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How Wine Is Made
 
There are several different methods used to make wine. The following are the basic processes involved in making white, red, and sparkling wines.
       
 
  White Wine Red Wine    Sparkling Wine
       
       
  Champagne
 
  Méthod Champenoise is the gold standard for sparkling wine. It requires bubbles generated by natural fermentation which occurs within the bottle, not in a cask. Making sparkling wine involves four basic steps: making the base wine; conducting a second, in-bottle, fermentation; disgorging the fermentation sediment; and determining levels of sweetness.
   
Making the base wine
Grapes are very gently pressed; juice is extracted in phases,
determining its quality.
  - Cuvée, or first press, is used for the tete de cuvee wines or
premium sparkling wines.
  - Premier taille, the next press, has less acid and sugar. Rich in
minerals, it is used to make off-dry and sweet sparkling wines.
  -Final extractions or “cuts” are not allowed to be used in Champagne production; they are used instead to produce spirits or vinegar.
Sediment in the pressed juice is settled out.
Sugar is added to increase alcohol level, if needed.
First fermentation occurs, usually in stainless steel tanks; more prestigious Champagne houses may use oak.
Fermented base wines may undergo assemblage, the blending of vintages and grapes.
Base wine is clarified, racked, cold stabilized, and bottled.
Second fermentation in the bottle
Yeast and sugars, called liqueur de triage, is added to the bottled base wine; small cups are sometimes set in the bottle neck to catch the sediment.
Fermentation occurs over a month in a cool environment, producing carbon dioxide gas in the bottles; bottles are stacked horizontally.
Aging sur lie allows gasses to dissolve into smaller bubbles; bottles are briefly shaken to prevent sediment from sticking to the glass.
Bottles are riddled; that is, they are very gradually turned from a horizontal to an upright position, allowing yeast cells to rise to the bottle neck.
       
     
  White Wine Red Wine    Sparkling Wine
       
       
       
       
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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