Wine making basics. A Glimpse At Making Wine

A Glimpse At Making Wine

Author: Patrick Carpen

Most wine manufacturers will agree, and will tell you straight to the point, that grape is most preferred fruit when it comes to manufacturing wine. Of course, there are other fruits that do a great job of producing high quality wine...such as berries. But when you consider the almost equivalent amount of acid and sugar in grapes, unlike other fruits, you know you just can't go wrong.

There are mainly three categories of wine - fortified, sparkling, and table. One some occasions, a bit of brandy is added to enrich the alcohol. When this is done, the wine is dubbed "fortified" wine. When the CO2 in wine is of a significant level, making it fizzy, it is called "sparkling" wine. Champagne is an example of sparkling wine. The most distinct form or category of wine is called "table" wine. This is wine in its natural form. 

Most people in general prefer to make their wine with grapes. This is because grapes are known to contain an almost equivalent amount of acid and sugar?a feature that isn't found in any other type of fruit. The drying of grapes to produce wine requires a great amount of heat. When using grapes for wine production, knowing the exact harvest season is critical. Picking the grapes out of season will cause your wine to suffer due to increased level of sugar and lack of acidity. The grapes or other fruit is crushed by a large cylindrical container that will deflate the juicy parts of the fruit into large bags. 

In fermentation the yeast present will convert the sugar into alcohol. The wine starts to develop a buttery flavor as the sugars break down into alcohol. The next stage in wine manufacturing is "settling". This is the stage where the yeast cells or any other type of material flow near the top of the wine. Filtration is then applied and all sediments are gathered on the filter. Some people do not consider filtering necessary in wine making. 

Next, what we refer to as "aging" begins. The wine is packed in sealed containers with no air contacts for months, or even years. After aging, the wine is transferred into smaller bottles. It is then shipped and sold. The wine is bottled in a way that makes it easy to tell what type of wine it is. Wine is bottled in colored bottles to reduce the risk of oxidation, damage, and several other complications. Labels on the bottles indicate the manufacturer and brand of wine.

Once bought, storage of wine is a critical factor in its safekeeping. Wine is best kept in cool damp places such as the basement, underground cellar etc. Wherever you store your wine, do remember that the desired temperature is 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Fluctuating temperatures are hazardous to the keeping of wine. A 60% humidity level is desired to keep the cork moist. Too low a temperature is a risk factor for safe storage of wine as well. Remember, wine that is properly stored and taken care of is a truly amazing drink.

About the Author: The Platinum Recipes Collection, located at http://www.platinumrecipescollection.com lists thousands of recipes in hundreds of categories. Patrick Carpen is the developer of this website Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - A Glimpse At Making Wine


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