How is Wine Made?

With thousands of wineries spread across hundreds of wine regions on almost every continent, and a history that dates to sometime between 6000 and 4000 BCE, there is a fascinating diversity of winemakers’ choices and winemaking nuances to explore. However, the fundamentals of vinification remain standard across the board.

Ahead, we go over the most basic of basic steps involved in making still red and white wine.

Harvest

To make wine, you’ll need grapes. So, harvest—the collection of grapes from the vineyard—can be considered the first step in the winemaking process.

This can be done by hand (and secateurs) or by machine, with mechanical harvesters shaking the trunk of each vine and collecting its fruit. Whether harvest is mechanical or physical will vary depending on the vineyard’s topography and how the vines are planted, weather conditions, labor availability, cost and more.

Although harvest typically occurs between August and November in the Northern Hemisphere, and between January and April in the Southern Hemisphere, the timing of each year’s harvest depends on grape variety, climate, the type of wine being produced and the winemaker’s preference.

What really matters is that the grapes are ripe: They’ve become plump, smooth and fleshy, and easier to pull from a cluster; black-skinned fruit turns red and purple, and green-skinned fruit becomes more translucent and golden; and their sugar and acid levels are in balance.

Sorting and Destemming

Once the grapes have been collected, they are brought to the winery to be sorted to remove anything that could negatively impact the finished wine’s flavor, like leaves, other branches or bugs scooped up accidentally during harvest, or any damaged, rotten or unripe bunches.

Next, they’re often separated from their stems via a process called destemming. Like harvest, this can be done by hand or by machine, however, the former can be tedious and time consuming.

Though common in larger production commercial facilities, destemming is not necessary, and there are several reasons a winemaker may choose to skip this step.

For instance, stems work to regulate temperature during fermentation by increasing juice circulation and help the juice to drain during several parts of the winemaking process. They also add phenolic compounds that can increase the final wine’s tannins. And some feel stem inclusion adds a layer of complexity to the final wine and brings an overall sense of freshness.

Crushing

Once grapes are destemmed (or not), they may be crushed—via machine or trodden by foot—depending on the color and style of wine being made, and the winemaker’s preference.

The purpose of crushing is to break the grapes gently to release some juice, allowing it to mingle with grape skins, pulp and seeds, and exposing it to air and yeast.

For red wine production, this is necessary to provide color and tannin to the finished product. Grapes destined for white wine, however, are not typically crushed and are sent directly to the wine press.

Pressing

Unlike crushing, which just breaks the grape skin, the point of pressing grapes is to fully separate the juice from any grape solids.

Grapes are placed in a wine press where pressure is applied to squeeze out the juice. The amount of pressure used can significantly impact the final taste of the wine.

A light press can produce a fresh and fruity wine, while a heavy press might result in a more robust expression with higher tannin content.

Grapes for white wine production are usually pressed immediately upon winery arrival, while grapes for red production are typically pressed after fermentation.

Fermentation

Fermentation is the chemical conversion of grapes’ sugar into alcohol, heat and carbon dioxide via yeast: It’s what makes wine, wine.

In red wine production, the crushed grapes—juice, skins, pulp and all—are transferred to the winemaker’s preferred fermentation vessels (most commonly made of stainless steel, concrete or oak). In white wine production, it’s just the pressed off juice that moves along to be fermented.

While “native,” naturally occurring yeast that exists in the air and clings to grape skins can take the reins from here, a winemaker may choose to kickstart fermentation with the addition of commercial yeast created in a lab.

In either case, the winemaker will guide the process by heating, cooling, stirring, aerating and sometimes “feeding” the yeast (providing it with sugar, nitrogen and/or vitamins) until most or all the sugar has converted to alcohol.

Depending on the style of wine the winemaker wants to create, this process could last from a few days to a few weeks.

Once fermentation is complete, red wines are transferred to a press to separate the juice from any remaining skins, and then to a chosen vessel for maturation. Because white wines have already been pressed off the skins, they are readied immediately for élevage once they have finished fermenting.

Élevage

Élevage is the French term used for the time between fermentation and when a wine is bottled, meant to encompass all aspects of storage and care, and the accumulation of time during maturation.

This aging process can last as long as a few months to a few years, depending on the wine and the winemaker’s preference, during which time the wine’s texture and flavors change and intensify.

Some of these changes happen naturally as the wine comes of age.

Malolactic fermentation, a naturally occurring bacteria-driven conversion of tart malic acid into a creamier lactic acid and carbon dioxide, is one of the more dramatic examples. (It’s also a process that can be induced or blocked by a winemaker.)

Other changes are caused by the vessel—like oak, stainless steel, concrete and terracotta—in which the wine is stored. An oak barrel, for instance, can lend flavor and aromatic notes of vanilla, coconut, hazelnut and toastiness, while a terracotta amphora may yield a rich and deep texture without as much impact on flavor.

And some characteristics are encouraged or directly determined by the winemaker. Stirring the lees (also known as bâtonnage) by inserting a long steel baton into the barrel, for example, may add flavor and texture. This is also an opportunity for a winemaker to blend wines from different grapes varieties, vineyard sites or styles to create a more complete wine.

Clarification, Fining and Filtration

During this period, a winemaker may choose to clarify the wine to remove any remaining solids, dead yeast cells or miscellaneous bacteria that would make the final wine cloudy or hazy (often called “impurities”).

Because these elements tend to settle at the bottom of the storage vessel, they can be removed somewhat by racking—that is, pumping or siphoning—the wine off the sediment and into a new clean container.

Alternatively, a winemaker could add fining agents, like egg whites, isinglass or bentonite, to the wine. These bind with suspended particles and are then filtered out, leaving the wine bright and clear.

Regardless of whether the wine goes through either process, a winemaker may choose to filter it via a coarse filtration (which simply removes any last bits of sediment) or a sterile filtration (which gets rid of virtually all remaining yeast and microbes that may later spoil the wine).

Bottling

The last step in the winemaking process is to bottle the wine, which can be done by hand, by siphoning the wine into each bottle via a hose or siphoning wand, or by machine. Some machines simply pump wine into a bottle, one, two or three bottles at a time. Others, common in large commercial wineries, are highly automated, and can filled by one machine and send on a conveyor belt to another, where they’re sealed.

Once full, bottles are sealed quickly with a screw cap, cork or alternative closure system (the choice of seal can also affect the wine’s development and longevity), and are eventually labelled. Some wines may also go through an additional aging period determined by the winemaker and/or regional wine laws.

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