Wine Road - life in a barrel, and the last step to the buyer

Having started from planting a small seedling in the soil before the press at the winery, the wine is actually in a "vegetative" state.

But sooner or later, millions of berries fall into the press, processed, fermentable and finally begin the final stage of the path - turning directly into the drink, which is so revered by people for thousands of years.

After the primary and further processing, wine (already in the full sense of the word) is sent for a period of from a few to 18 months in the cellars, where it will be under scrutiny winemaker before go to the filling line, and only then on the store shelves.

Wine Road - life in a barrel, and the last step to the buyer

The wine cellar - an indispensable stage of maturing wine. Here, the wine continues its maturation in special containers.

Capacity for aging can be made of different materials: stainless steel, concrete, glass and wood. Ordinary wines are aged, usually made of stainless steel in large containers. Term of endurance for the different grades can vary considerably - from several months to six months.

Depending on the style of wine for some time can be kept on the lees left over at the end of fermentation. In this precipitate can be periodically stirring (procedure known as battonazh). Removal of wine from the sediment held its transfusion to another container.

Exposure in the tree (as a rule, used oak) has some differences from the previous version. The thing is that through the micropores in oak barrels content is gas exchange with the environment in which the interaction of wine with oxygen. This reduces the aggressiveness and sharpness of the drink, but at the same time, several neutralize primary fruit aromas. In order not to give the wine its own flavor from the barrel, using old oak barrels.

Upon exposure to oxygen permeates the wine not only through the pores of the wood, and in other ways - through the free surface near the bung hole with the refill of wine materials, when recasting. regulate the supply of oxygen choice tanks refills period and manner of their performance, as well as the number of perelivok.

The new oak barrels give the wine a special, mostly vanilla nuances. These shades are especially well combined with the natural characteristics of certain varieties of grapes, especially cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay. Therefore, these wine varieties are usually kept in small oak barrels, where oak most actively interacts with wine. French oak, as a rule, gives the wine a less abrupt tone than the US. If the winemaker overboard with oak wood and vanilla nuances will dominate in the taste and flavor by suppressing the varietal characteristics and making wine alike.

The wines are aged in barrels, called branded. Traditional capacitors are considered drums of different capacity - from 22 to 5 120, 0 returned.

As a rule, the wine is aged in barrel from 6 to 18 months depending on the type of wine and the winemaker's creativity.

At the end of extracts form the final blend of different containers for pouring wine in the bottle. Before that wine may be further filtered or stabilized to remove or flatten the remaining disadvantages.

When you get to the dampness of the wine cellar, where it seems that the air is entirely composed of dozens of scents emanating from the barrels of Bastardo and Chardonnay, Riesling and Cabernet, involuntarily you stop for a while. Stops to forget about the camera, to smell, to think ... you just do not to fuss.

Wine in a barrel - like a baby in the womb. Matures, evolves, gains strength, and prepare to be born. As a mother with unborn child seen by a doctor and a winemaker comes to the child by tracking its development ... He pulls out the tongue out of the barrel, picking up a glass tube red or white wine in the glass, then it spills over the walls of glass and "listens" to the bouquet. .. first inhaling the aroma, and only then tasting ...

In the process of manufacturing casks to give them form is burned in the fire. Silnoobozhzhennye barrels give the wine more than spicy, fried and coffee, but at the same time less than the actual shades of oak, as firing creates a protective film between wine and oak tannins. Of barrels of medium roast are more tannic wine and vanilla from slaboobozhzhennyh- more tannic wine.

White and red wines are stored in different places where, as a rule, have very different parameters of temperature and humidity.

Each barrel will be appropriately marked. In addition to marking the barrel also has an information card, which amends the basic parameters at the time of exposure.

Where are these same data with the changed parameters? The fact is that the winemaker is constantly watching wine.

The fact that the wine in a cool basement is in the barrel, it does not mean that it will not bother the ones 6, 12 or 18 months.

The winemaker constantly selects the wine samples, as often as necessary measures its characteristics (level of alcohol and sugar), and conducts sensory analysis. It is imperative in advance to see if something is going wrong and make the necessary adjustments

By the way, in addition to the drums, there is another way of aging wine.

After the drums, some wines may undergo bottle aging. This so-called aging of the wine. In the process of aging the wines acquire a maximum organoleptic qualities - very thin and bright bouquet with a hint of bottle aging, soft and harmonious taste with a long persistent finish.

In addition to the analysis of samples at wineries from time to time working the tasting. Right in the cool basement, for example, on a makeshift table from the barrel.

In glass containers samples of white and red wines, selected straight from the barrel. On a sheet of paper with a mark code barrel.

Taste well as samples that are on the bottle aging.

The experimental sample, which currently creates a winemaker. On the table, a blend of three grape varieties - Syrah, Malbec and Marsala

The first thing that the experts begin by tilting the glass and giving it a rotational movement, is considered "feet" ( "Tears") flowing down the walls of the resulting "cushion". They are formed due to the difference in the time of evaporation of water and alcohol, as well as due to the presence of glycerol in wine, allowing you to get an idea of their content.

The light table wines legs weakly expressed in wine with high alcohol content and extractives are more embossed and form beautiful "arcade". For spoiled wines are often characterized by blurred feet: something like a solid shapeless smudges or film, sometimes interspersed with small drops or bubbles. In addition, the estimated wine color and its transparency.

After evaluation of visual characteristics, nose turn - "first", "second" and "third".

"The first nose" - a wine from the same bottle or container is poured into another glass and, without shaking his expert exhales and sniffing, to feel the subtle volatile substances, the nature of which is changing rapidly under the influence of oxygen, as well as to determine the degree of their intensity. For example, it happens that after unsealing feel formed in a bottle "parasitic" smell, residual sulfur odors, fermentation sludge and m. P.

"Second nose" - for this twirl glass by holding the stand in order to saturate the oxygen wine, eliminate the possible residues of carbon dioxide and release flavors. In such cases, it is sometimes said that the wine is "revealed". This is followed by lower the nose into the glass and inhale. On this day, the experts apart from anything else, it is important to understand -. Wine, in the shutter is still closed (at the stage of transition from the primary fruit, to the secondary aromas At this stage, highlights the acidity, tannin, structure wine aromas as it is blocked ) or have opened, releasing fragrances. "Third nose". Under the influence of oxygen in the wine complex chemical processes occur, and its properties are constantly changing due to, in particular, the loss of volatile substances. In order to trace the nature of these changes, it is necessary to smell the wine in the first glass (or wait a few minutes if you have just one glass). This makes it possible to determine the evolution and stability of aromatic wine to oxygen.

And only then the expert is gaining a little wine in the mouth. The first sensation that the wine is in the mouth, called the "attack". If the wine is good, the attack must be clearly defined. This is followed by wine chew, twist his mouth, washing the tongue, gums, inside of the cheeks. Move to the back of the mouth, then slowly - in front. Clenched teeth, lips slightly open and draw a little air. Concentrate on the feeling which causes wine, warmed in the mouth and releasing more aroma perceived by retro-nasal (internal) means. Good wine as it blooms in the mouth, it is sometimes defined as "blossoming effect peacock's tail." Analyze the whole range of taste sensations - sweetness, acidity, bitterness; and consistency - light, dense, oily.

While tasting the wine actually swallowed. His spit into a special container after it has been tried and found out all the taste. Water is essential to remove the aftertaste and refresh the receptors in the mouth.

It will take some more time, and wine from the barrels will be sent to the filling line, where it received a label will appear on the buyer's court at the liquor store ...

In the meantime, the tongue again hammered into place and the wine continues its life in a barrel ...

After the drink was necessary aging period in cask or ordinary containers, and the winemaker determines sufficient maturity of wine, it is poured into bottles, to mature and to send to the store shelves ... Our last tour we will make the filling line of one of the wineries.

It would seem relatively simple, in fact, the operation in the case of the wine is not so simple and has some very important features ...

According to the technology, fine wines, reached rozlivozrelogo state, and ordinary, the last proper treatment and have stood the test of resistance against the haze (vozduhostoykost), bottled.

Resistance test consists in the fact that wine bottles, sealed tube, maintained 15 days in a horizontal position at 15 °. In this case, the wine should not become cloudy during this time.

bottle before heading to the filling line necessarily clean. In today's wine is only a new bottle, in contrast to the sometimes used in Soviet times, "the secondary bottles." Bottle Bottle hits the car in which the high-pressure hot water is fed into the bottle when it is inverted. No chemical cleaning agents is not used.

Since the new bottle, it actually rinse the dust.

After Bottle washing machines through the bottle is fed to the casting machine.

The basic requirement which is presented to the filling methods is that wine comes from a variety of capacities in the bottle is subjected to aeration. As a result, the air acts on wine hath wrought oxidative processes tend to cause turbidity of wine. Therefore, the best way to bottling wine in the bottle is the one in which the wine coming into the bottle, completely isolated from contact with air.

Wine, deemed ready for bottling, often have incomplete transparency. Light, barely visible opalescence, lack luster - all this is an obstacle for bottling wine directly from the barrel. In this case, the wine must be filtered before bottling to give it a full transparency and gloss. This filtration should be carried out in the absence of air since the slightest aeration adversely affect the flavor and bouquet of the wine, and can cause more blurred. When filling large amounts of wine on automatic lines to the filling machine set plate filter performance.

are many devices of various designs used for the bottling of wine.

In the bottle after filling with wine in order to avoid oxidation processes are allowed, based on the expansion of the wine when the temperature rises, leaving minimum air chamber, the size of which is usually determined by its height not more than 3 cm along the length of the bottle.

Get the air chamber a precisely defined scope can only be achieved if the lead filling to a certain level. If we pour in a bottle of wine a certain amount, it is necessary that they have a standard scope and ensure the abandonment of wine after pouring a small air chamber.

After filling the bottle cork is necessary. Good capping bottles is a very important condition for the preservation of wine quality. Loose packing, entailing the penetration of air into the bottle, is the cause of turbidity of wine and loss of flavor and bouquet.

Stoppers are cylindrical and are made in several sizes: diameter of 23-24 mm and a length of 40 to 45 mm or a diameter of 18-20 mm and a length of 32-40 mm. For wines, pledged to the collection in storage for many years, a more long tube (up to 55 mm). For bottles of wine, marketed with the implementation of them within a short period of time, apply stopper 30 to 35 mm in length. Shorter plugs are not used.

The main advantage of traffic jams - elasticity, which ensures complete isolation of wine in bottles from the action of the outside air.

After the closure on the bottle is put on a special cap ....

... and glued label

Thousands caps waiting for their bottles

The final step on the line are grading and gluing of excise stamps. Grading - a procedure during which each bottle can be seen in front of a strong light source in the foreign inclusions, which are not allowed in any case