Winemaking FAQ
What is skin-contact wine?
The fruit is picked, sorted, crushed, and allowed to soak in its skins for a short period of time before being pressed off and fermented. The skin of the grapes increases the flavor and body of the wine.
What is an orange wine?
The fruit of white wine varietals is picked, sorted, crushed, and fermented with skins for numerous days. After the wines are done fermenting with skins, the juice is pressed off. Allowing the juice of white wine grapes to ferment on skins gives the wine additional tannin, flavor, and color. The wine turns orange in color because “orange wine” or “amber wine” follow the same process as red wines.
So, wait, none of these are a rosé? Nope. A rosé is made by either blending, saignée method or skin contact. Rosés by skin contact are from red wine grapes which are pressed early with little skin contact time compared to a traditional red wine. Ex: 12 hours for a rosé vs 12+ days for a traditional red wine.
What is carbonic fermentation or maceration?
Carbonic maceration is a process of wine fermentation that produces fruity, light-bodied, low-alcohol, easy-to-drink wines without heavy tannin or color. The process is most commonly used on Beaujolais reds, like Gamay, but also a variety of grapes including, Sangiovese or Cabernet Franc, as you’d find at Union Sacré.
The Process: Carbonic maceration occurs when whole, uncrushed bunches of grapes are placed in a closed fermentation vessel that is filled with CO2. Unlike normal fermentation where yeast converts sugar into alcohol, carbonic maceration works by enzymes within the grape breaking down the cellular matter to form ethanol and other chemical properties. This creates a softer, juicier, less-acidic, more fruit-forward wine, as less tannin is extracted from the skins.
What is co-fermentation?
Most commonly, a wine blend is made by combining completed wines post-fermentation. However, a wine blend made by co-fermentation means two or more fruit varieties were mixed and fermented at the same time. Co-fermentation is commonly used to balance or soften wines and give a deeper, better color to wines. A co-fermented wine compared to it’s post-fermentation twin takes on completely different characteristics as the chemistry changes during fermentation, whereas one would be able to find familiar characteristics of the blended fruits in the post-fermented twin blend.