Following the tradition is a pronounced way to mark the essence of the significant event. And with occasions come gift-giving. It’s great to give something special to your friends or loved ones and receive something as well. Wine gift sets in the UK are ideal presents your loved ones can receive from you during special occasions. Most wines fit a variety of celebrations.
You can now easily find hard-to-search wines through online shopping. Choosing the right set is a great way to show how well you know the recipients and how much you care. Make sure it is beautifully packaged to marvel the recipients.
But have you ever wondered how wine is produced? Winemaking has been practiced since the period of Ancient Greeks and it is still popular these days. Winemakers use several approaches to come up with a unique drink. To give you an idea, there are five principal phases of the winemaking process.
1. Collecting Grapes
To make an irresistible wine, you need to ensure that you are gathering delicious grapes, which is the first phase of the winemaking process. Grapes have essential components — esters, tannins, and acids — that make the wine steady and natural. These are the vital ingredients to achieve the appropriate bitterness and acidity.
Some farmers use mechanical means to gather grapefruits for a more comfortable and faster process. But harvesting grapes is best done by hand to ensure that the fruits are collected safely and carefully without harming the vineyard.
The farmers who pick the grapes to be fermented typically taste the fruit first, so they can choose the suitable ones for winemaking. Rotten or damaged grapes are discarded, of course.
2. Crushing and Pressing
After the grapes have been collected from the vineyard, the team conducts the second phase, which is removing the fruits from the stems to make them ready for crushing and pressing. Did you know that people from the past do the manual process of stomping the fruits with their feet to release the juice? To promote sanitation and retain the quality of the product, grapes are now being pressed using mechanical equipment.
- For white wine: Producers need to remove the skin, seeds, and solids quickly to inhibit tannins and colour from penetrating the wine.
- For red wine: On the other hand, to enhance the appearance of the wine, skins are left in contact with the liquid to achieve the flavour and colour in producing red wines.
3. Fermentation
The third phase is fermenting the fruits. Normally, you can ferment wine within 6-12 hours because the air contains wild yeasts. During the process, the yeasts consume the sugar in the wine and convert them into alcohol. In the commercial production of wines, experts use cultured yeasts to guaranteed the consistency and high quality of the product.
The longer you ferment your wine, the better the taste will be. Professionals recommend that fermentation should take 10 days to several months to achieve the desired taste.
4. Filtration
You don’t want to leave the yeast in the wine, so you need the fourth phase, which is the filtration and clarification process. The wine is typically contained in oak barrels or stainless steel tanks to refine the product. Filters are necessary to collect the large solids in the wine. Other manufacturers use clay that settles at the bottom of the container to let unwanted substances to stick into for more straightforward disposal.
5. Aging and Bottling
Bottling the wine completes the process. What other professional winemakers do is wait and give the wine extra period before placing it in the bottle to achieve a smoother and more vanilla-tasting drink. Tasting and bottling follow.
Wine will always be enjoyed regardless of the occasion. You can even have it whenever you want. Choose the right provider or brand that offers the best wines and packaging to satisfy everyone who receives your wine gift.