FOOD AND BEVERAGES notes

• Wine


  An alcoholic beverage made from grapes only
• Fruit wines


  Wine made from other fruits
• Some fruit wines are named after the fruit they are made from
• This video will focus on making wine by fermented grapes
• Viticulture or Winegrowing


  Cultivation and harvesting of grapes for wine
• Vineyard


  An area of land where grapes are grown for making wines
• Vinification


  The production of wine (starting from grape selection, its fermentation, to the bottling of wine)
• Winery


  The place or the building where wine is produced
• Oenology


  The branch of science which deals with wine and winemaking process
• Winemaking process


  1. Harvesting

  2. Crushing and Pressing

  3. Fermentation

  4. Clarification and ageing

  5. Bottling
• Harvesting


  The process of picking grapes from the vineyard
• Harvesting can be done by hand or by machines
• Many winemakers prefer having the grapes picked up by hand to preserve the quality of grapes
• Grape ripeness at harvesting


  Determines the sweetness of the wine, acidic nature and its flavour
• Sorting grapes


  Grapes are sorted in bunches and underripe or rotten grapes are removed
• Crushing and pressing


  The process of extracting grape juice (must) from the grapes
• In the past, crushing used to be done by feet
• People used to stomp the grapes flat in large bins or barrels as part of their tradition
• Must


  Fresh juice of grapes containing seeds, solids and skins of the grapes
• Up until crushing, the steps for making white wine and red wines are the same
• Red variety of grapes only can be used to make red wine
• Maceration


  The time period for which must is allowed to sit to get additional tannins, flavour and colour
• Pressing


  The process that separates the grape juice (free run) from the fibre and other solids (pomace)
• When making white wine, grapes juice portion is quickly separated from the must without giving any maceration time, to prevent the tannin and color from leaching in the wine
• Majority of the winemakers do crushing and pressing mechanically nowadays
• Mechanical presses have made the process more sanitary and has also improved the quality and longevity of the wine
• Crushing and pressing can be done at the same time or separated by a few hours to days, depending on the style of wine being made
• Fermentation


  The action of yeast upon sugar solution breaks down the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide
• If we left the must/grape juice on its own, the fermentation process starts naturally in 6-12 hours with the aid of wild yeast present in the air
• Most well-established wineries and vineyards prefer natural fermentation
• Saccharomyces cerevisiae


  The most commonly used cultured yeast in winemaking
• The process of fermentation continues until all of the sugar is converted into alcohol, which results in a dry wine
• If sweet wine is to be prepared, winemakers stop the fermenting process in between before all the sugar has been converted into alcohol
• Alcohol level in wine

  Generally 10% in cool climates and goes as high as 15% in warm areas, can go up to 20% with Saccharomyces cerevisiae
• The complete fermentation process may take about a week to a month or even more to convert the sugar into alcohol
• Clarification


  Removing any tannins, proteins and dead yeast from the wine
• Filtration


  Passing the wine through a filter with very small holes or pores to remove large particles
• Fining


  Introducing an agent to wine that physically binds with unwanted molecules (colloids) which then precipitate out
• Common fining agents include gelatine, isinglass, egg whites, casein, bentonite and carbon
• Racking


  The process of moving wine or beer from one container to another using gravity rather than a pump