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Making Red Wine

Harvesting Your Red Wine Grapes - The first step in making red

wine is to have the grapes perfectly ready to be picked. They

need to be harvested not only at the proper time in their life

cycle, but also at the right time of day to ensure the acids and

sugars are all at the right balance for the wine.





Red wine grapes should contain enough sugar to be considered

ripe and be able to attain the alcohol content you are aiming

for. They must also have the right balance of acids. This means

"hang-time" on the vine until the grapes have met the proper

quality factors. A sugar content of 24 Brix at harvest will give

you about 12% alcohol.





De-stemming and Crushing - This step in making red wine removes

the stems from the grape bunches, and crushes the grapes (but

does not press them) so that the juices are exposed to the yeast

for fermenting. This will also expose the skins so they can

impart color to the wine while in the primary fermentation.





This step in making red wine can be done manually by squeezing

the grape bunches over a grate with holes to allow the grapes

and juice to go through while leaving the stems behind. I've

used old Coke crates, perforated plates, and other means to

accomplish this. (Depending on the type of wine, the stems could

be left in for a more tannic flavor or removed). This mix of

wine is called must and is put into a fermentation vat.





You can always "stomp" the grapes and remove the stems

afterwards - the old fashioned way. There are crusher/destemmer

machines that can be purchased if you have a lot of grapes to

crush. If you are going to adjust the acidity, this is the time

to do this.





Primary Fermentation - The must is held in a vat that can be

made of food grade plastic, glass, or stainless steel for

fermentation. In whichever container, the sugars inside the

grapes are turned into alcohol by yeasts. The yeast used should

be specific for red wine. This fermentation process typically

takes from 3-4 weeks.





How long the must (juice and grape solids) is allowed to sit,

picking up flavor, color and tannin is up to the wine maker. Too

long and the wine is bitter, to short and it is thin.

Temperature is very important during this stage - it also

affects flavour and color.





Punching Down the Skins - Skin and other solids float to the top

as fermentation proceeds. The carbon dioxide gas given off by

the fermentation process pushes them to the surface of the

developing wine. The rising skins are called the "cap" and need

to be pushed back down to stay in contact with the must. This

should be done a couple of times a day. As you punch down the

cap, you will notice that the wine is taking on more color from

the contact with the skins.





End of Primary Fermentation(?) - The winemaker must decide if

the must has fermented long enough. This will take a few days to

a week. Much of this decision depends on how much color you want

in your red wine. Generally, the wine has not completely

fermented at this time. There still should be some residual

sugar that will need to go through further fermentation.





Remove Free Run and Press - At the end of the primary

fermentation, the must is put into the wine press. The best

quality wine is made just from the juice portion of the must.

Many wine makers allow this to run off and save it for the best

red wines. The rest of the drier must (now called pomace) is

pressed.





Pressing squeezes the remaining juice out of the pomace. If you

do it too hard, or too many times, you get low quality wine. You

can save the pressings separately from the free-run or it can be

combined. This pressed wine will take longer to become clear and

ready for bottling.





Secondary Fermentation - The juice, now wine, needs to settle

after this ordeal and continue to ferment out all the residual

sugars. During this time, the wine should be stored in glass

carboys fitted with fermentation locks.





Fermentation locks keep oxygen out of the wine while allowing

the carbon dioxide from fermentation to escape. Without them,

oxidation will occur and the wine will spoil into vinegar or

something worse. In the lack of oxygen, the wine undergoes

subtle changes that affect the flavors of the resulting wine.





Malo-Lactic Fermentation - Many red wines need a non-alcoholic

fermentation to remove excess acidity. This secondary

fermentation will turn the tart malic acid (of green apples)

into the softer lactic acid (of milk). A special malo-lactic

bacteria is added which allows malolactic fermentation to occur.

This is done during the secondary fermentation. Wines are held

at about 72F during, or at least at the end, of the secondary

fermentation to favor this activity. The yeast that has settled

to the bottom during the secondary fermentation also favors this

process.





Racking and Clarification - Moving the wine from one container

to a new container by siphoning allows you to leave solids and

anything that might cloud the wine, behind. This clears the wine

and prepares it for bottling. Fermentation locks must be

employed with each racking to keep the wine from spoiling. Wine

is racked at least once but more may be needed to assist

clarification.





Cold Stabilization - During one of the aging stages between

rackings and bottling, the wine can be placed in the cold of

refridgeration to be stabilized. This cold period will make the

cream of tarter settle out of the wine and reduce the acidity

further. The wine is then racked off the cream of tartar during

the next racking. I suggest you do this early in the racking and

aging process of making red wine.





Aging - The wine is stored for anywhere from 9 months to 2 1/2

years to give it the correct amount of flavor. Oak barrels can

be used for aging but they are very expensive. Nowdays, when

making red wine at home, oak chips are used. The amount of time

you age your wine with oak depends on the flavors that you wish.

At the end of the aging period, you will be ready to bottle.





Fining or filtering - At the end of the aging period it helps to

remove anything that may be making the wine cloudy. This can be

accomplished with various fining agents (like sparkalloid), with

filtering, or both. This makes the wine crystal clear for

bottling and will prevent any sediments from forming during

bottle aging.





Bottling - This is done carefully so that the wine does not come

in contact with air. Finer wines may be stored for several years

in bottles before they are drunk. But I suggest that a minimum

of 6 months to a year lapse before drinking.





So there are the steps in making red wine. Properly done, you

will have a wine that will not only give you drinking pleasure,

but will make you the envy of your family and friends.





About the author:



Jim Bruce has been making growing grapes and making wine since

1974. You too can grow your own wine grapes. Interested in

growing your own grapes for making wine? You can buy his Tips

for Growing Grapes eBook at http://www.grapegrowingbook.com

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