Priestly Palate

First white grapes. They are picked, crushed,  pressed, fermented, then matured and finally bottled.

Black grapes: picked, crushed, fermented, pressed, matured, and finally bottled.

Black grapes for red wines are crushed and their stems are removed. The juice stays in contact with the skins during the fermentation process as this allows more colour to the wine and also adds tannin. (colour and tannin are found in the skin).

To make rose wines, the juice is kept in contact with the skins for a shorter period so that the finished wine will be lighter in colour, more pink than red. These wines are sometimes called “blush”.

To make white wine, only the juice is used and mainly white grapes are used although white wine can be made from red grapes as the juices under the skin of both grapes is white. The juices are then fermented, either in wooden vats or casks, stainless steel or cement tanks. These choices affect the final style of the wine.

The wine that has just been fermented is then pumped out of the fermentation tanks and in the case of red wine, it will be pressed first to remove the wine from the skins. The wine is them matured.

Some wine of course matures more than other wine, depending on the style of wine that the producer is making. Wines that go into oak barrels for maturing will have added flavours and smells such as vanilla and caramel. Delicious!!!!

After all this has happened, the wines are bottled and some are ready to drink immediately while others rest and continue to mature in the bottle for opening at a later date.