1. Grape picking: When the grapes are fully ripe, the farmers start to harvest the grapes. The best time to pick the grapes is at noon when the sun is warm, and try to be as careful as possible without breaking the grapes. Mature grapes after harvest, to be sent to the processing site as soon as possible, for crushing processing, try to ensure the freshness of the crushed grapes.
2. Broken skin to stem: the color and taste structure of red wine mainly from the red pigments and tannins in the skin of the grapes, so it is necessary to first make the grape berries rupture and release the juice, so that the grape juice can be in contact with the skin, in order to release these polyphenolic substances. The tannins in the grape stems are stronger and are usually removed, and some wineries leave a portion of the stems behind in order to enhance the strength of the tannins.
3. Maceration and fermentation: After destemming, the must and skins are placed in vats and macerated while the wine ferments. Traditionally, unsealed oak tanks were used, but now automatic temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks are used. Higher temperatures will deepen the color of the wine, but too high (more than 32 ℃) will kill the yeast and lose the fresh fruit aromas of the wine, so the temperature control must be moderate. This takes 5-7 days, during which time the must is stirred constantly so that the grape juice and skins are as completely integrated as possible. The longer the maceration, the more concentrated the phenolic substances, flavors, minerals, etc., that are released into the wine. When the fermentation is completed and the maceration reaches the required level, the liquid part of the tank can be guided to other tanks, and this part of the wine is called the first wine.
4. Juicing and post-fermentation: After the main fermentation is completed, the skins are immediately separated from the dregs, and the run-off juice is combined into clean containers and stored in full tanks.
5. Cultivation in oak barrels: For each kind of wine, when fermentation is just finished, the taste is more sour and raw for new wine. In order to make the new wine after storage and aging, gradually mature, the taste becomes soft, smooth, to achieve the best drinking quality, almost all high-quality red wine by the oak barrel culture. As the primary fermentation produces the original wine, the yeasts in it continue to undergo alcoholic fermentation, which further reduces its residual sugar. At this point in time, there is a residual malic acid in the primary wine that is more acrid in flavor, and a post-fermentation process, also known as malolactic fermentation, must be carried out. This process takes about 30 days at 20° to 25°C to complete, removing all the microorganisms from the wine. It is only then that the wine can be called a genuine red wine.
6. Storage management: Wine sleeping in various containers is still growing, and a series of chemical and physical-chemical reactions have to take place to make the wine mature gradually. In order to improve the stability and maturation of the wine, barrel changes and short airing are indispensable procedures. This process is when the winemaker is at his best, tasting the changes in the wine in each container at any given time, mastering its flavor and maturity.
7. Clarification and bottling: The clarification of wine is divided into two methods: natural clarification and artificial clarification. Natural clarification is the natural precipitation of suspended particles in the wine after separation, but this means is not up to the requirements of commercial wine bottling, must be used artificially to add protein substances to adsorb the suspended particles of the clarification means to accelerate the clarification process and increase the degree of clarification. At the same time, it is also necessary to heat the wine before bottling sterilization or freezing treatment, or aseptic filtration methods, the wine in the bacteria or yeast are removed, you can improve the chemical stability of wine.
8. Labeling: After the winery completes the above steps, the wine can be sold out, and the wine label will be put on the wine before sale and then flow to the distributor, and the foreign distributors of imported wines will also be labeled with the corresponding Chinese labels.