What Is Involved In Making Wine
To make everything simple with will touch mostly on the wines that are made from grapes alone. These are all put into their separate categories these are Taste, Method of fermentation, vinification and vintage. Many unknowing wine drinkers wouldn't care about the subtle differences in these categories, after all, most people rely completely on the taste of the wine. Although for many of you perfectionists out there wine is your heart and soul.
These wines have to abide by the highest levels, everything has to be exactly dead on, the type of grape, taste and quality of he vintage must all conform to the best standards before any wine master will even think about having it as part of there collection.
Vinification
Vinification is the process by which grape juice is fermented into wine. This fermentation process is what determines the quality of the wine this is what gives the wine its value. A common misconception by the novice wine drinker is the colour of the grape juice varies, this is not so as the juice from a grape (red or white) is almost a clear liquid.
What does determine the color of the wine is whether the grape skins have been fermented with the wine or were they left out, red wines are fermented with there skins on and with white wine the skins have been left off and as for wine, well it is just a combination of the two wines Sparkling wines and champagne are carbonated, this is where carbon dioxide is enter into the mix, this process is achieved by fermenting the grape juice twice.
The 1st fermentation takes place in opened vats this allows all the C02 to be released. Then for the 2nd fermentation the vats are closed, this has the effect of keeping all the carbon dioxide in and mixed with the wine.
Taste
Most wines are described as dry, off-dry, fruity, or sweet. This is a direct result of the amount of sugar that is left over after the fermentation process has ended, Dry wine has very little sugar content, while a sweeter wine has a higher sugar content. Past this basic taste testing, wine tasting enthusiasts have came up with a good method of wine, this would entail more levels of taste and the different smells that the wine releases. Most wine drinkers who are less up to date on their wines have a difficult time comprehending this, but for those of you who are knowledgeable in the wine field think the ability to be able to tell the subtlest of differences to a wine to be a good achievement. As a good example, Cabernet Sauvignon which is loved everywhere around the world has been said to taste of currants, tobacco, chocolate and mint.