Making Red, Rose And Sparkling Wines
Author: Ken Finnigan

As touched upon in the preceding article, "Making White Wine, a
Labour of Love" making wine is a very time consuming and
difficult job. Timing must be perfect as does combinations of
ingredients. The same goes for all other types of wine: red,
rose and sparkling.

Rosé wine is a red wine that is made with the same methods of a
white wine. The production is the same except that the skins are
thrown in with the juice. Few winemakers prefer to make rosé
wine by mixing some red wine into white wine, but this is not
the popular method. When using the skins to make rosé wine most
important thing is to only leave the skins in with the juice for
a short period of time, long enough to give it that rose color
and make it ever so slightly tannic.

Making red wine involves using the entire grape except for the
stalks. The grapes are de-stemmed and crushed, but instead of
filtering the skins from the juice the skins are transferred to
open top tanks where they are continuously stirred so the flavor
and color from the skins will become infused with the wine
during fermentation. The wine is then filtered to remove the
skins and put into barrels to age from six months up to two
years before being bottled and sold.

Then you have sparkling wine or Champagne. Because of the
Treaty of Madrid in 1891 and the Treaty of Versailles in, only
wines from the French region of Champagne are allowed to be
called as such, which is why everything else is referred to as
sparkling wine. However it is important to note that the United
States never ratified the treaty and therefore some wine makers
today use the term Champagne on their bottles, only if the
original place of origin is on the label as well to prevent
confusion. The wines most commonly used are Chardonnay, Pinot
Noir or Pinot Meunier. The first step is to have a "base wine"
which is usually made from very acidic grapes giving it a
horrible taste. The next step involves getting the bubbles into
the wine.

There are three methods that can be used to get bubbles into
wine, carbonation, transfer method and méthode champenoise.
Carbonation, the same method used in soft drinks, is the
cheapest. Carbon dioxide is pumped into a wine tank and then
the wine is bottled under pressure to prevent the case from
escaping. The transfer method is when a sweetened base has
yeast added to it and is allowed to ferment a second time in an
enclosed tank so the building carbon dioxide cannot escape.
After fermentation, the wine is then clarified and re-sweetened
if necessary before being bottled under pressure. This method is
used to produce medium price range sparkling wine. The final
method is méthode champenoise, which is when the wine has a
second fermentation in the bottle. This method is used to
produce the best quality wines.

Making wine is an art form. It takes knowledge, skill but most
of all patience. The process of making wine from picking the
grapes to bottling can be months or years, which is why
winemakers are so passionate about their work. So the next time
you pour yourself a glass, think about the voyage those little
grapes have made.


About The Author: Ken Finnigan is the CEO of
http://www.finestwineracks.com a website specializing in
quality decorative wine racks and durable wine storage systems.