1. The harvest of the varieties of red wine.

How to make red wine? The harvest is the first important point , where a first selection must already be made, separating the damaged, spoiled, rotten bunches … only the healthy ones are adequate.

2. Homemade winemaking. Transportation to the winery.

Transportation to the winery is no less important in making red wine. You can get more information in the post we dedicate to this topic, harvest and transport to the winery.

3. Unloading in the cellar and destemming.

How to make red wine? The destemming is the process by which the vegetal parts of the bunch are eliminated, the scrape. Other plant debris such as leaves or shoots are also removed. These parts of the bunch are not interesting, as they add unwanted astringent flavors.

4. Squeezed. How to make red wine?

Homemade winemaking. The crushing is the process in which the grape grains are broken to make the must come out, activate the yeasts and the substances that are going to give us the color found in the skin (in the skin of the grain).

The crushing should not be an overly aggressive process , it is not about crushing the grape, but about opening it. A very aggressive crushing can even break the seeds, thus giving us unwanted flavors.

paste obtained from the crushed (mixture of wort, skins and seeds) is added I sulfurous anhydride, ingredient responsible for selecting the microbial fauna that will intervene after fermentation.

The pasta is then transferred to a tank, where fermentation begins  .

5. Maceration. How to add color to red wine.

Homemade winemaking. The maceration process is the moment when the must and the solid parts are in contact. It must be taken into account that both the aromas and the color are found in the skin, so during this process the must extracts color and aromas.

In the maceration process, the must (it is not wine yet) is in contact with the skins and with all the parts of the grape, and depending on the time (it can last several days) and maceration conditions, our future wine will obtain its particular color and aroma. Short macerations are often used to make rosé wines.

Maceration is essential for the extraction of aromas, tannins and color.

6. Fermentation. The secret of how to make red wine.

How to make red wine? Fermentation is the natural process in which, by the action of yeasts , the sugar in the must is transformed into alcohol and carbon dioxide (gas).

It is a natural process and ends when the yeasts consume all the available sugar.

The temperature control is very important in this process because yeasts act in a certain temperature range and lack or excess temperature can inhibit yeasts and stop fermentation.

The carbon dioxide released pushes the skins up, where they form a barrier called the  cap (accumulation at the back of the deposit of the solid parts).

This first fermentation lasts approximately between 6 and 10 days.

7. Pumping over and punching down. Adding color to red wine.

How to make red wine? To favor a better extraction of the color, pumping over and punching are carried out , both operations consist of mixing the solid part (which usually forms the hat in the upper part of the tank) with the liquid so that both the color and the aromas (which are found on the skin) pass into the liquid.

8. Racking. Homemade red wine.

Once the maceration and the first fermentation are finished , the discovery is carried  out , that is, the separation of the liquid and solid parts and transfer of the liquid to another tank. The solid parts are removed at this time.

9. Malolactic fermentation of red wine.

Homemade winemaking. Malolactic fermentation of red wine. At this time is when the second fermentation or malolactic fermentation takes place, which lasts between 10 and 20 days and in which the temperature is of vital importance.

Malolactic fermentation is an essential process in the production of red wine, since malic acid becomes lactic acid, which is much softer and less acidic.

When the yeasts completely deplete the sugar, fermentation stops and we already have wine, which is separated from the pomace.

10. Pressing.

Pressing is the process by which the solid parts are squeezed to extract the wine that remains in them and that has not been extracted by racking.

There are several types of presses to carry out this process. The wine that is extracted by pressing is a lower quality wine (press wine) and from that moment on it is made separately.

The solid residue resulting from pressing is a by-product that is used in alcoholic beverages.

11. Clarification of red wine.

How to make red wine? Homemade winemaking.

During the transfer, the wine in the tank becomes clean, due to the effect of gravity, which drags the solid particles to the bottom of the tank. This process is favored by the cold . The racking is repeated periodically, thus avoiding possible contamination and obtaining a cleaner wine in each racking.

At this moment we already have young wine , and we can select it by quality to consume it or use it for aging or storage.

12. Aging in barrels. How is crianza red wine made?

Aging is the process of aging and maturing the wine in the barrel.

The processes in the barrel are:

1- There is an exchange of aromatic and taste substances from the wood to the wine.

2- Micro-oxygenation: a contribution of oxygen is given, which allows the stabilization of the color of the wine.

Other articles published in this viticulture blog about winemaking that may interest you are:

Dr. Sofia Seccombe

My name is Dr. Sofia Seccombe, and in this small section, I want to tell you who I am and why I started this project. I don't want to bore you, but I consider that it is an important part of godlywine. It serves as an exercise in transparency so that the person who reads the articles can be sure that the information is reliable.

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