Sooner or later, a percentage of people who enjoy these wines tend to move toward making wine on their own.
As their taste palate increases for a better red or white wine, they tend to turn to home wine making. Do it yourself home winemakers often draft friends and fellow enthusiasts to help them. You bribe them with lots of other libations _ but only after the picking, crushing, pressing, and cleanup.
For this first of many articles on making wine, here's some background.
Commercial Winery:
The No. 1 one factor in making commercial wine is funding. There are considerable costs for: federal and state permits and filing process, winery construction (state permits, building location, building plans, building codes); purchasing or renting winery grape crushers, presses, containers, chemicals, yeast and grapes; . For cold room environment for fermenting and cold stability, pumps, hoses, filters, bottles, corks (and corker), labels, capsules, and storage facility to store all of the wood barrels or cases of wine.
Cost for Laboratory analyses, alcohol federal taxes, and state taxes.
Enough already, Let's us get back to the subject on making wine.
The best wine can be made from the best grape. This has been told and told again from old time winemakers, grape growers and academia.
From my experience and expertise, it takes a great winemaker to transform any wine grape variety into the best wine possible. And at times not just the grape, but what type of wine are you producing. Does the type of wood barrel create this extra ordinary wine, or just a few more days on the grape vine (I will discuss grape hang time in later articles)?
From the last week in July thru Mid-November, grape growers are out in the vineyards testing the grape for the proper Brix [sugar] (glucose, fructose, sucrose), using what is called a handheld refractometer. This instrument looks like a small telescope, which if you look inside you will see a scale of numbers reading from zero to thirty five (some handheld refractometer have higher scale). Located in the front of this instrument is a glass prism with a clear plastic hinge lid. Lifting the plastic lid and adding a drop of grape liquid, then slowly lowering the lid. Hold it up to sunlight you will see the amount of Brix [sugar] (glucose, fructose, sucrose) is in the grape.
When the winemaker decides at what Brix [sugar] is needed the grower or winery will schedule to harvest the grape.
Brix (Balling):
18.0 - 20.0 - normally for sparkling wine
20.0 - 21.5 - light fruit white or rose
22.5 - 23.5 - big white wine aged in wood barrel
23.6 - 24.5 - red wine great for aging
26.0 - 29.0 - late harvest, port(s), heavy red
Other United States Wineries and European Countries use either, Baume, Specific gravity to measure sugar in grape must, juice, and wine.
Winemaker will either use a commercial purchase yeast culture, or use wild yeast from the winery vineyard.
Note that when the winemaker has mention of wild yeast is used at the winery; the winery is using yeast that has been produced from all of the red pressed pomace. Pomace is then transferred back to the winery vineyard, either spread between the grape rows, or turned into compost, then spread. Next year, as the grape start to develop on the vine the yeast cells start to develop on the grape.
On a scientific (research project) note, when every winery throughout California is fermenting, yeast cells travel up and down the state with the pervading winds.
- White and Rose wines are stemmed / crushed, and pressed. Transfer to container (glass, stainless steel, wood barrel), SO2 (sulfur dioxide) added and settled over night at around 60F(15.5C).
Next day rack (pump) clear liquid (must) into another container, add yeast (note if
fermentation does not start, move(if possible) to warmer room to start. Then move back into 60F(15.5C) room for primary fermentation
- Carbonic Carbonation: whole red grape clusters are put into a fermenter with small amount of fermented yeast. The yeast cells ferment within the grape to produce a fruity wine. French call this "Nouveaux", first wine of the year.
- Red wines are stemmed / crushed SO2 added (no SO2 added for wild yeast), some winemakers will cold soak at 60F (15.5C) the must (skins, seeds, and liquid) for one to a week to extract more color from the grape).
The must is transferred back to its fermenter at fermentation temperature of 80F
(26.5C), yeast strain added.
- Some winemakers will wait longer before harvesting red grape varieties, this is called hand time. Some winemakers believe this gives the final wine quality. Yes, if the winery owns the vineyard, but costly for an outside grape grower. As the grape grower rely on the cost of grape tonnage.
This first of many articles are of the making of wine, your comments on any of these articles are for the readers to educate them on the winemaking and eventually tasting.
I would enjoy your comments on any subject, or on any other winemaking subjects
on grape, winery problems you would like to share.