White Wine
What many people do not realize is that white wine is not always made from white grapes. However, if a red grape variety is used to make white wine, the wine-making process will be slightly different from when white grapes are used. The grape skins need to be separated from the grape juice (called "must"), so they do not color the juice. The French term used for making white wine from red grapes is "blanc de noir" translated "white of black" as opposed to "blanc de blanc" or "white of white" when white wine is made from white grapes.
The timing for picking the grapes is critical to the outcome of the wine. The grape is tested for sugar content and pH factor. To do this testing, a refractometer is used by the winemaker. By this measurement, it is possible to evaluate the potential alcohol content of the finished wine. The grapes are harvested at the optimum time. In this day and age, picking wine grapes is usually done by sophisticated machinery that is able to handle each bunch without damaging the delicate berries. Hand-picking is done for ice wine and in certain areas like Champagne, France.
The grapes are then taken to the winery where they are washed and sorted. This sorting is best done by hand where the human eye and experience yields the best results. Since bad fruit will affect the taste of the wine, any bruised or rotten bunches are thrown away. The grapes can be crushed with or without the stems. Some wineries, like Robert Mondovi prefers to leave the stems attached. According to Mondovi, "When grape stems are intact during press, they add their own natural pressure, so less pressure is needed from a machine. This ensures gentler handling of the grapes. " Mondovi also states that when the whole grape cluster is pressed, the must has less contact with the skins and generates less tanins which tend to overpower the flavor and aroma of white wines.
After pressing the grapes, yeast is then added to the juice to start the fermentation process which converts sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide. The mixture is allowed to settle and the juice is syphoned off the top and put into stainless steel vats or oak barrels to ferment. Stainless steel vats tend to produce a crisp, clean white wine while fermenting in oak barrels results in a wine with more complex flavors. The wine is left to ferment until all the sugar is converted to alcohol or until the winemaker stops the process so that some of the sugar remains to produce a sweeter white wine. Some white wines like chardonnay, are put through a second fermentation process called malolactic fermentation. During this second fermentation process, malic acid is converted to lactic acid. Because malic acid is more tart than lactic acid, this produces a more mellow wine.
The more complex flavors and aromas of barrel-aged white wines can sometimes be described by words like vanilla, buttery, butterscotch, and nutmeg. New oak barrels produce a more intense flavor while wine aged in older barrels have a more subtle taste. The inside of the barrels may be toasted which will add to a more intense flavor. Another factor in the barrel-ageing of white wine is that the porous nature of the wood allows for a little evaporation and contributes to greater intensity and depth.
When the wine has fermented to the winemaker's satisfaction, it is cleared of the remaining sediment before bottling. One of the methods of doing this is "racking". Racking is when the clear wine is decanted from the fermenting barrel to a new barrel leaving the sediment behind. Another method of clarifying the wine is to force it through a filer. Fining is still another method by which an insoluable agent is put into the wine to attract any left over sediment. Some fining agents include egg whites, sturgeon bladder and milk solids. Ugh! The wine is then bottled for distribution.
Popular White Wine Varietals
Bordeaux
Chardonnay
Gewurztraminer
Sauvignon Blanc
Chenin Blanc
Viognier
Riesling
Semillon
Chablis
Silvaner
Vidal Blanc
Muscat
Malvasia