White Wine Vinification

	Harvesting White grapes are harvested and sorted.
	Crushing Harvested grapes are crushed to release the must.
	Pressing Pressing separates the juice from the skins, seeds, and stems.
	Fermentation Yeasts transform the white grape juice into wine (sugar into alcohol).
	Maturation Maturation refers to the time after fermentation.
	Aging Aging refers to the changes in wine after bottling.

Level 1

This a simplified description of how to make a white wine.

A more complete description is found in Level 2.

The first step to produce a white wine, is to harvest white grapes.

Common white grapes are: Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Riesling.

The best quality wines are produced from hand-picked grapes

After harvesting, grapes are sorted to remove unripe, diseased and damaged grapes.

Sorting grapes before crushing

After sorting, the grapes are crushed to crack the skins and release the must.

"Vinum mustum"="Young wine"

Pressing separates the liquid from the solids (skins, seeds, stems).

White wines are pressed before fermentation to avoid contact with the solids.

Red wines are fermented with the solids and pressed after fermentation.

Pressing is the major difference between white and red wine

Alcoholic Fermentation is the transformation of grape juice into wine (sugar into alcohol).

Yeast transforms the sugar in the juice, to alcohol, CO², and heat:

Fermentation in oak barrels adds secondary flavors (vanilla, cedar, smoke).

White wines are most often fermented in stainless steel tanks. This does not add ekstra aromatic compounds to the wine.

Maturation refers to the period of time after Fermentation and before Bottling.

Maturation in Oak

Aging refers to the period after bottling.

White wines grapes are pressed to remove the skin and seeds before fermentation.

The grapes are pressed BEFORE fermentation.


Crush	Press	Ferment	Mature	Age

Red wines are fermented with the skins and seeds included.

The grapes are pressed AFTER fermentation.


Crush	Ferment	Press	Mature	Age