How is wine made?

Wine is made in every country in the world. The most productive countries right now would be Germany, France, Italy and North America. These countries grow most of the grapes around the world and produce a great deal of wine. It has been made for centuries from just two simple ingredients: yeast and grape juice. Any fruit juice can be used, but it is typically made from the juice of the grape.

Yeast is the ingredient that turns grape juice into wine. According to the website 2basnob.com, there are wild yeast spores in the air and all that is needed to make wine is an open container of juice and time to age it. The yeast feeds off of sugars in the grape juice in a process called fermentation. During this process, the sugars are converted into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Once the sugars have been consumed, the yeasts fall to the bottom. The wine is removed from the container, leaving the yeast, and then it is transferred to another container to mature.

Different types of grapes are used to make different flavors of wine. All the different variations are the same color when squeezed to make juice. The way a wine gets its color is when the skin soaks into the juice during fermentation. If the skins are left in the wine for a short time, a blush will be made. If they are left for an extended amount, a red is born.

According to Brian Hay, a chef and culinary instructor at Austin Community College, there is a difference between white wines, rose and red wines. For white wines you are going to pick the grape and press the grape very quickly so you don't get a lot of tanning. Tanning comes from seeds and the skin of the grape. Connoisseurs describe it as the taste that sits in your mouth and kind of coats your teeth, which is what a person can experience in a heavy red wine. However, this taste is not what you want to produce in a white wine. Tanning is a substance that causes a firm, mouth drying feeling. Red contains more tanning than whites. White wines get a hint of tanning when fermented in oak barrels, states the website 2basnob.

With the rose flavor, there are a couple of ways to create it. Drain the juice after it has soaked some color of the grape skin to achieve the rose tinge to it, let it go through fermentation, and then it is finished.
Wine also provides a great health benefit. It offers an antioxidant from red grape skins, which contain resveratrol. As research continues, they are finding that white wine, as well, has many benefits. Winemakers are even altering their ways of making it to produce health benefits. There are anti-aging effects in red grape skins, and white wine helps lung function by providing antioxidants.