09/14/05 Making white wine

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran and with the wine harvest in process I thought we'd take a quick look at how white wine is made. When it comes to making white wine you might be surprised to know that white wine can be made from many different grapes  grapes that are yellow, green or red can all be made into white wine. That's because the color of a wine comes from the skin of the grapes. If the winemaker decides to make white wine from red grapes he or she will simply press the juice out and not leave it in contact with the skins. The pigment from the skin won't be there to color the juice. The pressed grape juice is removed from the skin the seeds and the stems. Next the juice is fermented by adding yeast which feeds on the sugars in the juice and turns it to alcohol and carbon dioxide. Soon the carbon dioxide disappears into the atmosphere leaving the alcohol behind. This can go on for a few days or a few weeks depending on the temperature and how much sugar is in the juice. Eventually the alcohol increases and kills the yeast cells and they sink to the bottom of the tank or barrel. Those spent yeast cells are referred to as the "lees". If the wine is aged on it's lees it means that the lees were left in the barrel or tank and maybe stirred into the wine now and then as it was aging. After the white wines have aged to the style or preference of the winemaker the wine is filtered and stabilized so that it is clear and brilliant. At this point it is finally ready to bottle. It will probably be a bit shaken up literally and this is will affect the wine's flavor for a short while after bottling. At this stage some may refer to the wine as being in bottle shock. It doesn't usually last very long and the wine is then ready to be stored and bottle aged or released for sale into the market. So that was your crash course in the making of a white wine. And thanks for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.