Factors affecting Wine Style, Quality and Price Flashcards
What are the main factors affecting wine style, quality and price ?
- Grape Variety
- Environment
- Grape Growing
- Winemaking
- Maturation
What are the factors affecting costs ?
- In the vineyard
- Site
- Possibility for mechanisation
- Labour or Equipment availability
- Yield size and selection practices
- In the Winery
- Equipment and its usage
- Barrels cost or other oak forms
- Ageing
- Packaging, distribution and Sale
- Exchange rates
- Packaging
- Transport costs
- Efficiency of the distributor and retailer and profit margins
- Taxes
- Consumer speculation
What are the steps for making red ?
1- Crushing grapes
2- Fermentation of juice and skins (Punching and pumping for red to keep contact between them, skins removed early for rosé)
- Done at high temp 20-30 deg C for 5 days to 2
weeks
3- Pressing skins for red, free run wine and rosé goes directly to maturation
4 - Maturation in vats, barrels or stainless steel tanks
5 - Blending for red
6 - Bottling
What does a vine needs to grow and be healthy ?
- Carbon dioxide
- Sunlight
- Water
- Warmth
- Nutrients
How does climate affects wine growing ? Typical weather conditions (rainfall, sunshine, temperatures)
- 3 categories: hot, moderate, cool
- Hot climate = More alcohol, fuller body, more tannin, less acidity
- Cool climate = Less alcohol, lighter body, less tannin, more acidity
- Cabernet Sauvignon need a lot of heat to ripe
- Sauv blanc and pinot noir need moderate or cool climate or else they overripe and lose refreshing fruit and acidity
- Chardonnay can adapt to multiple climate
How does weather affects wine growing ?
- Most important time is the growing season
- Extreme weather: Hail, high winds, floods, late frost affect the quality and size of the crop.
- Blending helps to prevent variation in vintages
How does sunlight affects wine growing ?
- This is the source of energy allowing the grapes to combine CO2 and water into sugar
- When far from the Equator, vines a planted on slopes to maximize sun exposure. (or above reflecting rivers)
How does water affects wine growing ? (from rain, ground, irrigation)
- Too much water causes the grapes to bloat giving bigger crops but diluted wines. Need drain friendly soil or slope
- Wet conditions encourages rot growing
- When too few water then we need irrigation for the vine to survive.
How does warmth affects wine growing ?
- If too cold or too hot, sugar production slows or stop
- Best zone between 30 and 50 from the Equator
- When too hot, vine evaporates water through leaves to cool itself
- Affected by climate and weather
- Soil can also influence warmth by its capacity to absorb or reflect warmth
- Dry stony soil + warm than wet clay
How does nutrients affects wine growing ?
- The vine needs tiny well balanced amount of nutrients provided by soils
- With sufficient nutrients, poorer soils give better quality grapes (roots can dig deep to get nutrients)
Grape growing factors affecting wine ?
Higher cost (labour intensive):
- Careful pruning
- Controlling number of bunches of grapes
- Positioning leaves to control grape temperature and exposure to sunlight
- Yield control, littler crop
- Pests and diseases
- Hand harvest vs grape selection vs machine harvest
Lower cost:
- Minimal pruning and mechanisation where possible
Which pests and diseases can affect vines ?
- Animal pest (Birds and insects)
- Fungal diseases (mildew, rot)
- Long-term diseases (Fungi, bacteria, viruses)
What is the anatomy of a grape ?
- Stalks (contains tannins)
- Skin (contains colour, tannin, flavour compound)
- Pulp (contains, water, sugar, acids)
- Flesh almost always white
- Seeds (contain bitter oils)
What is the process of fermentation ?
- Process of yeast feeding on sugars and producing alcohol, CO2 and heat. Changing at the same time the flavours of grape juice to wine ones.
What are the steps for making white wine ?
1- Crushing grapes (sometime sulfur is added)
2- Pressing grapes to separate the juice quickly from the skins
3- Yeast is added (commercial or natural)
4- Fermentation done in open topped concrete or wooden fermenters, barrels or stainless steel tanks
- Done at low temp between 12-22 degC to
preserve fruit aromas for 2 to 4 weeks
- Done commonly in barrel form premium
Chardonnays (Burgundy)
5- Maturation
6 - Bottling
