wine
New Wine & Fermentation
Apart from the influence of sun, soil and climate, there are other factors that help the wine maker shape the flavour of wines. These happen in the early stages of a wine's life, mostly at the point of fermentation. Much of how a wine tastes is a direct result of the container it was fermented in. This is not unlike the flavours a cooking pot leaches out into the dish that is being prepared. Those who have used enamel, stainless steel, copper and cast iron pans know full well how each of these can alter the flavours of food, especially if something acidic like tomatoes is being cooked.
The two 'pots' most often used in winemaking are barrels made either of stainless steel or oak. Stainless steel is relatively neutral, but oak can produce profound flavours changes in wine. Most wines and almost all white wines are fermented in large stainless steel tanks.
Stainless Steel Fermentation
Stainless steel is a relatively neutral material that actively preserves the fresh fruit flavours of a grape as it is transformed into wine. After fermentation ceases, most whites and fruity reds are kept in stainless steel tanks until bottling. A few other whites (Chardonnay and Semillon) and most reds are then shifted to oak barrels for conditioning and aging.
Barrel Fermentation
An alternative method places the grape juice immediately in oak barrels to ferment, making the wine less overtly fruity and more savoury, while also imparting a pleasant roasted nuttiness. This usually changes the wine's texture, making it smoother and denser, while harmonising flavours more rapidly. It is a bit like the 'sauce reduction' technique in cooking. This is mostly used with white wines, but the fermentation of Pinot Noir is sometimes finished like this in barrel.
Oak Ageing (Barrel Maturation)
Sometimes stainless steel and oak are combined. Initially fermented in a neutral stainless steel vat to keep the fruit aromas pure and fresh, the wine is then placed for several months in an oak barrel for conditioning. The French call this 'the kiss of oak'. Here, the toasty, vanilla flavours of the oak are absorbed directly into the wine, but without losing fruitiness or radically altering texture. Shortly after bottling the vanilla and toast aromas dominate the wines bouquet, but within a few years they settle in with the fruit and sing a different kind of harmony. Whereas all oak smells and tastes of vanilla, each of the individual oak forests in France, Eastern Europe and America impart a distinctive shade of this flavouring to the barrels they produce. These in turn pass on their own particular flavour to the wines made in them. A secondary aroma in wine of smoke or toast is also a result of the barrel. This is picked up from a charring left within the interior of the barrel during its construction.
Malo-lactic Fermentation
Nothing to do with barrels, this is a special additional fermentation trick used to take the sting out of wines with too much acidity. Basically, Malo-lactic Fermentation transforms and softens the wine by changing harsh 'malic' acids into 'lactic' (milk-like) acids. This can give the wine the smell and feel of milk products. Depending on the extent of treatment, this ranges from milk to cream to butter to the gooiest, stinkiest, runniest camembert going...
The classic butterscotch flavour in Chardonnay is a combination of barrel fermentation, producing the toasted, nutty 'scotch' bit, and malo, which makes the butter. Between these methods and the wide array of tropical fruit flavours available, Kiwi wine makers have a lot of room to play.
Lees Ageing
Another flavouring technique is to allow white wine to age on the residue of its cast off skin and dead yeast cells. This imparts an earthy, yeasty and sometimes salty flavour, and is generally done to 'build-in' a more complex, less fruity component to the wine.
Carbonic Maceration
This is a special red wine making technique that transforms the harsh malic acids in red wines making them easier to drink -- almost immediately after fermentation. The most famous example is Nouveau Beaujolais, but the technique is widely used elsewhere now (Aussie Cab-Macs a good local example). Essentially, fermentation takes place within each uncrushed grape, reducing acids by half, fattening the wine's body by a factor of ten and intensifying its fruity aromas. Often the new wine initially smells like strawberries and bubblegum. PAUL WHITE©
The two 'pots' most often used in winemaking are barrels made either of stainless steel or oak. Stainless steel is relatively neutral, but oak can produce profound flavours changes in wine. Most wines and almost all white wines are fermented in large stainless steel tanks.
Stainless Steel Fermentation
Stainless steel is a relatively neutral material that actively preserves the fresh fruit flavours of a grape as it is transformed into wine. After fermentation ceases, most whites and fruity reds are kept in stainless steel tanks until bottling. A few other whites (Chardonnay and Semillon) and most reds are then shifted to oak barrels for conditioning and aging.
Barrel Fermentation
An alternative method places the grape juice immediately in oak barrels to ferment, making the wine less overtly fruity and more savoury, while also imparting a pleasant roasted nuttiness. This usually changes the wine's texture, making it smoother and denser, while harmonising flavours more rapidly. It is a bit like the 'sauce reduction' technique in cooking. This is mostly used with white wines, but the fermentation of Pinot Noir is sometimes finished like this in barrel.
Oak Ageing (Barrel Maturation)
Sometimes stainless steel and oak are combined. Initially fermented in a neutral stainless steel vat to keep the fruit aromas pure and fresh, the wine is then placed for several months in an oak barrel for conditioning. The French call this 'the kiss of oak'. Here, the toasty, vanilla flavours of the oak are absorbed directly into the wine, but without losing fruitiness or radically altering texture. Shortly after bottling the vanilla and toast aromas dominate the wines bouquet, but within a few years they settle in with the fruit and sing a different kind of harmony. Whereas all oak smells and tastes of vanilla, each of the individual oak forests in France, Eastern Europe and America impart a distinctive shade of this flavouring to the barrels they produce. These in turn pass on their own particular flavour to the wines made in them. A secondary aroma in wine of smoke or toast is also a result of the barrel. This is picked up from a charring left within the interior of the barrel during its construction.
Malo-lactic Fermentation
Nothing to do with barrels, this is a special additional fermentation trick used to take the sting out of wines with too much acidity. Basically, Malo-lactic Fermentation transforms and softens the wine by changing harsh 'malic' acids into 'lactic' (milk-like) acids. This can give the wine the smell and feel of milk products. Depending on the extent of treatment, this ranges from milk to cream to butter to the gooiest, stinkiest, runniest camembert going...
The classic butterscotch flavour in Chardonnay is a combination of barrel fermentation, producing the toasted, nutty 'scotch' bit, and malo, which makes the butter. Between these methods and the wide array of tropical fruit flavours available, Kiwi wine makers have a lot of room to play.
Lees Ageing
Another flavouring technique is to allow white wine to age on the residue of its cast off skin and dead yeast cells. This imparts an earthy, yeasty and sometimes salty flavour, and is generally done to 'build-in' a more complex, less fruity component to the wine.
Carbonic Maceration
This is a special red wine making technique that transforms the harsh malic acids in red wines making them easier to drink -- almost immediately after fermentation. The most famous example is Nouveau Beaujolais, but the technique is widely used elsewhere now (Aussie Cab-Macs a good local example). Essentially, fermentation takes place within each uncrushed grape, reducing acids by half, fattening the wine's body by a factor of ten and intensifying its fruity aromas. Often the new wine initially smells like strawberries and bubblegum. PAUL WHITE©
