Red Wine Making Flashcards
What are the major differences between red wine making and white wine making?
White wines are usually pressed before fermentation while red wines are pressed after fermentation
Red wines spend an extended period of time in contact with their skins before and during fermentation, extracting tannin and color from the lengthy skin contact whereas white wines are direct pressed or shortly contacted with skin before fermentation
Nearly all reds go through malolactic conversion and for whites it’s really up to the winemaker to decide whether the white goes through MLC.
What does cold soaking/ cold maceration do?
Cold soaking is pre-fermentation extration in low temperature, which encourages a slow, long extraction of flavors and color (but not tannin) from red grapes.
Tannins aren’t mean ingfully extracted during cold soaks because tannins are more soluble in alcohol, which is present only after fermentation begins.
Pre-fermentation maceration
Alcoholic fermentation
Draining and pressing
Malolactic fermentation
Maturation
What winemaking elements must be closely managed during red winemaking?
Density and temperature of the must;
Oxygen level of the must;
The cap that will be created during fermentation;
The duration of skin contact.
What is the typical temperature range for red wine fermentation?
What happens to the yeasts if fermentation temps get too high?
Between 20°C - 32°C (68°F - 90°F).
If fermentation temps go over 90ºF there’s a risk the yeasts will die.
Why are red wines fermented at higher temperatures than white wines?
The higher temperatures allow for the extraction of color, flavor, and tannin which are the hallmarks of red wines.
Why are most red wines produced with lower levels of Sulfur dioxide (SO2) than most white wines?
The extended skin contact a red wine goes through will produce more anti-oxidants and lowers the need for sulfur.
What is the “cap” in red winemaking?
The cap is the accumulated raft of skins, seeds, and other grape solids that float to the top of a fermenting red wine.
What would happen to a red wine if the cap was not managed (punched down or pumped over) during winemaking?
If the cap is not managed, the resulting wine would be considerably less tannic, lighter in color, and would pack a less flavorful punch.
(Off-odors would also develop as the yeasts need oxygen to survive.)
What are some widely practiced examples of cap management methods?
Punching down
Pumping over
Rack and return
Rotary fermenters
What are some of the benefits of cap management?
pumping over- extracting colour and tannin
As fermentation is an exothermic reaction, punching down, and rack-and-return reduce the heat amassed during fermentation.
These methods also allow oxygen into the must (oxygenating the juice).
Rotary fermenters are rotating horizontal tanks, which keep the juice in constant contat with the skins.
Why must the punching down technique be practiced more carefully than other cap management methods?
At the end of the fermentation process, when alcohol is higher, tannins are more easily extracted from the cap. Vgorously or too often punching down can result in an exceedingly bitter and rough (astringent) final wine.
What is one of the key advantages of using a rotary fermenter?
Rotary fermenters continuously agitate (ˈædʒɪteɪt) the cap and juice together making extraction fast, but, if the winemaker isn’t careful, extraction can be too deep and intense.
(Rotary fermenters are commonly used in Australia.)
What wine region is most well known for its use of both carbonic and semi-carbonic maceration?
Beaujolais
Briefly describe what carbonic maceration is.
It is an enzymatic, intracellular fermentation which takes place within the grapes themselves under anaerobic (without oxygen) conditions.
Anaerobic respiration of the grapes will convert the sugars in the grapes into ethanol.
