Friday 31 May 2013

Fine Wine Requires Extra Effort and Care During the Vinification and Fermentation Processes



If anything can be said about the making of excellent wine, then vinification and the wine-makers work begins first and foremost always in vineyards.

Picking grapes in a vineyard is nor simple task. It requires careful organization and management and should not nor never left to simple chance of events. Picking of the grapes themselves must be well organized with the aim of filling each vat with the most homogeneous results and material possible. This applies to grape variety, situation of the vine and vines themselves, size of the actual harvest on hand; level of ripeness of the grapes themselves and overall as well as individual health of the grapes gathered themselves.

Overall the basic rule that can never be repeated enough is that it is no use thinking that the deficiencies of one component in fine wine making can be made up by the proper or even better qualities or process down the line. It just does not work that way - when it comes to the creation of and care of fine wine and wines. A person - an amateur who is just starting out dabbling in the fine art of making good if not excellent wine might think that by adding care or better ingredients down the line that they can get away with a poor start or even sloppiness but what inevitably happens is that the best - the really good if not excellent ingredients always seem to get lost in the whole. Starting off to make good wine, and substituting off substandard grape stock to make that product is just false economy overall. Later on , careful tasting of each vat or grouping of wine can control those that "just do not make the grade", but overall if the first lesson and indeed rule of homogeneity is carried out consistently and indeed to the letter , then you can expect few unexpected or nasty surprises in your wine making career and / or hobby.

Red grapes usually go through a crusher stemmer, that is unless the additional tannin from the stems is required and are conserved. The crushing process is extremely light with the overall aim of getting enough juice to start the fermentation. Fermentation either starts naturally, with natural yeasts, or selected cultivated yeasts are used, that is if absolute control is desired.

In a natural fermentation setting and process, the wild yeasts will be the process. Overall normal temperatures to be maintained for the good fermentation of red wine are between 28 and 30 degrees C (that works out to between 82 and 86 degrees F.) Some authorities may use lower temperatures to prolong fermentation.

With white wines it's a slightly different process. The stalks of the vines themselves are not removed. This makes for quick and easy pressing of the grapes themselves. A small amount of sulfur dioxide (SO2) may be added go prevent fermentation from occurring right away. Temperatures for the fermentation process of white wines are much lower generally than those employed for creating good red wine. Instead of the range of 28 to 30 degrees C much lower temperatures overall are employed - usually between 15 to 20 degrees Celsius, that corresponds in the Fahrenheit range of 60 to 68 degrees F. Is it worth all this extra effort and organization to produce a fine wine product? You be the judge at the end as you carefully taste your finished wine product. http://ezinearticles.com/?Fine-Wine-Requires-Extra-Effort-and-Care-During-the-Vinification-and-Fermentation-Processes&id=2304049


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