All about wine making
The production of wine from start to finish is known by most as simply wine making. The scientific name however is referred to as vinification. The process of course begins with the selection of the grapes, and ending with bottling the same wine that adorns our dinner table’s. The actual science of wine making is called enology, and encompasses all aspects of wine making. However, enology is usually not considered to include the study of vine growing and grape harvesting, which in itself is called viticulture.
Wine makers around the world still pride themselves on what the majority of their ancestors have passed on throughout history and through the generations. Of all thing’s to consider during the creation process, the first step has always been the most important. And that is the selection of the proper grapes, out of over five thousand varieties, that will be used to fill that ever popular bottle. These various type’s can also have an impact, depending on location, as to the time of harvest, as well as the amount of time needed for fermentation.
Beyond the selection of grapes and having a favorable growing season, the next challenge is to decide if/when to harvest the grapes. Picking too early or late has an effect on the bitterness or sweetness of the grapes. This is all dependent on what kind of results the wine makers are looking to achieve. When the grape’s are finally picked, depending on the type of wine to be made, they are taken to be separated. The juices are removed from within the skin and then allowed to set for upwards of a week to ferment and allow some of the sugars to breakdown from within the liquid.
From separation of the juices from the skin and allowing them to ferment over weeks at a time, to transferring them to another fermenting pot, the process at time’s can take close to a month. All of this occurs before bottling is ever considered. After the wine maker’s have achieved the right taste, the wine is bottled and then racked, and allowed to age. Aging of the wine in some instances can take upward of twenty year’s for some of the more finer varieties.
For something to last six millenia, is an accomplishment in and of itself. Continent’s move thousand’s of miles, rivers are formed and dry up, canyon’s even erode away. This natural effect of time however did not have a negative impact on wine making as we see it today. Today, even though we are much more advanced as a society, wine making still retains some if not the majority of it’s original creation methods.
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