Once in a while, I come across a true blank slate, someone eager to learn about wine, but without the faintest hint of where to start. I love that. Last week, I was out and about with a winery representative, doing my day job, training folks on his wines. We came across such a person — a new employee at one of the stores we visited. After a few minutes, it became clear that he did not know anything about wine, but in the most open-eyed, wondrous kind of way. I spent a few minutes giving him a quick run-down of what he might need to know, and left feeling all hope was not lost in the world. The next morning, I awoke with a mission: to put down a wine primer in these pages.
Undoubtedly, there are many of you out there who won't learn a thing from this series. Skip it! Read Jeff's latest restaurant review, instead! There are others who might never say so, but start knowing one thing only — you like wine. This wine primer is for you. I am sure you can find this information from other places, but you've chosen to come here, instead. Yes, there will be homework, but of the kind you're likely to enjoy. And the only way you can fail is by not tasting... Here goes.
What is Wine?
Wine is fermented grape juice. The majority of wines come from the species vitis vinifera, with its modern origins in Europe. Why this fruit above other kinds of grapes (e.g. Thompson seedless) or fruit (elderberry)? That's part of the mystery of wine. There is something about this particular species that yields not only fruit flavors, but also a wide spectrum of smells and tastes for which we praise it widely and drink it often.
Winemaking 101
There are many secrets in this world, but winemaking isn't one of them! In fact, it's rather simple. Making wine well, on the other hand...that's two parts art, one part science, and a fair dusting of experience and gut feeling. Here's how to make wine, stripped down to its bare essentials:
Red - this is the easiest of them all. Once you've picked the grapes, they go into the winery and crushed (but not always!) to let the juices and the skins mingle, as red wine gets its color from contact with the skin. You add yeast (or use the yeast found natively on the fruit) and fermentation begins.
The basic formula for fermentation is: Sugar + Yeast = Alcohol + CO2 + Heat. That last bit is important in red winemaking, as the CO2 will push up the grape skins — called the cap — up off the juice. Since you want to continue to extract color and tannin (more later on tannin), various methods are employed to wet the cap. This is commonly known as the punch-down, as it is typical to punch down (in some places tread on) the cap to submerge it once again.
Slowly, fermentation is completed as the sugar gets converted or the yeast cells die, and the wine is racked, or taken off its skins and spent yeast cells. Then the wine gets transferred to barrel or tank to age. Most red wines undergo a secondary fermentation, called malolactic fermentation. We will cover it more fully at a later date, but in predominantly affects the mouthfeel (what it sounds like) of the wine. After a period of time — which can range widely, but commonly between eight months and two years — the wine is (optionally) stabilized for life in the bottle by various methods, including fining and filtration.
Fining is a process that uses a catalyst (egg whites and bentonite are two common ones) to precipitate any proteins in the wine that might cause it to do funny things in the bottle. Once those fall out of solution, the wine is once again racked off. This process tends to produce more limpid wines, although you will find proponents for not filtering. Filtration is fairly self-explanatory: running the wine through any kind of filter, from the coarsest which will only catch "floaties" to very tight ones that take out protein & bacteria.
The wine is then bottled & labeled. That's about it!
White - While the process is essentially the same as above, a few extra things happen that are unique to white winemaking. Unlike red wines, you generally don't want the juice to come in contact with the skins for very long if at all. Therefore, an extra step comes in at the very beginning, called pressing. The juice thus separated, fermentation can begin.
Unlike red wine fermentations, where temperature is not as important, white wine fermentation temperatures must be controlled more carefully. Heat affects the speed of the fermentation, all of which affect the aromatics (smells) of the wine, which are very important in white wines. A white wine that has undergone an uncontrolled fermentation will often be flat, simple, and not very good. White wine is harder to make than red!
After fermentation, the wine is generally racked (though not always) off its lees — another word for dead yeast cells — and only sometimes goes through a malolactic fermentation. It is then aged as above and follows a similar progression thereafter.
That is a very cursory look at the basics of winemaking. You will find all sorts of variants and tricks employed by your favorite winemakers — some less savory than others — but this should give you the idea. It's important to know these basics, as most of these steps affect the finished product in subtle or overt ways which we will explore later.
Your homework assignment this time is rather right-brain. Open up a bottle of wine (or one of each!) with a friend, and wonder at the amazing process that turned those little berries into the delectable beverage you're enjoying.
Here are some suggestions:
2005 Chateau Thivin Beaujolais Cote de Brouilly
2005 Bodegas Borsao "Tres Picos" Garnacha
2006 Pomello Sauvignon Blanc California
2006 Joseph Leitz "Dragonstone" Riesling
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