WELCOME!!
Group Introductions & share stories of why they brought certain wines
Wine #1 tasting & begin Presentation – 2 wines sampled during the presentation
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Europe has many legal definitions of wine based on country and region, however they all have one thing in common: wine can only be made from the juice of specified WINE grapes
Similarly, N. America and Asia have regulations on what can be labeled as a GRAPE wine and have also grown to accept wines made from other fruits and plants:
-strawberry wine
-dandelion wine
-rice wine = aka “sake”
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There are over 60 native species of grapes throughout the world under the genus Vitis
Only ONE species is found in Europe & Central Asia – Vitis Vinifera
(vahy-nif-er-uh)
European wine laws only allow winemaking from this species
The majority of “grape wine” on the market today is made from Europe
& Central Asia’s “Vitis Vinifera” grapes
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Most of the common wine types that you know of are made from Vitis
Vinifera grapes
-Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Grigio, Merlot, Riesling
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Other wine types are actually blends of these grapes
-Champagne = Chardonnay + Pinot Noir + (sometimes) Pinot Meunier
-Bordeaux = any combination of the 5 primary grapes = Cabernet
Sauvignon + Merlot + Cabernet Franc + Malbec + Petit Verdot
-Chianti = 70-100% Sangiovese + any of the 40 approved including regulars like Cabernet Sauvignon + Merlot + Syrah and local varieties like Canaiolo and Colorino
Fun Fact: California raisins are primarily made from Thompson Seedless grapes (aka: Sultana grape).
-This grape is actually from the Vitis Vinifera European species.
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-Chianti = 70-100% Sangiovese + any of the 40 approved including re
Most of the common wine types that you know of are made from Vitis
Vinifera grapes
-Cabernet S
North America’s wines laws include not only the European vitis vinifera grapes,

North America’s wines laws include not only the European vitis vinifera grapes, but also specified grapes from various native N. American species
Other Species include:
-Vitis Lambrusca = includes the Concord grape known famously for making
Welch’s Grape Juice
-Vitis Rotundifolia = Muscadine grape popular in Southeast US wines
-Vitis Aestivalis = Norton grape famous in Midwest Wines
There are some Hybrids which are combinations of native species and Vitis
Vinifera grapes.
-Baco Noir & Chardonel in the Niagra wine region of NY & Ontario
Fun Fact: During the Phylloxera (fi-lok-suh-ree) outbreak in the late 19 th century, much of Europe’s wine crop was destroyed by this pest.
-****The rootstock of three North American Species of grapes (Vitis
Riparia, Vitis Berlandieri, Vitis Rupestris) was used to aid the weaken
Vitis Vinifera, and thus restore Europe to the wine powerhouse that it is today.
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Most major countries in the world produce wine either for domestic consumption or worldwide distribution
The top producers of wine include:
-USA, France, Italy, Spain, Australia, Chile, Argentina, South America
Some of the smaller wine producing regions may only have one or two commercial vineyards total in their country
-Cambodia, Kenya, Ecuador, Bali, Guatemala, Nepal, Syria, Tanzania, Venezuela,
Zimbabwe, etc
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Which leads to the most important question – How is wine made??
Wine #2 - Tasting
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For this section, we are going back to our basic definition of wine and focusing on FERMENTATION, more specifically Alcoholic
Fermentation.
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What exactly is the alcoholic fermentation?
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Alcoholic Fermentation happens when sugar meets yeast
Once the grapes are smashed up, it is turned into “must”
This must contain small amounts of natural yeasts and also sugars from the fruit itself
Given time, the yeast will eat up the natural sugars in the grapes
The result is….
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A mixture of ethanol alcohol and CO2
Thus turning the original grape juice into the alcoholic beverage we know today as WINE.
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Ancient winemakers buried their wine (stems and all) in vats for a period of years for fermentation to naturally take place
In modern times, some wineries allow the fermentation to take place naturally after the grapes have been crushed, while others add in dry yeast to speed up the process.
Fun Fact: Some wineries in the republic of Georgia still practice the ancient form of winemaking
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There are various processes and techniques that modern winemakers use to create wine today.
To make things simple, we will go over only the basics for how red, white, rose, and sparkling wines are made.
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Let’s start off with the simplest wine to explain - WHITE WINE
Once the grapes have been harvested, they are put through a wine press. The juice that come from those pressed grapes are then put into a cold settling tank. This process allows any remaining solids in the pressed grape juice to fall to the bottom of the tank. These solids are then removed to leave a clearer juice.
After settling, the grape juice then goes into the fermentation process. Some white wine is fermented in stainless steel tanks, while others go through alcoholic fermentation in oak barrels. This all depends on the style of wine that the winemaker is trying to achieve.
- For example, if they want a creamy rich Chardonnay, winemakers will put the grape juice in oak barrels for the alcoholic fermentation process and aging.
Some of the oak aged wines will also go through an additional step called ‘malolactic fermentation’. This is a process of converting any harsh malic acid in the wine into a softer lactic acid.
- Going back to the Chardonnay example, you can identify this process if the finished wine has any buttery characteristics to it.
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For any white wine blends, it is at this point in the process that the various wines types are blended to create the finished product
Before bottling, white wine will typically go through a filtering or finishing process to ensure the clarity of the wine. It is then bottled, and distributed to the masses for drinking.
Now on to Red Wine!
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Red wine production is more or less the same as white wine production. Red grape varieties are the major types used to make red wine. However, there is one other key difference in red and white wine production.
Let’s see if you know it. - What is the one part of the grape that gives red wine it’s color? A) The skin
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Grape skins are left on during wine fermentation to give wine an additional level of flavor, added tannin structure, and of course it’s red coloring.
So, what happens if you leave the grape skins on for only a small amount of time???
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You get Rose Wine, of course!
There are a few different methods to obtaining that pink hue in a
Rose wine. One is to leave the red grape skins in the pressed juice for a small amount of time before fermentation. This is called
Maceration.

Another method is called the Saignee Method. This is actually a by product of Red Wine production. During fermentation of Red
Wine, roughly 10% is “bled off”. This is done to increase the wine’s exposure to the red grape skins, thus making the resulting wine fuller and richer. For rose wines, this leftover 10% is used to create a darker Rose Wine.
Now that we have fully gone over all of our still wine options, let’s move on to the bubbles!
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Otherwise known as Champagne in France, Prosecco in Italy, and
Cava in Spain, Sparkling Wine is essentially still wine that has undergone a secondary fermentation process to add bubbles and flavor to the wine – aka carbonation.
After the base still wine is blended, wine producers will add a mixture of sugar and yeast to the wine to jumpstart this secondary fermentation (aka - conversion of sugar and yeast to CO2 and alcohol). Because more alcohol is created during the secondary fermentation process, the base still wine used is typically lower in alcohol than most still wines that are ready for consumption. The result is a finished sparkling wine with a normal level of alcohol.
After the base still wine is blended, wine producers will add a mixture of sugar and yeast to the wine to jumpstart this secondary fermentation
(aka - conversion of sugar and yeast to CO2 and alcohol). Because more alcohol is created during the secondary fermentation process, the base still wine used is typically lower in alcohol than most still wines that are ready for consumption. The result is a finished sparkling wine with a normal level of alcohol.
After the base still wine is created, secondary fermentation will either take place inside a thicker bottle (champagne method) or in a pressurized tank (charmat process). Once the sugars have been converted to CO2 and Alcohol, the by product of this conversion (lees) must be removed from the wine to give it clarity before the wine is bottled & labeled for distribution.

The Champagne Method calls for the base wine to undergo secondary fermentation in a bottle on a riddling rack. This rack tilts the wine at such an angle that the lees will naturally fall towards the neck of the bottle. The bottle is frequently rotated so that all of the lees ends up in the neck. To remove the lees, the neck of the bottle is frozen and the top removed, so that the resulting pressure from fermentation shoots the frozen lees out of the bottle. The sparkling wine is sometimes then topped with an added “dosage” of sugar and still wine. Finally, it is bottled, corked, caged, and labeled for distribution.
The Charmat Method has the wine undergo secondary fermentation inside a pressurized tank. The lees naturally falls to the bottom of the tank. Similar to the Champagne Method, the tank is then cooled off so that the lees is easily removed, the wine is clarified, the “dosage” is added, and the sparkling wine is ready for bottling.
Just like still wine, Sparkling wine can be white, red, or rose in color.
We have now gone through all of the base methods for wine production.
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Thanks for coming!!! Cheers!!!
(Continue Tastings & Social Hour)
REMINDER: Have the group write down their favorite wine from the night before leaving.