A lot of people enjoy drinking wine, but few people actually know about making wine. People may pretty much appreciate the wine better if they realized; and they will also be able to choose wine better. For some, wine making is a hobby. And they start studying the craft by learning the wine making terms.
Wine Making: More than Just Fermentation
A lot of people think that wine making is as easy as fermenting grapes. Fermentation is the key part of wine making, but then there are still other things concerned in wine making.
Fermentation is actually a chemical process that involves putting in yeast into the fruit juice. In turn, the yeast turns the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide. In addition there are other particulars you have to look at. Fermentation alone can be done in several ways.
Barrel Fermented Wine versus Tank Fermented Wine
When the wine is barrel fermented, the "must" is placed in barrels. Wines would have complex flavors. This is, of course, a result from the chemicals drawn from the wooden barrel. This unique taste is common in white wines. Barrel aging differs from barrel fermentation. In barrel aging, the wine is only put into wooden barrels soon after fermentation.
Many wines, however, are tank fermented. This is when the juice is situated directly in a stainless tank for fermentation. The juice undergoes cold soaking so that red wine will get its color from the skin from the grapes. In cold soaking, the tanks are cooled down to a point where ice starts forming outside. This will extract the colour from the grape skin. Furthermore, it will even out the wine. Of course, regulation on the container's temperature is only doable in tanks.
The Importance of Yeast
Yeast is the catalyst that incites fermentation, so it is quite a crucial ingredient. Many wine makers quite frankly don't add yeast to the wine. They depend on the natural yeast which is already found on the grapes. However, such technique sometimes results in stuck fermentation. Which is when fermentation stops, and why lab-created yeast is used by most wine makers.
Other Widely used Wine Making Terms
The term "must" had been mentioned earlier. It simply pertains to the juice before and during fermentation. When you are studying how to make wine, you are also likely going to encounter the term "brix." This is essentially the measurement system utilized in gauging sugar content in grapes and the wine. Brix usually indicates the certain amount of ripeness in grapes throughout the harvest.
In wine making, there is also a process called "blending." This is when different kinds of grapes and grapes from other vineyards are used. Blending is usually done to draw out a different quality of taste to the wine.
In terms of serving the wine, "decanting" may also be done. The term simply means transferring the wine from the bottle to another container or decanter before it is served. This is mainly done to isolate the sediments inside the bottle from the wine.
Aeration, on the other hand, is the process of letting the wine out. This is typically done to bring out the excellent taste and attributes of the wine. This is why people swirl wine of their glasses.
When people mention the wine's "finish", they are basically referring to the taste and the aroma of the wine after they consume the wine.
As you carry on learning how to make wine, you'll discover more new terms. What is key is to understand them as you encounter them as this will develop your understanding of the skill.
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