How Wine is Made
There’s a wide variety of factors, variables, and parameters that influence and impact the end product as a red wine is being crafted. As you review the general stages of wine making, think about the relevant aspects of the process and ask yourself if you can think of variables, parameters, or decision points that would likely exist at each stage. When you examine that list at the end of the day, you’ll see that the combined number of controlled and uncontrolled variables is fairly significant. So let’s talk about the wine making process a bit. In the image below, words that are highlighted in skyblue italicized font are not hyperlinked, but can be found in the Glossary of Terms. At a simplistic and very high level, the general process from earth to bottle goes something like this:
At each of these stages of the wine making process there is a wide spectrum of variables that must be controlled and decisions that must be made based upon the type and style of wine being crafted. In addition, the role mother nature plays is significant in how things turn out during this process. That being said, let’s now focus on just the 1st step in the process of wine making illustrated here. Winemakers source their grapes from a variety of different vineyards where variables such as soil type, mineral content, altitude, terroir and many other factors play a role in the quality and characteristics of the wine grapes. In addition, mother nature plays a large role over the course of the growing season. Is it a cooler season or a warmer one? How much precipitation will occur? How will temperatures fluctuate throughout the growing season?
Now let’s dive a little deeper. Let’s simply consider one of the variables – altitude. Let’s say we want to make a blend of 3 Bordeaux varietals and we are sourcing two of the varietals from vineyards in Washington State’s Columbia Valley AVA and one from Les Collines vineyard in the Walla Walla Valley AVA. Well, first off, since Les Collines vineyard is nearly 300 acres in area and resides essentially at the base (foothills) of the Blue Mountains in Southeast Washington, depending on the actual varietal and what lot within the vineyard we actually source our grapes from, we are looking at altitudes of between 1140 ft and 1370 ft in elevation where these grapes will grow.
Now, before we continue this discussion, the reader should know that a large body of knowledge has been generated via science and engineering assessments that have been conducted throughout the AVAs of Washington State that focus on measuring and quantifying various metrics and conditions that are relevant to supporting and sustaining optimal environments for vineyards. As an example, for Les Collines vineyard in Walla Walla, the following link has data on geography, geology, soil, elevation and much more. To better appreciate the science base behind the wine industry, a visit to a link like this one will help you understand how decisions are made regarding vineyard locations, design, planting and management. Click on “About” in the menu and then “Terroir”.
https://www.lescollinesvineyard.com/howwefarm/#terroir2
So, back to our scenario. To familiarize you with a topographical map showing elevation across Washington State, you can click on the thumbnail to the right. This map illustrates the variability in elevation as you move from location to location around the State. The scale at the bottom gives you a general idea of the ranges of elevation in any single colored region. Now, at this point we only have altitude data for one vineyard, but as discussed earlier, there are two more vineyards we plan to source our other two varietals from as we develop our plan for making this 3 Bordeaux varietal blend. In the Columbia Valley AVA, which is the largest of Washington State’s AVAs, there are many vineyards with a wide spectrum of associated elevations. So again, depending on the elevations of these other two vineyards, there may be considerations that must be accounted for as determinations are made for when to harvest and so forth. Why does this all matter? Well, if you click on the altitude cheat sheet thumbnail (to the left), you will better understand the potential impact altitude can have on grapes…and in turn, the wine 
we are planning to make. The source of this altitude information is Joanna Opaskar – ClearlakeWineTasting.blogspot.com. Now, since this is simply a theoretical exercise to illustrate the potential considerations and impacts of a single factor on the wine making process, you might say I’m getting too granular in my thought process. And for expert winemakers with many years of experience who have sourced grapes from the same AVAs and vineyards for many years, you might be right. But for somebody who is relatively new to the Washington State wine region and has a particular idea about what type of wine they want to craft, it is factors like altitude that most certainly will need to come up in the discussion as the experts evaluate environmental conditions, ripening time and other parameters, as they develop their wine making plans.
So we’ve taken a bit of a dive into the details….actually one single detail, and it quickly becomes apparent that there’s a lot more to making wine than what people may think. When it comes to critical factors and variables, one would almost think that crafting a really great wine is literally impossible or could only be accomplished by sheer chance. The fact is, most winemakers are apparently magicians…and I love magic! Next stop is to list a whole bunch of the primary factors that can impact the wine making process. While I tried my best to be as comprehensive as possible, I do not guarantee that this list is 100% complete. I have chatted with winemakers, I have toured vineyards, I have read books and conducted some online research as well, but I am no winemaker and I would almost venture to guess that my winemaking friends might take a look at this list….shake their heads and slap my chops yelling “Sacré bleu Aaron…you idiot, there’s more, so much more!”
Primary Factors that Impact Winemaking
A list of the important factors that influence the making of a red wine includes:
- type of grape(s) required for making the wine
- species and variety of the vines
- sunlight
- vineyard slope
- orientation of the rows in the vineyard
- managing vine temperature via air circulation in the vineyards
- canopy management/leafing of the vines to manage sunlight and air impacts on grapes
- monitoring and managing pests and diseases
- crop thinning – management of fruit clusters
- water
- altitude
- latitude
- slope direction
- soil conditions
- nutrients in the soil
- rock and mineral content in the soil
- climate (singular weather events are not considered terroir)
- weather and extreme weather events
- neighboring plants
- microclimates (pockets of cool air for example)
- type of yeast (use of wild yeast instead of inoculated yeast, etc.)
- fermentation temperature (hot vs. cool fermentation)
- fermentation time/duration
- pump overs or push downs
- cold soaking and skin contact (maceration time)
- clarification process (none vs. fining vs. filtration)
- proximity to mountains or bodies of water
- pruning
- training and trellising of the shoots and vines
- irrigation (amount and frequency)
- time of harvest
- type of harvesting (manual versus mechanical)
- wine barrels (type of oak, cooperage, toast of oak, new vs. used vs. neutral, etc.)
- length of time the wine is aged in the barrels
- managing oxygen
- managing CO2 (carbonic maceration)
- use of SO2 (sulfur dioxide)
- winemaker’s ability and skill in monitoring/determining grape ripeness, and managing above factors
Now, as you can see, there are many factors that impact the wine being created. They are not listed in order of priority. As I mentioned earlier, I have done some research in putting this list together. In doing so, I’ve become even MORE impressed with the people I’ve met in Washington State and elsewhere who are making some truly amazing wines. In particular, the research I’ve been doing over the past several years in the wine industry (simply as a hobby) has not only raised my level of awareness about what I’m drinking, but my level of respect and admiration for winemakers in general has skyrocketed. These gifted people not only manage and make wine for their own wine companies, but also help many others craft their wines. In Washington State, revered winemakers like Charlie Hoppes (Fidelitas – Owner/Winemaker) and Victor Palencia (Palencia Wine Company – Owner/Winemaker) are literally pushing the envelope and have almost single handedly helped launch Washington’s wine industry into orbit. So the next time you sit back and enjoy a beautifully crafted Washington State Bordeaux style blend from Red Mountain, or a succulent GSM Rhône style blend from the Yakima Valley, (courtesy of Charlie and Victor, respectively) maybe….just maybe….you’ll have some new-found respect for winemakers and their teams – the people behind the scenes who make it all happen. While I cannot speak for either of these fine winemakers, they would likely be the first to tell you that crafting a great wine is not done in a vacuum, but is a team effort. So let’s not forget all of those people who support the entire process, from the management of the soil and vineyards, including the pruning and irrigation, to the people who harvest the grapes and workers who support the winemaking process at the facilities, the people who operate the machinery and who bottle the wine, the folks who operate and manage the tasting rooms and the logistics for operations, the vineyard owners, storage facility staff, and all those people I forgot to mention who make wine happen. My hat is off to you all! Thanks for making life worth living, because a life without wine, is no life at all!
General Styles/Types of Red Wine
Up to this point we have talked in generalities about how wine is made, and we’ve also discussed some of the important factors that must be managed and accounted for as a winemaker creates a wine. So let’s now briefly talk about types of red wine, in particular, some of the types of red wine that I really enjoy. Generally speaking, there are five basic categories of wine, at least in my mind there are. These include sparkling wines, white wines, rosé wines, red wines and fortified (port and dessert) wines. If a person were to sample these wines sequentially in that order (from sparkling wines to port/dessert wines), you generally could say that the characteristics of color, body, “weight”, flavor intensity and so forth, would increase. Likewise, the characteristics of acidity, carbonation and herbal and earthy flavors and aromatics would generally decrease as you sampled these wines in the same sequence. But for this venue, I am really most interested in focusing primarily on red wines. Within the family of red wines, there are many amazing and distinct styles and types of wine. In my day I’ve tasted many wines. Not as many as people who have been wine judges at regional, national or international wine competitions, but as a wine lover with a day-job, I’ve been able to sample a wide array of wines, many of which I have truly enjoyed. Here is a list of wine types that I recommend, based upon my personal experiences. Now please note, just because I list a wine here, doesn’t mean that every wine of that type will be a great wine, or that every wine I’ve ever tasted of that specific type I’ve personally enjoyed. On the contrary, for every Cabernet Sauvignon dominant Bordeaux style blend I drink, I might only recommend 1 in 4 or 1 in 5, or perhaps even less, depending on how my palate and senses react. But do I prefer Cab dominant blends in general over a glass of Chardonnay? Absolutely I do! So here we go….just for fun, here is a list you might take home and show mom and dad!
The topic of wine is a very soft “mushy” subject that is often hard for people to get their arms around. It’s not like building a house, where you have a design and a bunch of materials and you follow the construction plans, focusing on the plot of land and the foundation first, then the frame, then the rest of the house, in stages. Instead, when talking about wine, we are talking about things that are very subjective, very personal and sensory/perception-based descriptions of a liquid. Once you build the house, you have a tangible structure that is say, 2500 square feet, with a 3 car garage that’s located on a large lot overlooking a vineyard. With wine….it isn’t so simple. You can have 3 identical bottles of an expensive 1997 French wine from the same winemaker, same vineyard etc., and you can have 3 different people each drink a bottle and then come back and describe what they experienced, and you will likely get 3 different assessments. Why? Because wine affects people in different ways, and we all perceive things differently, in a very personal 
manner, as a function of our past experiences, our sensory capabilities and many other variables. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily. It’s simply the way it is. It’s just like relationships right? 3 different people can date the same person and yet they may all have 3 different stories to tell about how they perceived that individual. Let’s first talk about wine lingo and wine jargon so you aren’t surprised as we dive deeper into discussing wine and what makes it so unique and what factors impact wine. 
