GRAPE CONNECTIONS: spirit of the glass

Marilyn W. Bennett, Contributor

A toast to the overwhelming number of persons - friends, family and the wider family of wine lovers - who sent emails, texts and called with great enthusiasm about our journey into the world of wines.

By now, it is becoming more and more apparent that wine appreciation is unrelated to social position, education, strength of pocket or even what some like to call 'class'. In fact, today the wine drinker is king - the world is your oyster and throughout the world, winemakers and distributors raise their glasses to the newly recruited, reconnected, occasional or perennial wine consumer everywhere.

Our last conversation spoke to still, sparkling, fortified and aromatic wines as the broad categories. We are also focusing on wine made from grapes and on table wines which are consumed with food.

You will remember that we are building our knowledge of wine on the basic premise that wine is fermented grape juice with fermentation being the process by which grape juice becomes wine. Well, another plank on this foundation is the simple fact that you cannot get good wines without good grapes. Increasingly, it is recognised that what happens in the vineyard has a direct quality impact on the contents of your bottle of wine.

As promised, we will consider how wine is made and today will start by looking at how still white wine is made. By the way, white wine can be made from red grapes as both red and white grapes produce clear juice. Colour for good quality rosé wines and for red wines come from the skins of red grapes.

The white grapes are harvested (by hand or by machine) and taken to the winery with the object of getting the juice out of the fruit as quickly as possible. Naturally, during the sorting process, rotten grapes are discarded.

The winemaker would have decided on the style of white wine to be made - basically either a light, unwooded, dry wine, or a fuller-bodied, wooded, dry wine. Of course, just as a famous designer or a master chef would put his/her twist on a simple dress or recipe, so it is with the winemaker whose skill and artistic expression are reflected in the character and style of the wine produced.

Let's make wine

How white wine is made:

In making white wine

1. The grapes are crushed and the stalks removed by a de-stemmer or crusher.

2. The crushed grapes are pressed and the juice (called 'must') is pumped into a stainless steel tank for fermentation. Oak chips and staves can be introduced to a stainless steel tank of fermenting dry white wine to impart some oak influence or, instead, these wines can be transferred to oak barrels.

Usually white wines are fermented at lower (cooler) temperatures (55-77F or 15-25C) than red wines. The stainless steel enhances the fruitiness of the wine.

3. Yeast (usually cultured yeast) is added to the juice and goes to work on the sugar in the grape juice to produce alcohol. In the old days, winemakers relied on the local 'wild' yeast. Today some winemakers argue that this 'wild' yeast gives a wine more complexity while others prefer the predictability of the cultured yeast.

4. At the end of the fermentation, a few more steps are taken to 'clarify' the wine, increase the alcohol level by bolstering the sugar content or to correct the wine's balance by adding tartaric or citric acid, if necessary.

5. The wine is then filtered and bottled.

More complex and fuller bodied wines go through other processes than described above.

Over the next few weeks we will look at the winemaking processes for red, rosé and sparkling wines.

Drinking a blushing French Bastard!

Continuing my February 'drink pink' rosé fest, I had a very interesting encounter with a blushing bastard - not to shock your sensibilities, this was a Fat Bastard Rosé wine from France. Delightful on its own, this highly versatile wine made with 50 per cent each of the Shiraz and Grenache grapes delivered a mouthful of ripe, red fruits. The long, crisp finish allowed us a good time of pleasant conversation over a bottle.

What are you drinking? Please share your WOW wine moments with us!

Marilyn W. Bennett is a wine enthusiast who has participated in wine courses at the Culinary Institute of America Rudd Center for Professional Wines Studies in St Helena, California. She is an Advanced Level student of the UK based WSET (Wines and Spirits Education Trust) programme. Send your comments or questions to: marilyntbc@gmail.com.


Wine Quiz Answers

1. False:

Room temperature in Jamaica is much too hot for wines and, therefore, red wines should be slightly chilled. The aromas and flavours in wine are presented as alcohol when the wine is too hot and freeze the taste buds when the wine is too cold.

2. False:

Many people are deceived by the soft pink colour of rosé wines and, therefore, assume that they are sweet rather than dry. Truth is that most rosé wines are dry.

We had only one winner and he is Mansfield Blackwood.

Next column, more wine challenge.

Please contact The Gleaner's Lifestyle desk to collect your prize.