When wine has fully aged it is packaged for sale and consumption. Most finished wines are packaged into bottles and bottling is the final step in the wine

Wine is a living medium and unfortunately can develop unwanted and unpleasant colors, flavors, and aromas. Wine reacts

Constant assessment of your fermentation is advised to insure that quality is being maintained and no problematic fermentations are developing

Grapes require a great deal of processing in order to become wine. They must be harvested, sorted, removed from their stems,

The fermentation process, in simple definition, is a microbiological conversion of the sugars in grape juice into ethanol and carbon dioxide by the means of glycolysis. This conversion is carried

Wine pH scale is designed to measure whether a substance is acidic or alkaline. The scale ranges from 1 to 14 with the value of 7 considered neutral. Substances below 7 are acidic, the lower the number

Total acidity (also losely referred to as titratable acidity) is a measure of the total acids present in wine. TA is related to pH but the concepts are not identical. While pH measures acid strength, TA measures

Sugar concentration is a major physical property analyzed in grapes and wine. The amount of sugar available will determine the sweetness of wine flavor. Residual sugar is also important to know as any sugar

Table wines in the U.S. generally contain alcohol levels ranging between 12% and 16%. The winemaker will aim for a particular percentage of alcohol depending on the style and

SO2 concentrations are monitored throughout winemaking as it is the most common antimicrobial agent used in preventing spoilage.

Wine undergoes a period of ageing following fermentation. This lets the wine mature, giving well integrated characters that very young wines tend to lack. Most wines receive some sort of

Malolactic fermentation, also referred to as secondary fermentation, uses bacteria to transform muscular malic acids (think green apple) into smoother

Sparging is a process used to remove excess dissolved oxygen, as well as CO2, from a wine. In sparging a wine, inert gas is introduced into the wine, as fine bubbles developing pressure between the inert gas and the dissolved oxygen, forcing the

After red grapes have been sorted and sent through the crusher-destemmer, they are kept around 10˚C degrees for several days. The cool environment prevents spontaneous

Tannins are phenolic compounds present in skins and seeds of grapes. They are responsible for tactile sensations and are perceived as a drying sensation on the mouth and insides of the cheeks. The winemaker works to create a balance of fruit and

Sorting is a quality assurance step in wine production. When most people think of grapes, they imagine the pretty looking clusters of table grapes they purchase in the store that have been neatly trimmed and washed. While most wine grapes look just

Destemming is the process of removing berries from the stems. In the vineyard, grapes are harvested as whole clusters. When the fruit arrives at the winery, it is sorted for quality and can be sent through

After the grapes are sorted, they can be sent through a machine called a crusher. The crusher splits open grape skins to release a portion of their juice and expose the skins. This allows the juices to have more contact with the grape skins during

Grapes are pressed in order to separate the juice from the skins. White grapes are pressed soon after they arrive at the winery before fermentation takes place. Because of the high

After lees has settled to the bottom of a vessel, the clear wine is siphoned or pumped into another barrel or tank. The racking process helps improve clarity while providing a degree of aeration that works

Style refers to the distinctive characteristics of a wine. The world offers a wide range of wines. There are numerous grape varietals, endless growing

The ultimate end for wine is to be consumed and enjoyed. Winemakers must objectively taste their wines during processing to assess quality and determine if any actions are required to remedy

Blending is the art of combining different wines to produce a new wine. Most finished wines are a combination of grape varietals. Different grapes possess different sensory and physical properties. Usually

Additions are compounds added to juice or wine to improve fermentation or preserve quality. Every so often, nature provides the winemaker with the perfect grapes. Oftentimes there is one or more adjustments

Yeast is the catalyst for fermentation in wine production. A member of the fungi kingdom, this single-celled organism feeds off sugars present in grapes

Many of the compounds responsible for a wine’s color, tannins and flavor reside in the skins, stems and seeds of the grape

Amelioration is when water is added to a must in an effort to dilute the concentration of grape sugars. High sugar levels bring the potentials of high alcohol

Chaptalization is the process of adding sugar, or concentrated grape juice, to must to raise the potential ethanol level in the final product. Cane sugar is the most common source of chaptalization, but beet sugar and concentrated grape juice are also

Anthocyanins are the phenolic group that is responsible for the color in red wine. They are also antioxidants. More specifically, anthocyanins are one class of flavonoid compounds found in wine. Their color ranges from red to blue. The color of anthocyanins

Riddling is a step in the sparkling winemaking process by which the yeast sediment in the bottle is consolidated to the neck of the bottle. The purpose of moving all the sediment to the neck of the bottle is to remove it from the bottle after the second

Elevage is a French term referring to the “rearing” of a wine from the beginning of fermentation through

The following is a list of common measurements and additions made to wine during the wine's journey from vineyard to bottle.  

Potassium (K) is analyzed at crush so that the winemaking staff can quantify the potential for the wine to precipitate KHT (Potassium Hydrogen Tartrate) which occurs in all wines during their ageing. K is also a good indicator of vineyard soil management