adding Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot during wine making.