Wine is an alcoholic beverage obtained by the fermentation of grape juice. 99% of the world's wines are made from the juice of the Vitis vinifera grape family. Beverages fermented from the juice of the fruit, berries, vegetables, or other plants may also be described as a wine, but the name of such wines always indicates the nature of the raw material (for example: apple wine, currant wine, dandelion wine, etc.).
WINE TYPES
Classically, wines are divided into three by color:
White wines
Rosé wines
Red wines
White wines are mostly made from white grapes, rarely from dark-skinned grape varieties by rapid pressing. Rosé and red wines are made from dark-skinned grape varieties; then, the wine acquires its color by soaking (maceration) the berries, during which the dyes and tannins are released from the skins into the must. Mixing white and red wines is often allowed in the production of rosé sparkling wines. Wines can also be classified according to the amount of so-called residual sugars they contain - dry, semi-dry, semi-sweet, or sweet or dessert wines. In addition, wines may be subdivided into carbon dioxide pressure as still (no CO 2) or sparkling wines.
MAKING WINES
Prerequisites for making wine are well-ripened grapes, which contain a lot of sugars but also acids and minerals. The sufficient presence of all these components ensures a high-quality and complex wine. The winemaking process consists of the following steps:
Harvesting of ripe sweet berries and transporting them from the vineyard to the winery.
Grafting, sorting, crushing, and pressing of bunches.
Fermentation takes place in either stainless steel or concrete tanks, but sometimes also in oak barrels. Wine yeast "eats" the sugars in the must and produces alcohol and carbon dioxide. The more sugar in the must, the more alcoholic the wine.
Maturation or aging also takes place in stainless steel or concrete containers. In the case of more valuable wines, also in different sizes of oak barrels.
Stabilization or clarification and filtration take place before the wine is bottled. It must be ensured that the wine is clear, clean, and free from sediments. Sometimes filtration is not carried out, and especially red wines may contain some sediment.
Bottling. Once all the above processes have been completed, the wine is bottled, labeled, and marketable. Sometimes some producers age their precious wines in bottled form in the wine cellar before they are put up for sale.
