We all know making Red Wines have a process to go through… White Wines have a process they go through as well and it’s basically straight forward. There very little that can be considered ‘really’ right or wrong. The thing is you ask 10 different wine makers on something you might get 10 different answers! So as you go along try to find out ‘why’ you do something…not only just ‘what’ to do.
So let’s talk about what it takes to make White wines once they go from the vineyard to the actual wine making process…
After Harvesting the grapes, Crushing and De-stemming the grapes, Cold soaking them and Pressing the juice. There are some key steps that are the important to making white wine.
Ok, here we go with the ‘key steps’…
Key Step 1: Alcoholic Fermentation
This critical process the converting of the sugars into alcohol. Essential! Fermentation requires the action of yeasts in order to turn the sugars into alcohol. Now these yeasts can be the natural yeasts from the vineyard, or specially selected, cultured yeasts. The cultured yeasts are much easier to control and they ensure guarantee a more consistent fermentation. The natural yeasts, on the other hard, ensure a truer manifestation of the vineyard’s terroir, but can be a lot less reliable and more challenging and sluggish. So each has its own set of advantages and disadvantages.
It’s also good to know that aromatic grapes such as Riesling or Sauvignon Blanc are typically fermented in stainless steel or other inactive vessels to preserve their vibrant aromas and flavors.
Also, fermentation temperature also impacts the wine.
Overall, white wines are typically fermented at cooler temperatures than red. The cooler the temperature the more well-preserved the primary fruit aromas and flavors. Warmer temperatures make for a more ‘structured’ wine.
After the alcoholic fermentation.. some white wines go through a process called ‘malolactic fermentation’. It’s a re-stirring! So technically this is not a true fermentation it’s really a conversion of any remaining ‘tart’ malic acid (think green apples) in the wine to the softer lactic acid (think milk).
Again, Chardonnay is one of the main wines to undergo full or partial malolactic fermentation. Have you ever noticed that many Chardonnay wines have a buttery or creamy note? Well, pretty much due to this to this process. It’s so good with Seafood and Shellfish!
When all the fermentation is over, the new wine is resting on all the dead yeast cells, this is called called ‘lees’. The big or heavy lees are usually racked (drained off) off fairly quickly. But many winemakers choose to leave the new wine on the remaining ‘fine lees’ for a period of time… now it can be anything from a few weeks to several months and sometimes even years. The winemakers do this because ageing on the lees adds texture, palate weight and complexity to the wine. It also helps keep the wine fresh while waiting to be bottled.
***Now Blending can happen if desired…and this is a critical in achieving the final desired style.
Wines made from a mix of different grape varieties are probably what’s thought of when we think of first think of blends.
For example; blends from different vineyards or blends of wines from different vats that were treated differently during winemaking or maturation. you see blending enables the winemaker to achieve smoothness and consistency in a wine.
Before bottling, wines can be clarified. This is to ensure that the wine is stable and that’s it’s own involved process in itself…
For example wines with residual sugar really need to be sterile filtrated to make sure that there is not even one little yeast cell still remaining that could start a re-fermentation in the bottle. That’s would suck and would put a major damper on things, so you can imagine…
Those are the Key steps in making white wine that make all the difference in the world.
In breaking it out like this you can better understand what it takes to make the whites which often seems like magic!
Voila! There you go!
