Techniques of maceration

This is where red wines get their color and tannins and it is the lack of maceration that makes white wines so light in color and nearly tannin free.

History[ edit ] A Beaujolais wine. The process of carbonic maceration occurs naturally in a partial state without deliberate intervention and has occurred in some form throughout history.

If grapes are stored in a closed container, the force of gravity will crush the grapes on the bottom, releasing grape juice. Ambient yeasts present on the grape skins will interact with the sugars in the grape juice to start conventional ethanol fermentation.

Carbon dioxide is released as a by product and, being denser than oxygenwill push out the oxygen through any permeable surface such as slight gaps between wood planks creating a mostly anaerobic environment for the uncrushed grape clusters to go through carbonic maceration.

Some of the earliest documented studies on the process were conducted by the French scientist Louis Pasteur who noted in that grapes contained in an oxygen rich environment prior to crushing and fermentation produced wines of different flavors than grapes produced in a carbon dioxide rich environment.

This was because the fermentation process had already started within the individual grape clusters prior to the introduction of yeasts during conventional fermentation.

Winemaker's Red Wine Secret: Extended Maceration | Wine Folly

The use of carbonic maceration is closely associated with the production of Beaujolais nouveau wine from the Gamay grape in the Beaujolais region and some wines in the Rioja Alavesa and Jumilla areas of Spain. This grape lends itself well to the production of simple, fruity wines and Beaujolais winemakers have been able to create a unique identity based on this distinctive style.

Producers in other parts of France and in the New World have frequently utilized carbonic maceration for their own Gamay production, or with other grape varieties.

This is the process used in the production of Beaujolais nouveau wines. To an extent, most wines were historically treated to some form of semi or partial carbonic fermentation as noted in history section above with the amount dependent on the shape and size of the vessel that the grapes were stored in prior to crushing.

The deeper the vessel, the greater the proportion of grapes that could be exposed to an anaerobic environment caused by the release of carbon dioxide from the crushed grapes on the bottom. With "whole bunch fermentation", entire clusters of grapes including stems are fermented before being crushed.

This creates a large "cap" of grape skins with pathways created by the stems that allows juice to flow more evenly through caps, increasing the levels of skin contact or maceration.Carbonic maceration and semi-carbonic maceration are not quite the preserve of Beaujolais and the gamay grape, but this is the region where the techniques reach complex and varied permutations.

Red Winemaking Fermentation Temperature Skin and seed contact time Extraction Techniques Cold Soak Thermovinification Extended Maceration Pre-fermentation Juice Runoff. Maceration of Wine Must. Simply put maceration is the process of soaking crushed grapes, seeds, and stems in a wine must to extract color and aroma compounds as well as tannins.

This is where red wines get their color and tannins and it is the lack of maceration that makes white wines so light in color and nearly tannin free. Maceration is a bone preparation technique whereby a clean skeleton is obtained from a vertebrate carcass by leaving it to decompose inside a closed container at near-constant temperature.

This may be done as part of a forensic investigation. The Effects of Chemical and Heat Maceration Techniques on the Recovery of Nuclear and Mitochondrial DNA from Bone The Effects of Chemical and Heat Maceration . Red Winemaking Fermentation Temperature Skin and seed contact time Extraction Techniques Cold Soak Thermovinification Extended Maceration Pre-fermentation Juice Runoff.