- Regions
- Wines
- Winemaking
- Winegrowing
Making White Varietals
During white winemaking, after the grapes run through the crusher/destemmer (a process called "crush"), their skins and seeds spend only a few hours with the juice, known as "free-run." The skins are then pressed to extract all the remaining juice, called "press juice." The free-run and press juice are then filtered in preparation for fermentation.
Red wines and rosés take on their hues by extracting color from the grape skins; since white wines spend very little time in contact with their skins, they take on very little color. Some white wines are even made from red-skinned grapes!
Yeast is added to the free-run and press juice to initiate fermentation, which is the process by which yeast transforms the natural sugars in grape juice into ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide. Winemakers choose from variations on the basic winemaking process, depending on the style of wine they want to craft. For example, a white wine may be fermented and aged in oak barrels, fermented and aged in stainless steel tanks, or fermented and aged with any combination of stainless steel and oak barrels. A winemaker may also decide to initiate a second fermentation, called "malolactic", that converts the tart malic acid found in fruit to softer lactic acid. Different winemaking decisions may produce completely different wines from the same grapes.
White wine fermentation lasts from three days to three weeks. When fermentation has run its course, the vintner will stop the process and filter the wine to remove solids and yeast remnants. The wine is then aged for a period of one week to a year in stainless steel or oak or redwood containers. After aging, the wine may be blended with other wines with different characteristics to create the desired style. Finally the wine undergoes finishing, a process by which the wine is stabilized and filtered before bottling. Substances such as egg whites or gelatin are added to remove astringent substances or proteins which can cloud the wine and give it off flavors. Sulfites may also be added to prevent oxidation and bacterial spoilage.
Red wines and rosés take on their hues by extracting color from the grape skins; since white wines spend very little time in contact with their skins, they take on very little color. Some white wines are even made from red-skinned grapes!
Yeast is added to the free-run and press juice to initiate fermentation, which is the process by which yeast transforms the natural sugars in grape juice into ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide. Winemakers choose from variations on the basic winemaking process, depending on the style of wine they want to craft. For example, a white wine may be fermented and aged in oak barrels, fermented and aged in stainless steel tanks, or fermented and aged with any combination of stainless steel and oak barrels. A winemaker may also decide to initiate a second fermentation, called "malolactic", that converts the tart malic acid found in fruit to softer lactic acid. Different winemaking decisions may produce completely different wines from the same grapes.
White wine fermentation lasts from three days to three weeks. When fermentation has run its course, the vintner will stop the process and filter the wine to remove solids and yeast remnants. The wine is then aged for a period of one week to a year in stainless steel or oak or redwood containers. After aging, the wine may be blended with other wines with different characteristics to create the desired style. Finally the wine undergoes finishing, a process by which the wine is stabilized and filtered before bottling. Substances such as egg whites or gelatin are added to remove astringent substances or proteins which can cloud the wine and give it off flavors. Sulfites may also be added to prevent oxidation and bacterial spoilage.