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Importers of Fine Wines Since 1919 | Resources for the Trade |
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And red wine?In the making of red wine, grapes are harvested and either crushed or pressed. After crushing or pressing, the slurry of seeds, pulp, skins and juice is pumped into a tank or vat where fermentation takes place in contact with the skins.
And rosé and blush wines?
In a nutshell (or should we say “grape skin”), the basic difference between white, red and blush/rosé wines is skin contact. The tannin factorOutside of color, there is another major difference between white, red and blush/rosé wines: tannin
Think tea: the longer it steeps, the stronger and more bitter it gets. The same process is occurring in wine. The longer the juice macerates with the skins, the more tannin (and pigment and flavor!) it picks up. 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10
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Cold soak is a form of maceration that occurs pre-fermentation. The must is chilled (to prevent fermentation) and allowed to rest for a day or two in order to extract pigment, tannins, and flavor compounds. This is an aqueous extraction, i.e. water serves as the solvent. Extended maceration is a winemaking technique in which skin contact continues after fermentation is complete. A wine can undergo extended maceration for days or even weeks! As red wine ages in the bottle, pigment and tannin molecules link up to form large macromolecules that can no longer stay in solution. They precipitate out as sediment. This is the reason why older reds lose their purple color and turn brick red with time. This is also the reason why the wine mellows and softens. The aggressive tannins of youth settle out in the dregs.
What is tannin? Tannin is a bitter-tasting substance that chemically reacts with the proteins in your saliva to dry out your mouth. It is composed of an astringent set of compounds. Tannin causes your mouth parts to chafe (vs. slide liquidly) against each other. The in-mouth sensation is very akin to the texture of peach fuzz, pithy, unripe bananas and cotton balls! The four most tannic commercially produced wines are made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz/Syrah, Nebbiolo and Tannat.
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You see, the overwhelming majority of all grape juice is clear. The red/purple color of red wines, the pigment, is leeched from the skins of the grapes during the course of fermentation. Heat (one of the by-products of fermentation) aids in this process as does alcohol (one of the best of all solvents). After fermentation is complete, the slurry is pumped into the wine press to separate the liquid from the solid elements, and the liquid that comes out of that wine press is red and it is already wine.
In the making of classic rosé or blush wine, pigmented grapes are crushed or pressed and allowed just a few hours of skin contact before pressing. This enables the juice to pick up just a hint of pink or peach coloring as the pigment is pulled from the grape skins. After pressing, the pink juice is fermented into wine.
Tannin is a component of the grape skin and is leeched into the wine in the course of fermentation along with pigment. Naturally, a white wine that has no skin contact is devoid of tannin. Red wine has a significant amount of tannin due to prolonged skin contact. Blush/rosé wine has modest amounts of tannin.
Skin contact refers to the maceration process—a process in which the juice is literally in contact with the skins.
Once squeezed into the neck of a wine bottle, a cork will regain 98% of its original volume within 24 hours ensuring an air-tight and wine-tight seal.
Most wine casks are made from oak.