Winemaking
The craft of turning grapes into wine: crushing, fermenting, ageing and bottling — with endless stylistic choices along the way.
Making the choices that matter
Winemaking is a long string of decisions. When to pick, whether to crush or press, how to ferment (temperature, vessel, yeast), how long to macerate, whether to use oak, and when to bottle each shape the final wine.
Red wines ferment on their skins to extract colour and tannin; whites are pressed from the juice; sparkling wines gain bubbles from a second fermentation; fortified wines are strengthened with neutral spirit.
Key points
- Skin contact separates red from white winemaking.
- Fermentation temperature and vessel shape aromatics.
- Oak ageing adds complexity and structure.
- Every step is a stylistic choice.