Love to taste different wines from vintage to modern? Then, you must be also eager to know about how wine is made. Here, we shall take a look at the process of making wine in a few steps. Get in touch with Wes Wallace to plan and proceed with Barossa wine tours to feel the exuberant delight of tasting old wines in Barossa Valley of South Australia.

• Harvesting

Picking or harvesting is the initial step in crafting wine. To make fine wine, one needs to harvest grapes at the right time, ideally when they’re sufficiently ripe. Whether done by hand or with the help of machines, the time for harvesting is carefully determined by vineyard owners, winemakers and others involved with the production of this classic beverage.

• Crushing and pressing

Crushing the bunch of freshly ripe grapes is the next step for wine making. At times, winemakers allow fermentation to take place inside the uncrushed grapes before these are pressed. For making white wine, the must of grapes is speedily pressed after crushing to seclude the juice from the skin and seeds. Thus, minimal skin contact is allowed for crafting white wine whereas, forming red wine requires optimal contact with its skin to add color and flavor as well as extra tannins during fermentation.

• Magic of fermentation

Fermentation plays the main role in making any wine. In most cases, the juice or must is left to ferment naturally within 6 to 12 hours with the assistance of wild yeasts in the atmosphere. Most winemakers prefer to inoculate the natural yeast during this stage. Sweet wine is obtained by allowing the fermentation procedure to stop before the entire sugar is transformed into alcohol.

• Clarification and filtering

After fermentation, clarification, filtering and fining of the wine are done as winemakers siphon their wine from one barrel to another so that precipitates are left behind.

• Aging and bottling

The last stage involves aging and bottling of the processed wine. Aging of the wine can be continued by storing it in the bottle, ceramic tank, stainless steel, barrel or other any container.

Link with host Wes Wallace to go on well-planned Barossa wine tours in Australia!