Red wine making differs from white wine making by one key difference: The juice ferments with grape skins to make it red.
There’s more to red wines than just the color. Learning more about red wine making will reveal secrets about quality, taste and how it is made can enhance your palate.
Wine making Pictures View the process of grape making in photos and a movie.
Grapes stop ripening once they are picked.
Step 1: Harvest the red wine grapes
Red wine is made from black (aka purple grape) wine grapes. All the color in red wine is made from anthocyanin, a red pigment found in grape skins.
The most important thing during grape harvest is to pick the grapes
- Too early picking can lead to tart, thin-tasting wines.
- Wines that are picked too late can taste sour and gummy.
The grape harvest season for winemakers is the most important (and most tense!) time.
Bolder reds like Cabernet get the stems removed before the fermentation.
Step 2: Prepare grapes for fermentation.
Grapes are taken to the winery after the harvest. The winemaker will decide whether to remove stems or ferment grape bunches in whole clusters.
This is a good choice as it adds astringency ( also known as tannin) and reduces the sourness. Pinot Noir ferments with whole clusters, but Cabernet Sauvignon does not.
This step also gives grapes sulfur dioxide to prevent bacterial spoilage. This eye-opening article explains the importance of sulfites for your health.
Yeasts like Saccharomyces Cerevisiae eat sugar and make alcohol.
Step 3: The yeast starts the wine fermentation
The sugar-eating yeasts eat the grape sugars to make alcohol. You can find yeast in a commercial package (similar to what you would find in bread baking) or in juice.
Spontaneous fermentation is done with yeast that’s naturally found on grapes.
- Winemakers can produce consistent wines year after year with commercial yeasts.
- Natural yeast can be more difficult but produce more complex aromatics.
A red wine fermentation takes about 2 weeks to finish.
Step 4: Alcoholic fermentation
Winemakers use many methods to adjust the wine’s pH during fermentation.
The fermenting juice is stirred frequently to submerge skins. They float! You can do this by pumping wine on top. Another way is to use a large potato masher to remove the “cap” from floating grape skins.
- Pump overs extract a lot of flavor from grape skins to make rich reds.
- Punch downs extract more flavors delicately, and so they tend to make more subtle red wines.
We can get an additional 15% more wine by pressing the skins.
Step 5: Press the wine.
It takes wine 5-21 days for sugar to ferment into alcohol. Some rare wines, like Vin Santo or Amarone, take up to 4 years to ferment fully.
Vintners remove the wine from the tank after fermentation and press the skins in a wine press. Winemakers get about 15% more wine by pressing the skins.
Step 6: Malolactic fermentation, also known as “second fermentation”
Second fermentation occurs when the red wine is left to settle in barrels or tanks. A tiny microbe eats the wine acids and turns them into creamier, more chocolatey lactic acids. This acid is also found in greek yogurt!
Climactic Fermentation is used for nearly all red wines, but it’s only used for a few white wines. Chardonnay is the white wine that we all know. It is responsible for Chardonnay’s buttery and creamy flavors.
Step 7: Aging
Red wines can age in many storage containers, including concrete, glass, clay and stainless steel tanks. Wine ages differently in each container.
Wine is most affected by wooden barrels. The oak wood flavors the wine with natural compounds, which smells like vanilla.
Clay and unlined concrete tanks can soften wine by reducing acidity.
The main factor that influences red wine’s flavor is the time it has been aging. The longer wine sits, the more chemical reactions occur within the wine. Red wines are described as becoming smoother and more nuanced with age.
Focus on texture if you have a chance to make your wine blend.
Step 8: Blending wine
Once the wine has been properly conditioned, it is time to create the final blend. To make a bottle of wine, a winemaker will blend grape varieties or barrels from the same grape.
Mixing wine can be challenging because you need to use your senses of texture and taste on your palate, not your nose.
Blending is a tradition that has created many of the most famous wine blends in the world.
Fining and filtering reduce the risk of bacterial spoilage.
Step 9: Clarifying wine
Clarification is an important step in the making of red wine. Many winemakers use clarification or “fining” agents to remove suspended proteins from the wine. Proteins can make the wine cloudy.
While it is common for winemakers to use fining agents such as egg whites or casein, there are a growing number of winemakers who are using bentonite clay .
After that, the wine is passed through a filter to ensure sanitation. This is essential because it lowers the risk of bacterial spoilage.
Fine winemakers don’t fine or filter their wines because they feel it reduces quality and texture. You can decide if that is true.
Step 10: Bottling, labeling and packaging wines
It’s now time to bottle your wine. This step should be done with the least amount of oxygen exposure. To preserve wine, a small amount of sulfur dioxide may be added.
Many fine wines continue to age in bottles for years.
Step 11: Bottle age
A few wines are considered special because they can age in the winemaker’s cellar for many years. This step is essential for reserve bottlings, as you can see if you search for different red wines.