Wine making is a combination of art and science. There are basically four steps, from when the grapes have been harvested (plucked from the vine), and turned into wine. Here they are, in their most simplest form;
1. Crushing/Pressing – when the grapes arrive at the winery they are sorted and de-stemmed before being gently crushed to release the sugars that are contained within the grape. Crushing was once done by stomping on the grapes by foot. Today, we use machinery that has a much gentler effect on the grapes. The pressing of white grapes usually occurs quickly so the juice can be separated from it’s skins, seeds and solids to prevent unwanted colour and tannins. Where as red wines, are often left for hours or even days to extract the required colour and tannin levels from the grape skins. This is the first of many decisions the wine maker must make.
2. Fermentation – occurs when the sugars that have been released come into contact with yeast. Natural yeast is often found on the outside of the grape skins (wild yeasts) alternatively you can add commercially cultured yeast to the crush. The by-product of the yeast eating the sugars is the creation of alcohol. Fermentation will naturally continue until all of the sugar is converted into alcohol or the yeast dies. Therefore, wine makers decide when to stop the fermentation process. If it is stopped before all of the sugar is converted, there will be a desired amount of sweetness left in the wine. The longer the fermentation is allowed to continue, the drier the wine.
3. Clarification – is the process of removing all the unwanted and unsightly solids (dead yeast cells, pulp and tannins) in the wine. There are various methods used to ‘filter’ the wines, and the degree to which the wines are clarified/filtered depends on the desired wine style. Wines can go through a number of ‘rackings’ before the wine maker will decide to put the wine into bottle.
4. Ageing – wines can be aged in barrel, stainless steel or bottle. Some wines will go through both barrel ageing and bottle ageing before being released. An affect of barrel ageing is the wine taking on an ‘oaky’ flavour, the longer the wine is left in a ‘new’ oak barrel, the more oakier the wine will taste. Ageing in ‘old’ barrels doesn‘t impart as much ‘oak’ flavour, instead it allows the wine time for the various flavours in the wine to integrate, it can also help soften any angular tannin or acidity levels. Ageing is an expensive process that doesn’t benefit all wines. Some wines are better drunk fresh and crisp with no ageing, so the amount a wine is aged depends solely on the wine style.
The art behind making wine, is to craft a wine where you can acknowledge that it is superior to others, but can’t easily attribute that to any one feature in the wine. Rather you have a subtle and consistent flow of flavour, tannin, acid structure and layers of complexity that all merge into one, resulting in a balanced and seamless wine with exceptional length and endless enjoyment (the bottle may be empty, but the memory lingers).
Unlike warmer regions where the grapes ripen quickly making sweet, big wines, low in acid and high in alcohol, the grapes grown in a Cool Climate have a much slower, longer growing season. This allows the flavours to slowly develop, building complex wines that show restraint and poise. These subtleties are sometimes the hardest to extract, without exploiting them. Therefore the art involved in making Cool Climate wines is for the wine maker to show great restraint too. The art in making great wine, is when the wine maker can leave an invisible footprint, instead allowing the wine to taste of its vineyard and vintage.
