Winemaking - white wine

The style of the wine being produced and the grape variety both play important role in processing. In saying this, the procedure for producing white wines differs from reds primarily in the fact that white wines are not fermented on their skins. Extraction of the juice from the grapes occurs at the beginning of the winemaking process when the grapes are squeezed in a press. The liberated juice is then transfered to a settling tank, decanted after a day, with the clear juice in transfered to a fermentation tank. Fermentation takes a week to 10 days and during this time the grape sugars are turned into alcohol. Over the next six months the wine will be heat (protein) and cold (tartrates) stabilised, fined (to remove bitterness and astringency)and filtered before being bottled. Some white wines (i.e. Chardonnay) are fermented in oak barrels to give a more complex flavour

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