Het bedrijf van Castellani werd aan het einde van de 19e eeuw in Montecalvoli opgericht toen Alfred, een al lang...
- There are no more items in your cart
- Shipping
- Total € 0.00
Making wine
What is wine
Wine is by definition made from fermented grape juice. There are many ways to make grape juice into wine, traditional ways but also more modern ways such as Maceration Carbonique making wine seems simple, but there are many aspects that make the wine a good product or not.
Describing vinification winemaking is therefore diverse as there are many ways to make wine, we describe one of the ways below
Harvesting the Grapes
To make wine, only grapes from the Vitis Vinifera are needed, which is a family of climbing plants. The pulp of the grapes contains the sugars and acids. The aromas are located on the inside of the skin. The peel itself contains dyes and tannins. Tannins are bitter-tasting substances that are also in the seeds and stalks. If you let a tannin-rich wine pass through the mouth, it pulls on the gums. On the outside of the skin are the natural (wild) yeast cells that can initiate fermentation often other yeast cells are also added.
Between the moment of picking and transport to the winery, a lot can happen to the grapes, this is an extremely important moment for quality. Any damage, bruising of the grape or too high a temperature is not conducive. Oxidation of the grapes is the big enemy here. Solutions are hand-picking, transporting in small containers so that the weight of the grapes does not crush the bottom ones, preferably at the lowest possible temperature, some winemakers also transport the grapes in closed containers with carbon dioxide already added to prevent oxidation. go.
Machine harvesting, no matter how convenient it is, the risk of damage remains greater, manual selection and harvesting always yields better quality than machine harvesting.
In warm climates, it is preferable to pick at night and early in the morning and the grapes are cooled in the cellar, if the grapes are too warm, the start of fermentation will also have a higher temperature, which is not good start of the process because the fermentation itself raises the temperature.
Pressing the grapes
Grapes for white wine, where no color has to be extracted from the skin of the grape, are pressed immediately before the start of fermentation. Grapes destined for red wine, or the remains thereof, are pressed only after the end of the alcoholic fermentation when the yeast vat has been drained, the skins of the blue grapes sink to the bottom of the barrel and are scooped out and taken to the press. Before the grapes end up in the press or the fermenter, the leaves are completely or partially destemmed. This is done to avoid bitter tannins and the wine can be sold faster. For this reason, too, it is important to press the grapes as gently as possible and not to damage the seeds. If the wine is aged in wood, the wooden barrels also give off some tannins to the wine.
andlt; /pandgt;
Alcoholic fermentation
Alcoholic fermentation is the essential part of vinification. The sugars are converted by yeast cells mainly into alcohol and carbon dioxide and aromas. The winemaker usually adds their own yeast cells to the must so that they are not at risk and complications that the wild yeast cells that are already present on the grape can cause. Winemakers who grow organically very often add their own yeast cells, these usually come from the area where the grape also grows
The fermentation starts at 14/15 degrees heat, but when the temperature reaches 35 degrees or higher, the yeast cells die. They cannot tolerate this temperature. The yeast cells convert the sugars to alcohol, carbon dioxide, aromas with the help of oxygen. the yeast cells also die again when the alcohol level reaches 15%. The dead yeast cells sink to the bottom when the sugars have been converted into alcohol. Two factors therefore determine the life of the yeast cell: the temperature and the alcohol content. If the balance between these 2 factors is right, wine is created
The alcoholic fermentation can take place at a warm or cold temperature. A low temperature of 18/22 degrees for white and rosé wines, a high temperature of 28/32 degrees for red wines. A lower fermentation temperature, below 20 degrees, ensures that the aromas in white wines come into their own. A higher temp temperature above 30 degrees for a short time provides more color and flavor in red wines.
For both cold and warm fermentation, it is important to have a cooling system that ensures that the temperature does not rise too high during the fermentation process. If the temperature is too high, you run the risk that the fermentation will become too high and the wine will fail. In the past, fermentation was done in wooden barrels and the barrels were sprayed with water to cool them, after the invention of the ice machine, ice blocks were used to regulate the temperature. nowadays the fermenters all contain a system through which cold water runs through tubes that are mounted in the fermentation vessel with computers, this can be controlled and monitored. .
Malolactic fermentation, converting malic acid to lactic acid
The alcoholic fermentation is followed by malolactic fermentation. The malolactic or lactic acid fermentation is a bacteriological process in which yeasts no longer play a role. The hard malic acids are converted into softer lactic acids.
Red wine usually almost always has a malolactic fermentation. Sometimes this immediately follows the alcoholic fermentation, when the young wine is even warm, but it can also happen that the malolactic fermentation starts much later, even weeks later. In cool climates you regularly see that a separate part of the cellar is heated in order to control the Malolactic process.
For white wines, malolactic fermentation is not much practiced because many of these wines want to retain the acidity to make them attractive. sometimes half of the white wines undergo a malolactic fermentation and the other half do not, if the acids are too high this can be compensated.
White wine
With white wine, the grapes are pressed immediately after harvesting and before the start of fermentation. Sometimes to extract as many aromas as possible from the skins, grapes are also allowed to soak for a short time before they are pressed. We call this the Macération Prefermentaire or Pellulaire, skin contact the English call it.
After pressing, the juice is allowed to rest for clarification. the juice is cooled to about 4 to 5 degrees. Then small organic particles that are still in the juice after pressing precipitate and the must becomes clear. also called débourbage
If the harvest was late and there is a high sugar content, fermentation may stop before all sugars have been converted into alcohol. The result is then a sweet wine. Sweet wine can also arise because the fermentation stops due to a too low temperature in the cellar. We see this a lot in Germany.
Making red wine
Red wine is usually destemmed and crushed, and the grapes are left to ferment and soak. Complete or partial de-steeling is intended to prevent astringent tannins or bitter flavors in the wine, but for a wine that is intended to be stored longer, the tannins are welcome, these are also the natural preservative medium. Wines that have matured with a higher tannin content are usually a bit rounder in taste. The fermentation of red wine usually takes 7 to 15 days, after which the sugars are converted to alcohol
During fermentation, the so-called hat, a layer of husks and seeds, forms on top of the must. To promote the absorption of colorants and aromas, it is important to allow the fermenting wine to come into contact with the hat. This can be done by regularly submerging the hat "pigeage" or by pumping the wine over it from underneath "remontage"
Another way to get the red color of the phenols out of the peel is to heat briefly to 34 degrees not higher, otherwise the yeast cells will die. When the fermentation is complete, the wine can soak for a while with the hat. The longer the maceration lasts, the more extract the wine has
After this, the solid mass of skins and pips that lie at the bottom of the barrel after the wine has been drained is taken to the press. The wine that comes out of the press is a lot more bitter and tannic than the free-run wine, but can be added to the run-off wine later to give it a bit more "bite".
Macération Carbonique Vinification
Macération carbonique, is another form of vinification of red wine that is often carried out in the Beaujolais. This technique of making red wines with sufficient color and few tannins is intended to produce a fruity wine e make. The winemaker does not crush the grapes as in the previous story, the grapes go into the fermenter as intact as possible, complete bunches. The fermenter is sealed airtight, after which carbon dioxide is added to expel the oxygen and to prevent oxidation from continuing the process. Due to the great weight of the grapes, the skins crack, which starts the fermentation. However, the carbon dioxide released during fermentation cannot escape through the closed cuve, so that the pressure continues to rise, so the must actually squeezes itself. Because there is no oxygen present, the fermentation stops
We now have a fermented juice with a low alcohol percentage. the juice is allowed to run off - the must remains in the vat. then the continuation of the alcoholic fermentation takes place, so without the skins. If the winemaker wants to give the wine more body, structure and tannins, he can add juice from the pressed skins "vin de presse"
Making wine in this way usually has a lower acid and tannin content than wines made in the traditional way, such as red wines. These wines have a smooth and fruity taste and are usually drunk young because the potential for storage is usually there. is no longer present. Well-known wines from the Beaujolais, Beaujolais scoop. Beaujolais Nouveau is bottled and drunk as early as November. Other areas where macération carbonique is practiced are the Languedoc and Spain.
Wood aging or Wood aging
After the vinification has ended, a lot has happened to the wine. The wine must therefore rest for a while. This can be done in wooden barrels or on steel tanks. The AOC indicates whether the wine should mature in barrels and for how long, this is not always so the winegrower can decide for himself whether he wants to let his wine mature in barrels longer than the AOC indicates, if no wooden barrels are used, the wine usually rests in the stainless steel tanks for six months.
Red wines that contain a lot of tannins usually need a long ripening time to bring out their quality. Usually these wines benefit from aging in wooden barrels, but the barrels also give off some tannins to the wine. because the wood of the barrels breathes, it provides a supply of oxygen that contributes to the breakdown and maturation of the tannins. The wood-aged Bordeaux wines, if properly stored, can be stored for decades.
Wood bearing
Most white wine is fermented in stainless steel tanks whose temperature is easy to control. Fermentation at a low temperature ensures that the aromas are preserved.
With Chardonnay it is quite a case that these have had wood aging and barrique or barrel fermentation. After fermentation, a period of several months usually follows, still in the same barrel. The wine therefore remains in contact with the dead yeast cells and then matures on the Lie, which produces richness and complexity. To intensify this contact, the groin is stirred several times, this is called bâtonnage. Sometimes a winegrower has a wooden barrel with a transparent lid, then the Lie is clearly visible.
filter andamp; clear
Transferring wine from one place to crossing and when bottling. Wine is sensitive to transport and movement. The wine can be pumped over, but the pump also stores oxygen in the wine, which in turn causes oxidation. The preference is usually for siphoning on gravity, but this is not always possible, but it is better.
To clarify the wines, protein is used to bind the floating particles and the wine becomes clear. Nowadays animal products are also avoided and bentonite is also used, a kind of fine clay (a substance based on fine clay). To prevent tartrates (crystals) in white wine, they are given a cold treatment so that those tartrates precipitate.
Filtering gives stability and clarity, the lighter it can be done the better because otherwise it can take away some of the complexity.