wine

—wineless, adj. —winish, adj.

/wuyn/, n., adj., v., wined, wining.

n.

1. the fermented juice of grapes, made in many varieties, such as red, white, sweet, dry, still, and sparkling, for use as a beverage, in cooking, in religious rites, etc., and usually having an alcoholic content of 14 percent or less.

2. a particular variety of such fermented grape juice: port and sherry wines.

3. the juice, fermented or unfermented, of various other fruits or plants, used as a beverage, sauce, etc.: gooseberry wine; currant wine.

4. a dark reddish color, as of red wines.

5. Pharm. vinum.

6. something that invigorates, cheers, or intoxicates like wine.

7. Brit.

a. a social gathering at which wine is the major beverage.

b. a party, esp. one held by university students, for drinking wine.

8. Obs. intoxication due to the drinking of wine.

9. new wine in old bottles, something new placed in or superimposed on an old or existing form, system, etc. Matt. 9:17.

adj.

10. dark red in color.

v.t.

11. to supply with wine: He wined his cellar with rare vintages.

v.i.

12. to drink wine.

13. wine and dine, to entertain lavishly: They wined and dined us in order to get us to sign the new contract.

[bef. 900; ME (n.), OE win (c. D wijn, G Wein, ON vin, Goth wein) L vinum (c. Gk oînos)]

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Alcoholic beverage made from the fermented juice of grapes.

Wine may also be made from various fruits and plant parts. Though known by the ancients, wine was not drunk in its matured form until the development of the bottle and cork in the late 17th century. In wine manufacture, grapes are crushed and strained, and the juice (called must) is sealed in vats along with yeast (Saccharomyees ellipsoideus) and often sulfur dioxide, which suppresses wild yeasts and organisms. Fermentation continues for several weeks, and then the wine is drawn off ("racked") into wooden barrels or other containers for a second fermentation ("aging"). It is clarified and bottled before undergoing final maturation. Wines may be classified according to colour as red, rosé (pink), or white; colour depends on whether the skins of red grapes are allowed to ferment with the juice. Wine taste is described as sweet or dry, sweet wines being high in sugar content and dry wines containing little or no sugar. Sparkling wines, such as champagne, contain suspended carbon dioxide, the result of bottling the wine before fermentation is complete. Fortified wines, such as port and sherry, contain added brandy. The leading wine-producing countries are France, Italy, Spain, the U.S., Argentina, Germany, Australia, South Africa, Portugal, and Romania.

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Introduction

 the fermented juice of the grape. Of the grape genus Vitis, one species, V. vinifera (often erroneously called the European grape), is used almost exclusively. Beverages produced from V. labrusca, the native American grape, and from other grape species are also considered wines. When other fruits are fermented to produce a kind of wine, the name of the fruit is included, as in the terms peach wine and blackberry wine.

History

The spread of viticulture

      Vitis vinifera was being cultivated in the Middle East by 4000 BC, and probably earlier. Egyptian records dating from 2500 BC refer to the use of grapes for wine making, and numerous Old Testament references to wine indicate the early origin and significance of the industry in the Middle East. The Greeks (ancient Greek civilization) carried on an active wine trade and planted grapes in their colonies from the Black Sea to Spain. The Romans (ancient Rome) carried grape growing into the valleys of the Rhine and Moselle (which became the great regions of Germany and Alsace), the Danube (in modern-day Romania, Yugoslavia, Hungary, and Austria), and the Rhône, Saône, Garonne, Loire, and Marne (which define the great French regions of Rhône, Burgundy, Bordeaux, Loire, and Champagne, respectively). The role of wine in the Christian mass helped maintain the industry after the fall of the Roman Empire, and monastic orders preserved and developed many of the highly regarded wine-producing areas in Europe.

      Following the voyages of Columbus, grape culture and wine making were transported from the Old World to the New (Americas). Spanish missionaries took viticulture to Chile and Argentina in the mid-16th century and to lower California in the 18th. With the flood of European immigration in the 19th and early 20th centuries, modern industries, based on imported V. vinifera grapes, were developed. The prime wine-growing regions of South America were established in the foothills of the Andes Mountains. In California, the centre of viticulture shifted from the southern missions to the Central Valley and the northern counties of Sonoma, Napa, and Mendocino.

      British settlers planted European vines in Australia and New Zealand in the early 19th century, and Dutch settlers took grapes (grape phylloxera) from the Rhine region to South Africa as early as 1654.

      The introduction of the eastern American root louse, phylloxera, seriously threatened wine industries around the world between 1870 and 1900, destroying vineyards almost everywhere that V. vinifera was planted but especially in Europe and parts of Australia and California. To combat this parasite, V. vinifera scions (detached shoots including buds) were grafted to species native to the eastern United States, which proved almost completely resistant to phylloxera. After the vineyards recovered, European governments protected the reputations of the great regions by enacting laws that allotted regional names and quality rankings only to those wines produced in specific regions under strictly regulated procedures. Today, newer wine-producing countries have passed similar regulations.

Enology: scientific winemaking

      Prior to the 19th century little was known about the process of fermentation or the causes of spoilage. The Greeks stored wine in earthenware amphorae, and the Romans somewhat extended the life of their wines with improved oaken cooperage, but both civilizations probably drank almost all of their wines within a year of vintage and disguised spoilage by adding such flavourers as honey, herbs, cheese, and salt water. Wooden barrels remained the principal aging vessels until the 17th century, when mass production of glass bottles and the invention of the cork stopper allowed wines to be aged for years in bottles.

      In the mid-19th century the French chemist Louis Pasteur and others explained the nature of fermentation and identified the yeasts responsible for it. Pasteur also identified the bacteria that spoil wine and devised a heating method (later called pasteurization) to kill the bacteria. Later in the century, methods were developed for growing pure strains of specific yeasts in culture. Advances in plant physiology and plant pathology also led to better vine training and less mildew damage to grapes.

      Mechanized innovations in the 20th century have mainly contributed to quality control. Stainless steel fermentation and storage tanks are easily cleaned and can be refrigerated to precise temperatures. Automated, enclosed racking and filtration systems reduce contact with bacteria in the air. Beginning in the 1960s, the use of mechanical grape harvesters and field crushers allowed quick harvesting and immediate transfer to fermentation tanks.

The wine grape

      The thousands of grape varieties that have been developed, with 5,000 reported for V. vinifera alone, differ from one another in such characteristics as colour, size, and shape of berry; juice composition (including flavour); ripening time; and disease resistance. They are grown under widely varying climatic conditions, and many different processes are applied in producing wines from them. All of these possible variations contribute to the vast variety of wines available.

Species and varieties

      Vitis vinifera, probably originating in the Caucasus Mountains, is the principal wine-producing plant, with most of the world's wine still made from varieties of this species. V. labrusca and V. rotundifolia have been domesticated in the eastern United States, the domestication of V. amurensis has been reported in Japan, and various interspecies hybrids have been used for wine production. The high sugar content of most V. vinifera varieties at maturity is the major factor in the selection of these varieties for use in much of the world's wine production. Their natural sugar content, providing necessary material for fermentation, is sufficient to produce a wine with alcohol content of 10 percent or higher; wines containing less alcohol are unstable because of their sensitivity to bacterial spoilage. The moderate acidity of ripe grapes of the V. vinifera varieties is also favourable to wine making; the fruit has an acidity of less than 1 percent (calculated as tartaric acid, the main acid in grapes) and a pH of 3.1 to 3.7 (mildly acid). Malic acid is also an important acid; only small amounts of citric acid are present.

      A third factor attracting wine makers to this grape is its tremendous range in composition. The pigment pattern of the skin varies from light greenish yellow to russet, to pink, red, reddish violet, or blue-black; the juice is generally colourless, although some varieties have a pink to red colour, and the flavour varies from quite neutral to strongly aromatic (Gewürztraminer, Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel). Some varieties, such as Pinot Noir, having rather neutral flavoured juice, develop a characteristic flavour when fermented on the skins and aged.

      The species V. labrusca and V. rotundifolia seldom contain sufficient natural sugar to produce a wine with alcohol content of 10 percent or higher, and additional sugar is usually required. Their acidity at maturity is often excessive, with a low pH. Varieties of these species usually have distinctive flavours. The flavours of V. labrusca, owing to methyl anthranilate and other compounds, are considered too pronounced by some consumers. This flavour, especially prevalent in wines made from the Concord-type varieties, is commonly called “foxy.”

Cultivation

      Grapes, although primarily a temperate-zone plant, can be grown under semitropical conditions. They are not adapted to the cooler parts of the temperate zone, where growing seasons may be too short to allow the fruit to reach maturity or where low winter temperatures (less than −7° C [20° F]) may kill the vine or its fruitful buds. V. vinifera is more susceptible to damage from winter conditions than is V. labrusca.

       climate strongly influences the composition of mature grapes. A major cause of the variation among grapes from different areas is the differing quantities of heat received by the vines during the growing season. Other important factors include differences in night and day temperature, hours of sun, and soil temperature.

      Grapes begin their growth cycle in the spring when average daily temperature is about 10° C (50° F). To reach maturity, they require a certain amount of heat above 10° C during the growing season. This amount of heat, called the heat summation, is calculated by totaling the number of degrees of average daily temperature over 10° C for each day of the growing season. A heat summation of about 1,800° is required for successful growth. If the heat summation is less than required, the grapes will not ripen; they will reach the end of the growing season with insufficient sugar and too much acidity. This condition, frequently occurring in the eastern United States, Switzerland, and other cool regions, can be corrected by adding sugar to the crushed grapes. Where the heat summation is much greater than required, as in Algeria and parts of California, the grapes mature earlier and with less acidity and colour than those produced under cooler conditions.

      Factors influencing the heat summation of a vineyard and, therefore, grape composition include exposure (in Europe, best from the east), air drainage (preferably from the slopes to the valley), soil temperature (above 10° C during the growing season), and soil moisture content (not too dry at any time and not waterlogged for more than short periods).

      Seasonal conditions also can be critical, especially in regions of low heat summation, as found in parts of France and Germany. When the growing season in such areas is warmer than usual, the fruit produced is riper and better balanced than is usual in cool seasons. In warm regions the sweeter dessert wines may benefit from somewhat low heat summation, resulting in less berry raisining (moisture loss) and giving the fruit better colour and acidity than is achieved when the growing season is excessively warm.

      Such cultivation practices as weeding and pruning also may influence the mature fruit composition. Although the composition of the soil has an influence on soil temperature, root penetration, water-holding capacity, and vine nutrition, its effect on the quality of wine, varying from region to region, is poorly understood.

Wine regions and varieties

      Almost all wines are labeled by the region of production, maturity of the fruit, variety of grape or type of wine, and year of production, and they can be further distinguished by colour, sweetness, and varietal aroma. Specific characteristics are traditionally associated with certain wines, and in many cases these traditions are guaranteed by law.

      Discussed below are the wines and viticultural laws of France, Italy, Germany, the United States, Australia, and South Africa. Many other countries produce enormous quantities of table wines. In Europe there are, for example, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, and Georgia. In North Africa and the Middle East there are Algeria, Tunisia, and Israel. In South America there are Brazil, Peru, Chile, and Argentina. In Asia the largest producer is Japan.

Europe

      In Europe wines are primarily distinguished by the region where they are produced.

France

      Most French wines are everyday vins ordinaires, of no outstanding regional, varietal, or vintage characteristics. The finest wines are entitled to the appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC; “controlled name of origin”), which is based on a hierarchy of specific geographic areas known to produce the best wines. The largest area in the hierarchy is the region; allowing for some variation, within the regions are districts, within the districts are communes, and within the communes are vineyards, or châteaus. To receive any of these successively more rigorous appellations, wines must be produced within specific areas and must meet standards of grape variety, alcoholic content, quantity of harvest, and techniques of vine growing and wine making. Of the smaller areas, some châteaus and communes receive rankings of quality such as villages, supérieure, and grand cru (“great vintage”).

      The greatest regions of France are Bordeaux (Bordeaux wine), Burgundy, Rhône, Loire, Champagne, and Alsace. Following the AOC hierarchy, Bordeaux contains such districts as Médoc, which contains the commune Pauillac, which in turn contains three grand cru châteaus. Bordeaux wines are mainly red and dry (except for those of the district of Sauternes, which are white and sweet). Primary varieties for the red wines are Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot; for the white, Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon.

      Burgundy (Burgundy wine) is smaller than the Bordeaux region. It comprises the districts of Chablis (dry white wines), Côte d'Or (red and white), Beaujolais (red), and Mâcon (white and red). The white wines are made from Chardonnay or Aligoté, the reds from Pinot Noir or (in Beaujolais) Gamay.

      The Rhône region produces mostly strong, full-bodied red wines from the Syrah grape. The Loire is known for its white wines, the district of Pouilly-Fumé using Sauvignon Blanc grapes and Vouvray using Chenin Blanc. In the Champagne, legal definitions extend to the bottle-fermentation process by which the sparkling wine is produced; Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are the principal varieties. Alsace defines its mostly dry white wines primarily by grape variety, producing Alsatian Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris, and Sylvaner.

      Wines receiving the classification vins délimités de qualité supérieure (VDQS; “delimited wines of superior quality”) must meet standards of region, variety, alcohol content, and sensory quality that result in good quality but are less severe than those of the AOC.

Italy

      Known for its huge output of everyday red vini da tavola (“table wines”), Italy labels its best traditional wines as denominazione di origine controllata (DOC) or denominazione di origine controllata e garantita (DOCG). These wines must be produced in specific regions and must adhere to standards similar to the French AOC. Labels may indicate the grape variety—as in Barbera d'Alba, a red wine of the Barbera grape grown in the district of Alba in the Piedmont region.

      Piedmont produces red Barolo and Barbaresco and the white, sparkling Asti Spumante. Vermouth, the flavoured dessert wine of Italy, originated in Turin, the principal Piedmontese city. From the district of Verona in the Veneto region come the red wines of Valpolicella and Bardolino and the whites of Soave. Tuscany is famous for the red wines of the various Chianti zones. Dry white Frascati wines come from the Latium region near Rome, while Marsala, the fortified wine sweetened with concentrated grape juice, comes from Sicily.

Germany

      The prime viticultural areas of Germany fall into 11 regions, which are divided into districts, villages, and vineyards. A wine of better quality than the everyday Tafelwein and Landwein may receive the classification Qualitätswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete (QbA; “quality wine from a designated region”) if it is produced in a specific region and meets standards of taste and alcohol content. Sugar may be added in the production of QbA wines to make up for Germany's short, cool growing season. Wines of the highest category, Qualitätswein mit Prädikat (QmP; “quality wine with special attributes”), must come from specific districts and be fermented from their natural sugar. The various Prädikate reflect the ripeness of the grape and, therefore, the sweetness of the wine. In order of increasing sugar content, they are Kabinett (ripe harvest), Spätlese (late harvest), Auslese (selected late harvest), Beerenauslese (selected overripe), and Trockenbeerenauslese (from berries dried on the vine).

      About 90 percent of German wines are white. Riesling, Sylvaner, Müller-Thurgau, and Gewürztraminer grapes create the soft, fragrant, low-alcohol wines for which the country is famous.

Regions outside Europe

      The newer wine-producing countries, lacking the centuries-old viticultural regions of Europe, emphasize the grape variety in their production of fine wines. Beginning in the 1960s, some of these countries enacted regulations guaranteeing the authenticity of these wines.

United States

      Much American wine is mass-produced generic wine, often given such European-derived names as chablis, burgundy, and port. These brands must include an appellation of origin, such as California chablis, on the label.

      Varietal wines may be labeled after a V. vinifera grape if the designated variety makes up at least 75 percent of the product. It must then claim an appellation of origin. If the appellation is a county, state, or even the country, then no less than 75 percent of the wine's grapes must come from that area. If the appellation is one of the growing number of approved viticultural areas, then that area must account for 85 percent or more of the grapes. Wines may bear a vintage date if at least 95 percent of their grapes are harvested in that year.

       California produces about 90 percent of American wines. The Napa Valley, Sonoma County, and other cooler areas of the north coast region produce the best wines. Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay are the most prestigious, followed by Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir. The Zinfandel, grown almost exclusively in California, produces a wine equal to those of the classic European grapes. California wines tend to be of higher alcoholic content and more pronounced varietal aroma and flavour than their European counterparts.

Australia

      The main regions are found in an arc rimming the cooler southern states of New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. The Shiraz grape produces fine red wines, as does the Cabernet Sauvignon. Prominent white wines are Sémillon and Chardonnay. Sweet dessert wines are produced from Muscat and other grapes.

South Africa

      Under the Wines of Origin laws, 75 percent of a varietal wine must come from the designated variety. The wine may claim one of many designated regions of origin only if all of the grapes come from that region (80 percent for fortified wines).

      Long famous for sherry-type wines made from the Chenin Blanc (also called the Steen), South Africa also produces wines from several other noble varieties in areas along the cooler southwestern Cape.

The wine-making process

Harvesting

 Fresh and fully ripened wine grapes are preferred as raw material for wine making. In cool climates, as in northern Europe and the eastern United States, however, lack of sufficient heat to produce ripening may necessitate harvesting the grapes before they reach full maturity. The resulting sugar deficiency may be corrected by direct addition of sugar or by the addition of a grape juice concentrate. Grapes that are allowed to reach full maturity on the vine or that are partially dried by exposure to sun after harvesting are high in sugar content as a result of natural moisture loss (partial raisining as in the production of Málaga wines in Spain). A beneficent mold, Botrytis cinera, may also be employed to hasten moisture loss (as in the production of Sauternes in France). These grapes are used to produce sweet table wines. Special methods employed to produce these wines include the addition of sulfur dioxide, the use of small fermenting vessels during processing, or the use of cool temperatures—the objective being to stop the fermentation before all the sugar is fermented.

      Because of the effect upon grape composition, proper timing of the harvest is of great importance. Premature harvesting results in thin, low-alcohol wines; very late harvesting may yield high-alcohol, low-acid wines.

      Harvesting may be completed in one picking or in several. The grape clusters are cut from the vine and placed in buckets or boxes and then transferred to larger containers (large tubs in Europe, metal gondola trucks in California and elsewhere) for transport to the winery. Mechanical harvesting systems, based on shaking the berries from the clusters or on breaking the stems, are widely used in California, Australia, France, and elsewhere.

      At the winery the grapes may be dumped directly into the crusher or may be unloaded into a sump and carried to the crusher by a continuous conveyor system.

Crushing

      In modern mechanized wine production, the grapes are normally crushed and stemmed at the same time by a crusher-stemmer, usually consisting of a perforated cylinder containing paddles revolving at 600 to 1,200 revolutions per minute. The grape berries are crushed and fall through the cylinder perforations; most of the stems pass out of the end of the cylinder. A roller-crusher may also be used. Ancient methods of crushing with the feet or treading with shoes are rare.

      When red grapes are used to produce a white juice, as in the Champagne region of France, crushing is accomplished by pressing.

      Red grapes are sometimes introduced whole into tanks, which are then closed. The resulting respiration in the fruit, consuming oxygen and producing carbon dioxide, kills the skin cells, which lose their semipermeability, allowing easy colour extraction. There is also some intracellular respiration of malic acid. This respiration process is slow and in warm regions may result in wines of low colour and acidity and distinctive odour.

Juice separation

      When the juice of white grapes is processed or a white wine is desired, the juice is usually separated from the skins and seeds immediately after crushing. Occasionally, to increase flavour extraction, the white skins may be allowed to remain in contact with the juice for 12 to 24 hours, but this procedure also increases colour extraction, sometimes undesirably.

      Two main procedures are employed to separate the juice from the solids. Much of the juice may be drained off by placing the crushed grapes in a container having a false bottom and often false sides. This juice is called the free run juice, and the mass of crushed grapes is called the must, a term also used to refer to the unfermented grape juice, with or without skins.

      More commonly, the crushed grapes are placed in a press. The traditional basket press is gradually being supplanted by a horizontal basket press, applying pressure from both ends. Continuous screw-type presses are also employed, especially for drained pulp. The Willmes press, widely employed for white musts, consists of a perforated cylinder containing an inflatable tube. The crushed grapes are introduced into the cylinder, and the tube is inflated, pressing the grapes against the rotating cylinder sides and forcing the juice out through the perforations. Several pressings may be made without the extensive hand labour required for basket presses.

      Continuous presses are practical for production of red wines, in which skins, seeds, and juice are all fermented together. Separation of the juice is simplified because fermentation makes the skins less slippery, and the amount of free run juice obtained is, therefore, much greater than for unfermented musts. Separation of the less slippery solids from the juice by pressing is also simplified.

      The drained pomace (crushed mass remaining after extraction of the juice from the grapes), from white or red fermentations, may be used to provide distilling material for production of wine spirits. Water is usually added, the fermentation is completed, and the low-alcohol wine is drained off. The pomace may be further washed and pressed or may be distilled directly in special stills.

Must treatment

      White musts are often turbid and cloudy, and settling is desirable to allow separation of the suspended materials. Such measures as prior addition of sulfur dioxide and lowering of the temperature during settling help prevent fermentation and allow the suspended material to settle normally. In many areas wineries centrifuge the white must to remove the solids. In this process a strong pulling force is created by circular motion. Musts are sometimes pasteurized, inactivating undesirable enzymes that cause browning. The addition of pectin-splitting enzymes to the musts to facilitate pressing is uncommon. Bentonite, a type of clay, may be added to musts to reduce total nitrogen content and facilitate clarification.

      There is renewed interest in the prefermentation heat treatment of red musts to extract colour and deactivate enzymes. This process, when performed rapidly at moderate temperatures and without undue oxidation, may be particularly desirable in the production of red sweet wines, which employs short periods of fermentation on the skins, and for use with red grapes that have been attacked by the parasitic fungus Botrytis cinera, which contains high amounts of the polyphenol oxidase type of enzymes that cause browning.

fermentation

      The process of alcoholic fermentation requires careful control for the production of high quality wines. Requirements include suppression of the growth of undesirable microorganisms, presence of adequate numbers of desirable yeasts (yeast), proper nutrition for yeast growth, temperature control for prevention of excessive heat, prevention of oxidation, and proper management of the cap of skins floating in red musts.

      Grape skins are normally covered with bacteria, molds, and yeast. The wild yeasts such as Pichia, Kloeckera, and Torulopsis are often more numerous than the wine yeast Saccharomyces. Although species of Saccharomyces are generally considered more desirable for efficient alcoholic fermentation, it is possible that other yeast genera may contribute to flavour, especially in the early stages of fermentation. Saccharomyces is preferred because of its efficiency in converting sugar to alcohol and because it is less sensitive to the inhibiting effect of alcohol. Under favourable conditions, strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae have produced up to 18 percent (by volume) of alcohol, although 15 to 16 percent is the usual limit.

      Use of the yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe has been proposed for the early stages of alcoholic fermentation. Because it metabolizes malic acid, this yeast would be useful in excessively acid musts, but commercial applications have not yielded consistently favourable results. The addition of lactic-acid bacteria to musts, using strains metabolizing malic acid, is now common.

      The number of undesirable microorganisms is greatest in partially rotted or injured grapes. Such damage may occur in harvesting or during transportation, particularly in warm climates. Suppression of undesirable microorganism growth is required, and the most common method used is the addition of sulfur dioxide to the freshly crushed grapes at the rate of about 100 to 150 milligrams per litre. Sulfur dioxide is more toxic to undesirable microorganisms than to desirable microorganisms. When it is used in musts, an inoculum of the desired yeast strain, usually called a pure yeast culture, is added. Musts are rarely pasteurized, although this process may be applied when they contain undesirable amounts of oxidizing enzymes from moldy grapes.

      Enologists, technicians in the science of wine making, do not agree on the most desirable yeast species and strain, but strains of S. cerevisiae are generally used. The chosen strain is allowed to multiply as much as possible in sterilized grape juice and is then transferred to larger containers of sterilized grape juice, where it continues to grow until the desired volume is reached. Suitable pressed yeasts of desirable strains are added directly, avoiding the troublesome practice of building up and maintaining a pure yeast culture. About 1 to 3 percent of a pure yeast culture, or sufficient pressed yeast to provide a population of 1,000,000 cells per millilitre, is used.

       temperature control during alcoholic fermentation is necessary to (1) facilitate yeast growth, (2) extract flavours and colours from the skins, (3) permit accumulation of desirable by-products, and (4) prevent undue rise in temperature, killing the yeast cells.

      Optimum temperature for growth of common wine yeasts is about 25° C (77° F), and in many viticultural areas of the cooler temperate zone, grapes are crushed at about this temperature. Fermentation is seldom started at so high a temperature, however, because it is then difficult to prevent the temperature from exceeding 30° C during fermentation.

      Extraction of flavours and colours is not a problem in white musts; the crushed grape mass is usually separated from the skins before fermentation. Fermentation of white musts at relatively cool temperature (about 10° to 15° C [50° to 60° F]) apparently results in greater formation and retention of desirable by-products. An undesirable feature of such relatively low-temperature fermentations is the longer period required for completion (six to 10 weeks compared to one to four weeks at higher temperatures) and the tendency for the fermentation to stop while residual sugar remains. (This is not always considered undesirable—i.e., in German wine production.) In practice white table wines are usually fermented at about 20° C.

      In red wine musts, the optimum colour extraction consistent with yeast growth occurs at about 22° to 28° C (72° to 82° F). Alcoholic fermentation produces heat, however, and careful temperature control is required to prevent the temperature from reaching a point (about 30° C) where yeast growth is seriously restricted. At still higher temperatures, growth will stop completely. Modern temperature control is accomplished by use of heat exchangers. Older methods include placing the fermenters in a cold room; using cold pipes in the fermenter; pumping the must through double-walled pipes, with cold water in the surrounding pipe; pumping the must through a sump containing cooling coils; and pumping the coolant through jackets surrounding the tank.

      Contact with air must be restricted to prevent oxidation during fermentation. In very large containers, the volume of carbon dioxide given off is sufficient to prevent entry of air. In small fermenters, fermentation traps are inserted, preventing entry of air but permitting exit of carbon dioxide. These traps are particularly desirable during the final stage of fermentation, when carbon dioxide evolution is slow. Following fermentation, small amounts of sulfur dioxide are added to help prevent oxidation. Ascorbic acid (50 to 100 milligrams per litre) is sometimes employed to decrease the oxidation and thus the amount of sulfur dioxide required as an antioxidant, but is not generally recommended.

      The cap of skins and pulp floating on top of the juice in red-wine fermentation inhibits flavour and colour extraction, may rise to an undesirably high temperature, and may acetify if allowed to become dry. Such problems are avoided by submerging the floating cap at least twice daily during fermentation. This operation, comparatively easy with small fermenters, becomes difficult with large, tall fermenters of up to 100,000-gallon (380,000-litre) capacity. In large units the fermenting must is drawn off near the bottom and pumped back over the cap. The use of small fermentation vessels permits a greater percentage of heat loss to the surrounding atmosphere, simplifying temperature control.

Postfermentation treatment

      With appropriate must composition, yeast strain, temperature, and other factors, alcoholic fermentation ceases when the amount of fermentable sugar available becomes very low (about 0.1 percent). Fermentation will not reach this stage when (1) musts of very high sugar content are fermented, (2) alcohol-intolerant strains of yeast are used, (3) fermentations are carried on at too low or high temperatures, and (4) fermentation under pressure is practiced. Fermentation of normal musts is usually completed in 10 to 30 days. In most cases, the major portion of the yeast cells will soon be found in the sediment, or lees. Separation of the supernatant wine from the lees is called racking. The containers are kept full from this time on by “topping,” a process performed frequently, as the temperature of the wine, and hence its volume, decreases. During the early stages, topping is necessary every week or two. Later, monthly or bimonthly fillings are adequate.

      Normally the first racking should be performed within one to two weeks after completion of fermentation, particularly in warm climatic regions or in warm cellars, as the yeasts in the thick deposit of lees may autolyze (digest themselves), forming off-odours.

      Early racking is not required for wines of high total acidity—i.e., those produced in cool climatic regions or from high-acid varieties. Such wines may remain in contact with at least a portion of the lees for as long as two to four months, permitting some yeast autolysis in order to release amino acids and other possible growth factors favouring growth of lactic-acid bacteria. These bacteria then induce the second, or malolactic, fermentation.

Malolactic fermentation

      Enologists have known for some time that young wines frequently have a secondary evolution of carbon dioxide, occurring sometime after the completion of alcoholic fermentation. This results from malolactic fermentation, in which malic acid is broken down into lactic acid and carbon dioxide. The fermentation is caused by enzymes produced by certain lactic-acid bacteria.

      Flavour by-products of unknown composition are also produced during this fermentation. Malolactic fermentation is desirable when new wines are too high in malic acid, as in Germany, or when particular nuances of taste and flavour are desired, as in the red wines of Burgundy and Bordeaux in France. In other regions, some producers may encourage malolactic fermentation, and others may discourage it, depending upon the particular character desired in the wine. In all regions, this second fermentation is somewhat capricious. One product, diacetyl (a flavour and aroma agent), is apparently beneficial at low levels and undesirable at higher levels.

      At low temperatures, malolactic fermentation proceeds slowly, if at all. German cellars are often equipped with steam pipes, raising the temperature to encourage this fermentation. The bacteria may fail to grow because of a deficiency or complete absence of essential amino acids. Most lactic-acid bacteria growth can be inhibited by the presence of 70 to 100 milligrams per litre of sulfur dioxide.

      Excessive malolactic fermentation may produce wines too low in acidity (flat tasting) or with undesirable odours (mousy, sauerkraut, or diacetyl). Such faults may be prevented by earlier racking, filtration, and addition of sulfur dioxide.

Clarification

      Some wines deposit their suspended material (yeast cells, particles of skins, etc.) very quickly, and the supernatant wine remains nearly brilliant. This is particularly true when 50-gallon wooden barrels, which have greater surface-to-volume ratio than larger containers, are employed. The rough interior of wooden cooperage facilitates deposition of suspended material. Other wines, particularly in warm regions or when large tanks are used, may remain somewhat cloudy for long periods. Removal of the suspended material during aging is called clarification. The major procedures involved are fining, filtration, centrifugation, refrigeration, ion exchange, and heating.

Fining

      Fining is an ancient practice in which a material that aids clarification is added to the wine. The main processes involved are adsorption, chemical reaction and adsorption, and possibly physical movement. Proteins and yeast cells are adsorbed on fining agents such as bentonite (a type of clay formed mainly of montmorillonite) or gelatin. Chemical reactions occurring with tannins and gelatin may be followed by adsorption of suspended compounds. If an inert material, such as silica, is added to a cloudy wine, some clarification will occur simply by the movement of the particles of inert silica through the wine. This action probably occurs to a certain extent with the addition of any fining agent.

      Bentonite has largely replaced all other fining agents. Such fining agents as gelatin, casein, isinglass, albumin, egg white, nylon, and PVPP (polyvinyl pyrrolidone) may be used for special purposes, including removal of excess tannin or colour.

      Excessive amounts of metals, particularly iron and copper, may be present in the wine, usually from contact with iron or metal surfaces. These result in persistent cloudiness and require removal by such special fining materials as potassium ferrocyanide (blue fining), long recommended in Germany. Cufex, a proprietary product containing potassium ferrocyanide, may be used in the United States under strict control. Phytates have been used for removing iron. In modern winery operations excessive metal content is rare, mainly owing to the use of stainless steel equipment.

Filtration

      Filtration is another ancient practice, and early filters consisted of rough cloth-covered screens through which the wine was poured. Modern filter pads are made of cellulose fibres of various porosities or consist of membrane filters, also in a range of porosities. The pore size of some filters is sufficiently small to remove yeast cells and most bacterial cells, but filters operate not only because of pore size but also by a certain amount of adsorption. Diatomaceous earth-filter aids, commonly added to the wine during filtration, increase the functional life of a filter by retarding pore clogging.

Centrifugation

      Centrifugation (centrifuge), or high-speed spinning, used to clarify musts, is also applied to wines that are difficult to clarify by other means. This operation requires careful control to avoid undue oxidation and loss of alcohol during the process.

refrigeration

      Refrigeration aids wine clarification in several ways. Temperature reduction often prevents both yeast growth and the evolution of carbon dioxide, which tends to keep the yeast cells suspended. Carbon dioxide is more soluble at lower temperatures. A major cause of cloudiness is the slow precipitation of potassium acid tartrate (cream of tartar) as the wine ages. Rapid precipitation is induced by lowering the temperature to −7° to −5° C (19° to 23° F) for one or two weeks. If the resulting wine is filtered off the tartrate deposit, tartrate precipitation will not usually cause clouding later.

Ion exchange (ion-exchange reaction)

      Another method of tartrate stabilization is to pass a portion of wine through a device called an ion exchanger. If this ion exchanger is charged with sodium, it will replace the potassium in potassium acid tartrate with sodium, making a more soluble tartrate. Usually, if the potassium content of the blend of either treated or untreated wine is reduced to about 500 milligrams per litre, no further precipitation will occur. Exceptions may occur, however, and to be safe, tartrate and potassium contents and pH are included in the calculation. The use of ion exchange is illegal in several countries.

Heating (temperature)

      Many wines contain small amounts of proteins that may cause clouding either by precipitation or by reacting with copper or other metals to form aggregates that in turn form clouds. The use of bentonite removes some protein, and protein adsorption is increased if the wine is warm when fined. Pasteurization at 70° to 82° C (158° to 180° F) also can be used to precipitate proteins, but in modern practice this process is seldom employed to aid clarification.

Aging and bottling

Aging

      Many wines improve in quality during barrel and bottle storage (packaging). Such wines eventually reach their peak and with further aging begin to decline. During the aging period, acidity decreases, additional clarification and stabilization occur as undesirable substances are precipitated, and the various components of the wine form complex compounds affecting flavour and aroma.

      Wines are usually aged in wooden (wood) containers made of oak, allowing oxygen to enter and water and alcohol to escape. Extracts from the wood contribute to flavour. Humidity affects the kind of constituents that escape, with alcohol becoming more concentrated in wine stored under conditions of low humidity and weakening with high humidity. As the water and alcohol are released, volume decreases, leaving headspace, or ullage, that is made up by the addition of more of the same wine from another container.

      Some red table wines appreciate in quality, developing less astringency and colour, and a greater complexity of flavour with aging in oak cooperage of up to 500-gallon size for two to three years. In the best red wines, additional improvement may continue with two to 20 years of bottle aging (the rate of aging being lower in the bottle than in the barrel). Many dessert wines improve during cask aging, particularly sweet sherries, but extraction of excessive wood flavour must be avoided. Those rosé and dry red wines that will not improve with long cask and bottle aging are aged for a short period of time, clarified, and then bottled. More than 90 percent of all table wines are probably marketed and consumed before they are two years old. In dry white wines, a fresher flavour is considered desirable, and the chief benefit of aging is greater clarification as various undesirable substances are precipitated. These wines are rarely aged in the wood for long periods, and some are never kept in wood. This change is possible because of the efficiency of new clarification methods. Earlier bottling of white wines reduces costs for storage and for handling in wooden cooperage and produces fresher, fruitier flavour. Sweet white table wines profit by some aging in wood.

Bottling

      Before bottling, wine may require blending, filtration, and use of antiseptics to combat microbe development. Often several casks containing the same wine will develop differences during aging, and blending is desirable to ensure uniformity. Wines that are slightly deficient in colour or acid may be blended with special wines as a means of correction. Blending frequently improves quality by adding to the complexity of the wine.

      A final polishing filtration is required before bottling, and the amount of sulfur dioxide is adjusted, especially in sweet table wines. Sulfur dioxide is frequently used, but sorbic acid or sorbates are used in sweet table wines to inhibit yeasts, although they are not generally recommended because of the off-odour that may develop. Such operations as the addition of sulfur dioxide, heating (wherever beneficial), and polishing filtration are usually accomplished by a continuous in-line process. Equipment, usually semiautomatic or completely automatic, must be free of undesirable microorganisms and is made of resistant alloys to avoid undesirable metal pickup.

      During the actual bottling operation, oxygen pickup must be kept to a minimum. Bottomfilling—that is, inserting a tube into the bottle and filling from the bottom—is often used. In some cases, the bottle may be flushed with carbon dioxide before filling, or the wine may be sparged (agitated) with nitrogen gas. Wines subject to oxidation require special care.

      Sterile new bottles are used in the United States. Elsewhere, bottles may be reused after thorough cleaning and sterilization. The bottle shape and colour are dictated by custom and cost. Some white wines, subject to change when exposed to light, are preferably bottled in brown, brownish green, or greenish blue coloured bottles. Although brown glass is probably preferable for Sauternes, custom dictates the use of clear bottles. Glass is still the usual material, although experiments have been made with plastics.

      After bottling, the closure is made. Screw caps are used for standard wines. cork closures are preferred for wines that will be aged in the bottle. Red wines that may be aged in the bottle for many years are closed with corks two inches (five centimetres) long or longer. Occasionally a cork may communicate an off-odour, called “corked,” to the wine; this apparently results from a contaminant or from a defect that allows the growth of mold in or on the cork.

      A capsule is placed over the closure, the label is applied, and the bottles are packaged in cases for shipment. Wines requiring bottle aging are often not capsuled, labeled, or cased until they have been aged.

      Bottled table and dessert wines should be stored on their sides during aging, both at the winery and by the final customer pending consumption. Appropriate storage conditions include absence of light and low, even temperatures maintained at about 12° to 16° C (54° to 61° F). Diurnal fluctuations in temperature lead to rapid aging and early deterioration.

Special wines

      The procedures discussed above are primarily concerned with the production of still (non-sparkling) table wines. Sparkling, dessert, and flavoured wines require special techniques.

Sparkling wines

      Wines containing excess carbon dioxide are called sparkling wines. They are always table wines, usually containing less than 4 percent sugar. The two basic techniques used for their production are a second sugar fermentation, often induced artificially, or direct carbonation, involving the addition of carbon dioxide.

      Sparkling wine results when the escape of carbon dioxide from the fermenting liquid is prevented. The basic material is usually a dry white, rosé, or red table wine. Sufficient sugar is added to the basic wine to produce a pressure of about five or six atmospheres (units of pressure, each equal to 14.7 pounds per square inch) following fermentation, assuming there is no loss of carbon dioxide. The size of the fermentation container may vary from 0.1 to 25,000 gallons. Bottles or tanks used for this type of fermentation must be capable of withstanding pressures as high as 10 atmospheres. Use of tanks equipped with pressure gauges allows excess pressure to be let off as needed. The special bottles used for sparkling wines are thicker than normal in order to withstand pressure of seven to nine atmospheres. The neck of the bottle is shaped either for seating a crown cap or with a lip that catches a steel clamp to hold the cork in place.

      The basic wine is clarified before being placed in the fermentation container. Several wines are usually blended to secure a base wine of the proper composition and flavour balance. The original alcohol content should be only 10–11.5 percent; the secondary fermentation will result in an increase of about 1 percent. The pH should be 3.3 or slightly less, with 0.7 percent or more total acidity calculated as tartaric acid, and the wine should have a fresh fruity flavour. No single or pronounced varietal character should predominate in the base wine, except in muscat-flavoured sparkling wines. Special care is necessary to avoid wines with any off character in odour or taste, or any trace of undesirable bacterial activity.

      The clarified wine is placed in the fermentation vessel, and the requisite sugar for the fermentation, about 2.5 percent, is added, along with 1 to 2 percent of an actively growing yeast culture. The strain of yeast selected should ferment adequately in wines of 10 to 11.5 percent alcohol and under pressure. The yeast cells should settle (agglutinate) rapidly and completely after fermentation.

      The secondary fermentation is carried out at 10° to 12° C (50° to 54° F) for best absorption of the carbon dioxide produced and should be completed in four to eight weeks. To save time, both tank and bottle fermentations are often conducted at temperatures of 15° to 17° C (59° to 63° F) or even higher, and the secondary fermentation is frequently completed in 10 days to two weeks.

Tank fermentation

      Additional differences between tank- and bottle-fermented wines may develop after secondary fermentation. Upon completion of fermentation, tank-fermented wines are filtered to remove the yeast deposit and then bottled. The filtration operation can introduce air, sometimes leading to oxidative changes affecting colour and taste. In addition, it is difficult to accomplish the necessary filtration, removing any viable yeast cells, without reducing the level of the pressure that has been built up within the wine. Because of such difficulties, sulfur dioxide may be added to tank-fermented wines in order to prevent refermentation. While still in the tank, the wine is sweetened to the desired level by the addition of inert sugar syrup.

Bottle fermentation

      Bottle-fermented wines may also be clarified soon after fermentation. In the transfer process, the bottle-fermented wine is transferred, under pressure, to a second tank, from which it is filtered and bottled. In this case, as with tank-fermented wines, little aging of the wine takes place in contact with the yeast, and sulfur dioxide may be added. The transfer process is widely used in the United States, Germany, and elsewhere.

      In contrast, in classic bottle fermentation, or méthode champenoise (“champagne method”), the wine remains in the bottle, in contact with the yeast, for one to three years. During this period of aging under pressure, a series of complex reactions occurs, involving compounds from autolyzed yeast and from the wine, resulting in a special flavour. Bottle-aged wine is rarely transferred, filtered, or rebottled because the addition of sulfur dioxide, required to prevent oxidation, would interfere with the delicate odour so carefully developed by aging. Aged bottle-fermented wines therefore are usually clarified in the bottle. In this process the bottles are placed neck down in special racks at a 45° angle. Each day the bottle is turned to the right and left, inducing the yeast debris within to move down the side of the bottle onto the cork. This process, riddling or remuage, may last from a few weeks to several months. When it is complete, all of the yeast is on the cork, and the bottle is gradually brought to an inverted position of 180°. Mechanical remuage in large containers is widely practiced.

      In the traditional procedure, the cork is slowly pulled out, and the pressure within the bottle propels the sediment out of the bottle. In the modern procedure, to prevent undue pressure loss, the bottle temperature is lowered to 10° to 15° C (50° to 59° F). The neck of the bottle is placed in a freezing solution and frozen solid. When the crown cap, or cork, is removed and the yeast deposit is ejected, the process is called disgorging, or dégorgement. The bottle is quickly turned to an upright position. When performed properly, disgorging (which is usually mechanized), involves the loss of only 3 to 5 percent of the wine. The bottle is held under pressure while it is refilled.

      The filling solution is a small amount of sweetening dosage, usually white wine containing 50 percent sugar. The amount added depends on the degree of sweetness the producer desires. Wines labeled brut, or sometimes nature (a term also applied to a still champagne), are extremely dry (very low in sugar content), usually containing 0 to 1.5 percent sugar; wines labeled extra dry or extra sec, or dry or sec, are sweeter, often containing 2 to 4 percent sugar; semi-dry or demi-sec wines may contain 5 percent or more sugar; and sweet or doux wines have about 8 percent sugar. In commercial practice, there is considerable variation in the exact degree of sweetness described by a specific term. If the dosage does not bring the contents to the desired level, more wine of a previously disgorged bottle is added. The closure, made of cork or plastic, is held in place with a wire netting.

      If the wine has been aged for two or three years, the sugar in the final dosage does not ferment, as that in the original dosage did, because few viable yeast cells remain. Even in wines aged for shorter periods, skillful disgorging leaves few viable yeast cells on the sides of the neck of the bottle. Furthermore, the wine lacks oxygen to stimulate yeast growth and is lower in growth-promoting nitrogenous constituents and higher in alcohol than the original wine. The high carbon dioxide content also has a repressive effect on yeast growth. When bottle-fermented wines are fermented very rapidly and disgorged early, however, it is customary to add some sulfur dioxide with the final dosage to repress yeast growth.

      In the United States, tank-fermented wines must be labeled “fermented in bulk” or “bulk-fermented.” Bottle-fermented wines may be labeled “bottle-fermented,” but only wines handled by the classic method may be labeled “fermented in this bottle.”

Carbonation

      Carbonation is a less involved process but is used infrequently. Carbonated wines have many characteristics of fermented sparkling wines, and this simple physical process is much less expensive. The action of the second fermentation under pressure may produce especially desirable flavour by-products, however, and there is greater prestige value attached to fermented sparkling wines. In some cases, the wines used as a base for the carbonated sparkling wines may be overmature or otherwise inferior to those used for the fermented sparkling wines.

      The base wine used for carbonation, like the base wine for fermented sparkling wines, must be well balanced, with no single varietal flavour predominating. Young fruity wines are preferred, and the wine should not contain any trace of off-odour. Since no secondary fermentation takes place, wines of 11.5 to 12.5 percent alcohol content are used. The wine should be tartrate-stable, metal-stable, and brilliant, and the sulfur-dioxide content should be low. For white wines, the colour should be a light yellow.

      A variety of techniques have been used for carbonation. Production of carbonation by passing the wine from one bottle to another, under carbon-dioxide pressure, is now seldom employed because of its slowness. Carbonation has been produced in bottles after deaeration, and this technique could be adapted to multibottle operations. Direct carbonation is frequently practiced with cold wine in pressure tanks, and if the stream of gas is finely divided, good carbonation is obtained. Pinpoint carbonation, spraying the wine into a pressure chamber containing carbon dioxide, may also be employed. Following the carbonation procedure, the wine is bottled under pressure. A cork or plastic or crown-cap closure is applied, the label is affixed, and the wine is cased for distribution.

      In many countries, there is a higher tax on fermentation-produced sparkling wines than on carbonated sparkling wines. The two types also have different labeling requirements, and the process of carbonation usually must be stated on the label.

      There are a few low-level carbon dioxide wines on the market, produced either by fermentation or by carbonation. In Germany and other areas, tank-fermented wines, or “pearl” wines, of about one atmosphere pressure, are produced. In the United States, Portugal, and Switzerland, a number of wines are lightly carbonated at the time of bottling, adding piquancy.

      There are a few wines in which the carbon dioxide comes not from alcoholic fermentation, but from malolactic fermentation of excess malic acid in the wine. The vinhos verdes wines of northern Portugal are examples of this type. This fermentation is sometimes responsible for undesirable gassiness in red wines.

Fortified wines

      The addition of alcohol during or after alcoholic fermentation produces fortified wines of over 14 percent alcohol, generally called dessert wines in the United States. In most countries, these wines are taxed at higher rates than those of 14 percent or lower alcohol. Fortification has two purposes: (1) to raise the alcohol content sufficiently (usually 17 to 21 percent) to prevent fermentation of all of the sugar and (2) to produce types with a special alcohol character. The alcohol used for fortification is usually (legally required in most countries) distilled from wine. The distillation of the fortifying spirits is made to a high percent alcohol, usually 95 to 96 percent. Industrial alcohol has also been employed in a few countries.

      The repressive effect of alcohol on alcoholic fermentation increases rapidly as the alcohol content is raised above 14 percent, particularly in the presence of sugar. To secure prompt cessation of fermentation, the added alcohol must be rapidly and uniformly mixed with the fermenting must, and this is accomplished by stirring or mixing with compressed air.

      In the most simple type of fortification, the initial fermentation is allowed to proceed nearly to, or all the way to, completion. The resulting wine is usually subjected to a baking process, as in Madeiras and California sherries, lasting for one to four months, at 58° to 65° C (136° to 149° F). If the wine is low in sugar content, heating will change the flavour and colour of the wine only slightly; with greater sugar content, a more caramelized flavour, typical of sweet Madeiras and sweet California sherries, is produced.

      When white must is fortified during fermentation, the resulting wine is sweet, the degree of sweetness depending on the original sugar content of the must and the time of fortification. Some types, fortified early, produce very sweet wines. Muscatels, produced in many countries, are often of this type.

      Red sweet wines, such as port, are more difficult to produce. Although the grapes must be fermented on the skins to extract colour, the fermentation cannot be continued for long if the requisite sugar is to remain in the finished wine. One method of securing sufficient colour is to use grape varieties containing large amounts of pigments in their skins. The skins and juice are sometimes heated to about 65° C (149° F) to extract colour.

      The flor sherries, such as the dry or fino-type sherry produced in Spain, are a special type of dessert wine. The base wine is fortified to about 15 percent alcohol, and a special alcohol-tolerant film yeast develops as a film on the wine surface. Acetaldehyde, an aldehyde, is one of the flavour products produced by this procedure. Following this process, the alcohol content may be further raised to 16–18 percent. By adjusting the oxygen content, the flor yeast may be induced to develop and produce acetaldehyde in a submerged culture, a process used commercially in California.

      Marsala, a type of dessert wine produced in Sicily, has a dark amber colour and burnt sugar flavour, derived from the addition of grape juice that has been cooked and reduced to about one-third its original volume.

      Dessert wines aged for only short periods lack the complex flavour of those dessert wines aged in small oak cooperage for at least two to four years. During aging, white wines gradually darken in colour, while red wines become less red and more amber. Flavour becomes more complex and mellow as wood flavour is extracted from the container, various substances in the wine become oxidized, and complex compounds of acids and alcohol are formed. If the wood containers are stored in warm, dry rooms, more water than alcohol is lost, and the alcohol content of the wine increases. This effect is common in dessert wines of the south of Spain. At lower storage temperatures and normal humidity, there is little change and sometimes even a slight decrease in alcohol content.

      In the production of certain wines, special character is achieved by blending wines of different ages, a technique often used for port blends. By varying the proportion of the various wines, a range of types varying in colour and flavour may be produced. The blending may be performed continuously, as in the solera system common in Spain. This process involves a series of casks graduated according to the age of the wine each contains. One or more times each year, a portion of wine, usually 10 to 25 percent, is taken out of the oldest cask. This is replenished from the next oldest containers, and these in turn from younger containers. After a number of years, depending on the portion withdrawn each year and the number of years since the start, the average age of wine in the oldest container no longer changes. This process is called a fractional-blending system.

Flavoured wines

       vermouth, a flavoured (flavouring) wine product, probably originated in Turin in the 18th century as a sweet dessert wine with various Mediterranean and other herbs and plant materials added. A similar product, lower in sugar content, was produced in the south of France. Although sweet vermouth is often considered an Italian type and dry vermouth usually refers to the French type, both countries now produce both types. Various producers have their own formulas, and the herbs and spices used as flavourings include bitter orange peel, cinnamon, clove, coriander, mace, marjoram, nutmeg, saffron, and wormwood.

      Aperitif wines, usually taken before meals, are made by adding quinine and other ingredients to sweet, heavy wines. In France they are marketed under such brand names as Byrrh, Dubonnet, Lillet, and Saint Raphaël; in Italy they include Campari and Punt e Mes.

      There are various flavoured wine beverages, frequently mixed by the consumer and sometimes bottled by a manufacturer, in which flavouring materials are added after the manufacture of the wine. May wine, of German origin, is a type of punch made with Rhine wine or other light, dry, white wines, flavoured with the herb woodruff and served chilled and garnished with strawberries or other fruit. Sangria, a popular punch in many Spanish-speaking countries, is made with red or white wine mixed with sugar and plain or sparkling water, flavoured with citrus fruit, and served chilled. Mulled wine is usually made with red wine diluted with water, sweetened with sugar, flavoured with such spices as cloves and cinnamon, and served hot. Glogg, a hot punch of Swedish origin, is frequently made with red wine and contains spices, almonds, and raisins. Wine coolers, popular in the United States, are wines of low alcohol flavoured with fruit juices.

Fruit wines

      Fruit wines, derived from fruits other than grapes (grape), include cider, made from apples; perry, produced from pears; plum wine and cherry wine; and wines made from various berries. They are frequently made by home wine makers and have some commercial importance in cold climates where wine grapes are not produced. Cider and perry are important products in England and northern France; fortified cherry and black currant wines are produced in Denmark; and important American fruit wines, produced mainly on the eastern coast, include apple, cherry, blackberry, elderberry, and loganberry wines. Various kinds of fruit wines are exported from The Netherlands, Denmark, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia, and Israel.

      Fruit wines usually have sweet flavour and should retain much of the flavour and colour of the original fruit. The musts are high in acid content and require dilution with water and the addition of sugar before fermentation. Many commercial fruit wines contain about 12 percent alcohol. When they are fortified with brandy, derived from the same fruit, alcoholic content is about 20 percent. The alcoholic content of cider and perry is usually 2–8 percent.

Maynard A. Amerine

Additional Reading

Encyclopaedias and dictionaries on wines and wine production include Frank Schoonmaker's Encyclopedia of Wine, rev. and expanded ed., rev. by Julius Wile (1978); Hugh Johnson, The World Atlas of Wine: A Complete Guide to the Wines and Spirits of the World, 3rd rev. ed. (1985), and Hugh Johnson's Modern Encyclopedia of Wine, 2nd ed. (1987); and Ted Grudzinski, Winequest, the Wine Dictionary (1985). Standard works on wine making include M.A. Amerine, et al., The Technology of Wine Making, 4th ed. (1980), a treatise on the making of all types of wine; and Jean Ribéreau-Gayon, et al., Sciences et techniques du vin, 4 vol. (1972–77). Viticulture is discussed in A.J. Winkler, General Viticulture, rev. and enlarged ed. (1974), a standard treatise on grape growing.French wines are discussed in Alexis Lichine and Samuel Perkins, Alexis Lichine's Guide to the Wines and Vineyards of France, 3rd ed. (1986); Steven Spurrier, The Académie du vin Guide to French Wines (1986); David Peppercorn, Bordeaux (1982, reprinted 1986); and Hubrecht Duijker, The Wines of the Loire, Alsace, and Champagne (1983). For German wines, see Gerhard Troost, Technologie des Weines, 5th rev. ed. (1980); and Frank Schoonmaker, The Wines of Germany, 2nd rev. ed., edited by Peter M.F. Sichel (1983). Wines of other countries are discussed in Burton Anderson, The Simon and Schuster Pocket Guide to Italian Wines (1987); Jan Read, Maite Manjón, and Hugh Johnson, The Wine and Food of Spain (1987); Zoltán Halász, The Book of Hungarian Wines (1981; originally published in Hungarian, 1981); Len Evans, Complete Book of Australian Wine, 3rd ed. (1978); Anthony Dias Blue, American Wine: A Comprehensive Guide (1985), on the United States; William I. Kaufman, Encyclopedia of American Wine, Including Mexico and Canada (1984); and Leon D. Adams, The Wines of America, 3rd ed. (1985).Maynard A. Amerine

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