Red wine is a type of wine made from dark-coloured (black) grape varieties.

The actual colour of the

wine can range from intense violet, typical of young wines, through to brick red for mature wines and
brown for older red wines.
The juice from most purple grapes is greenish-white; the red colour comes from anthocyan pigments
(also called anthocyanins) present in the skin of the grape; exceptions are the relatively
uncommon teinturier varieties, which produce a red colored juice. Much of the red-wine production
process therefore involves extraction of colour and flavour components from the grape skin.
Contents
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1 Production
o

1.1 Grape processing

1.2 Destemming and crushing

1.3 Additions at reception

1.4 Cooling of the must

1.5 Inoculation and fermentation

1.6 Pumping over

1.7 Temperature control

1.8 Following the fermentation

1.9 Pressing

1.10 Types of press

1.11 Malolactic fermentation

1.12 Racking

1.13 Aging

1.14 Fining and stabilization

1.15 Filtration and bottling

2 See also

3 References

Production[edit]

Pouring a glass of red wine

Grape processing[edit]
The first step in red wine production, after picking, involves physical processing of the grapes. Handpicked or machine-harvested grapes are usually tipped into a receival bin when they arrive at the
winery and conveyed by a screw mechanism to the grape-processing equipment.

Destemming and crushing[edit]

On arrival at the winery there is usually a mixture of individual berries, whole bunches (particularly
with hand-picked grapes), stems, and leaves. The presence of stems during fermentation can lead
to a bitter taste in the wine, and the purpose of destemming is to separate grapes from the stems
and leaves. Mechanical de-stemmers usually consist of a rotating cage perforated with grape-sized

holes. Within this cage is a concentric axle with arms radiating towards the inner surface of the cage.
Grapes pass through the holes in the cage, while stems and leaves are expelled through the open
end of the cage.
After destemming, the grapes are commonly lightly crushed. Crushers usually consist of a pair of
rollers, and the gap between them can usually be regulated to allow for light, hard or no crushing,
according to the winemaker's preference.
The mixture of grapes, skins, juice and seeds is now referred to as must. The must is then pumped
to a vessel, often a tank made of stainless steel or concrete, or an oak vat, for fermentation.
In common with most modern winemaking equipment, destemmers and crushers are normally made
of stainless steel (food-grade stainless steel for those parts which come into physical contact with
the grapes)

Additions at reception[edit]
The preservative sulphur dioxide is commonly added when grapes arrive at the winery. The addition
rate varies from zero, for perfectly healthy grapes, to up to 70 mg/litre, for grapes with a high
percentage of rot. The purpose is to prevent oxidation and sometimes to delay the onset
of fermentation.
Macerating enzymes (for instance glucanases) may also be added at this stage, to aid extraction of
color and fruit flavours from the skins and to facilitate pressing.
Tannin may be added now, later in the winemaking process, or not at all. Tannin can be added to
help stabilize colour, to prevent oxidation, and to help combat the effects of rot.

Cooling of the must[edit]

Some winemakers prefer to chill the must to around 10C (50F), to allow a period of prefermentation maceration ("cold soaking"), of between one and four days. The idea is that colour and
fruit flavours are extracted into the aqueous solution, without extraction of tannins which takes place
in post-fermentation maceration when alcohol is present. This practice is by no means universal and
is perhaps more common in New World winemaking countries.

Inoculation and fermentation[edit]

Once the must is in a fermentation vessel, yeast naturally present on the skins of the grapes, or in
the environment, will sooner or later start the alcoholic fermentation, in which sugars present in the
must are converted into alcohol with carbon dioxide and heat as by-products. Many winemakers,
however, prefer to control the fermentation process more closely by adding specially selected yeasts
usually of the species Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Several hundred different strains of wine yeast are
available commercially, and many winemakers believe that particular strains are more or less
suitable for the vinification of different grape varieties and different styles of wine. It is also common
to add yeast nutrient at this stage, often in the form of diammonium phosphate.

Pumping over[edit]
Soon after the must is placed in the fermentation vessel, a separation of solid and liquid phases
occurs. Skins float to the surface, forming a cap. In order to encourage efficient extraction of colour
and flavour components it is important to maximize contact between the cap of skins and the liquid
phase. This can be achieved by:

pumping over (pumping liquid from the bottom of the tank and spraying it over the floating
cap; normally this would be done several times per day during fermentation)

punching down the cap (either manually or using an automated mechanical system)

submerging the cap (the cap is kept beneath the surface of the liquid phase by a physical
restraint)

drain and return (the above techniques can all be supplemented by a drain and return
operation, in which the liquid phase is drained off the skins into another vessel and then pumped
back over the skins)

Temperature control[edit]
Fermentation produces heat and if left uncontrolled the temperature of the fermenting may exceed
40C (104F), which can impair flavour and even kill the yeast. The temperature is therefore often
controlled using different refrigeration systems. Winemakers have different opinions about the ideal
temperature for fermentation, but in general cooler temperatures (25-28C; 77-82.4F) produce
fruitier red wines for early drinking while higher temperatures (28-35C; 82.4-95F) produce more
tannic wines designed for long aging.

Following the fermentation[edit]

Winemakers will usually check the density and temperature of the fermenting must once or twice per
day. The density is proportional to the sugar content and will be expected to fall each day as the
sugar is converted into alcohol by fermentation.

Pressing[edit]
Main article: Pressing (wine)
Pressing in winemaking is the process where juice is extracted from grapes. This can be done with
the aid of a wine press, by hand, or even by the weight of the grape berries and clusters themselves.
[1]

Historically, intact grape clusters were treaded by feet but in most wineries today the grapes are

sent through a crusher/destemmer which removes the individual grape berries from the stems and
breaks the skins, releasing some juice, prior to being pressed. There are exceptions, such as the
case of sparkling wine production in regions such as Champagne where grapes are
traditionally whole-cluster pressed with stems included to produce a lighter must that is low
in phenolics.[2]
In white wine production, pressing usually takes place immediately after crushing and before
primary fermentation. In red wine production, the grapes are also crushed but pressing usually does
not take place till after or near the end of fermentation with the time ofskin contact between the juice
and grapes leaching color, tannins and other phenolics from the skin.[1] Approximately 60-70% of the
available juice within the grape berry, the free-run juice, can be released by the crushing process
and does not require the use of the press.[2] The remaining 30-40% that comes from pressing can
have higher pH levels, lower titratable acidity, potentially higher volatile acidity and higher phenolics
than the free-run juice depending on the amount of pressure and tearing of the skins and will
produce more astringent, bitter wine.[3]
Winemakers often keep their free-run juice and pressed wine separate (and perhaps even further
isolate the wine produced by different pressure levels/stages of pressing) during much of the
winemaking process to either bottle separately or later blend portions of each to make a more
complete, balanced wine.[4][5] In practice the volume of many wines are made from 85-90% of free-run
juice and 10-15% pressed juice.[6]

Types of press[edit]
There are many different types of wine press, but they can be broadly divided into continuous
presses and tank presses. Modern winemaking tends to favour tank presses with pneumatic
membranes, which squeeze the grapes more gently than continuous presses. The press wine is

often kept separate from the free-run, and kept for later blending or disposing. press can also be
dependent on climate and slothrating.

Malolactic fermentation[edit]
A second microbiological transformation commonly takes place after the alcoholic fermentation of
red wines. This is usually referred to as the malolactic fermentation (MLF), in which malic acid,
naturally present in grape juice, is converted into lactic acid under the influence of bacteria (it is not
strictly a fermentation). MLF is almost universally practised for red wines. It often occurs naturally,
owing to the presence of lactic acid bacteria in wineries, but there are also commercially available
preparations of bacteria to inoculate for MLF if necessary.

Racking[edit]
Once the MLF is complete, the red wine is usually racked (decanted) off its lees (dead yeast cells
and other solids), and has sulphur dioxide preservative added to avoid oxidation and bacterial
spoilage.

Aging[edit]
Main article: Aging of wine
Most red wine is aged for some period before bottling, though this can vary from a few days, in the
case of Beaujolais Nouveau to 18 months or more in the case of top Bordeaux reds. Aging can take
place in stainless-steel or concrete tanks, or in small or large oak barrels. The latter impart some
flavour to the wine as a function of their age and size (small, new barrels give more flavour than
large, older barrels).

Fining and stabilization[edit]

Red wines sometimes undergo fining, which is designed to clarify the wine and sometimes to correct
faults such as excess tannin. Fining agents include egg white and gelatin. Some red wines,
particularly those designed for early drinking, are cold stabilized so as to prevent the precipitation of
unsightly tartrate crystals in the bottle.