it is a news by Sorsi di vino e chiacchiere – vinobonomipaola.wordpress.com
it is an article by La Fillossera – lafillossera.com
There are hundreds of substances that can be found inside the must, following the main ones:
Water 70-80%
Sugars 17-23%
Organic acids 0.7-1.1%
Tartaric acid 0.3-0.7%
Malic acid 0.2-0.6%
Citric acid and others 0.01-0.03%
Mineral substances 0.1-0.2%
Nitrogenous substances 0.05-0.1%
Pectic, polyphenol, anthocyanins, flavorings and precursors 0.02-0.03%
Water is the base of the must in which all other substances are dispersed. Sugar is the element that will determine the amount of ethyl alcohol in wine. Of course, much higher the must’s sugar degree will be, much higher the wine’s ethyl alcohol will be. Knowing the percentage of sugar in the must you can calculate the alcoholic strength of wine using the following formula:
% By weight of sugars in must * 0,6 (conversion factor) =% by volume of ethyl alcohol into wine
The acidity of the must is mainly related to the fixed acidity that in the wine gives that pleasant feeling of freshness. From the previous list, it is possible to observe the presence of so-called volatile acids (acetic acid) which together with the fixed ones constitute total acidity.
Polyphenols, in different shapes, along with winemaking techniques, are key to defining the personality of wine in terms of color, structure, tannicity and longevity.
The odorous substances found mainly in the skin, such as terpenes, aroma precursors and sulfur compounds, impress the aromatic characteristics of the wine. During fermentation, these elements are able to dislodge themselves from sugar molecules by releasing their aromatic kit. The main ones are related to a group of alcohols, terpenes, which are partially free and partially glycosylated. This transformation takes place through the yeast enzymes that break the glycosylated aroma into sugar and the volatile aroma which becomes perceptible by the smell.
Pectic substances, present in small quantities in small quantities, in the various forms such as pectin, gums, muclavinos and pentosans have the peculiarity of giving the wine the softness. A very useful example to understand the effects of these substances on the final product are wines obtained from grapes favored by the noble mold that exhibit a higher concentration of pectic substances that make the wines particularly soft.
Minerals and especially vitamins are the “fuel” of the yeasts and allow the latter to develop and carry out fermentative processes. The most important vitamin and B1 that has an accelerating function for alcoholic fermentation and avoids the formation of substances that can bind to sulfur dioxide. Nitrogenous substances inorganic (eg ammonium salts) favor the work of yeasts while those in organic form can cause turbidity in wine. The enzymes present in the must increase the rate of chemical reactions.
In addition to substances that favor fermentation in the must, many “indigenous” substances can be found which can result in incorrect fermentation and therefore variable quality products. Some of these are polyphenoloxidase and laccase, which are found mainly in grapes clashed by fungal parasites and which cause the oxidation of certain substances with possible oatmeal and loss of aromatic freshness. Proteases also have negative effects because they cause protein breakage, releasing amino acids and peptides that are easily assimilated by yeasts.
Corrections are mainly done to change the composition of the must that is not always optimal. Their main goal is to vary the sugar concentration and acidity as needed.
To increase the amount of sugar in the must you can use different methods:
Cutting with sugar-rich musts: almost in disuse.
Addition of rectified concentrated must: concentrated must is obtained by evaporating a certain amount of vacuum water to avoid sugar caramelization and alteration of organoleptic characteristics. In quality production, only rectified concentrated grape must (MCR) is used, which, as previously mentioned, undergoes a subsequent rectification by obtaining a solution of water and grape sugar with sensory profiles that remain unaltered.
Sugar Addition: Sugar addition is not allowed in Italy, apart from liqueur wines, while in some areas of northern Europe may be used.
Adding mild wort or sweet filtered: obtained respectively by adding a high amount of sulfur dioxide to block fermentation and centrifuging and filtration of a partially fermented must with a sugar content of 18-20%.
The increase of the acidity of the must is made by the addition of tartaric acid. The acidity level is very important because, during the fermentation, the acids are transformed and this can cause a decrease in the vivacity of the color and taste perception of freshness. Acidity also protects the must from bacterial and fungal diseases.
This activity is very rare and is carried out by adding salts such as calcium carbonate, neutral tartrate, and potassium bicarbonate. This practice is desirable for musts obtained from grapes produced in cold vintages and therefore have not reached a perfect maturation state.
These methods, very expensive, are applied to reduce or increase the substances (sugars and acids) without altering the sensory characteristics of the must. The principle on which it is based is the use of a semi-transparent diaphragm which has the property of passing, in the case of osmosis, a portion of less concentrated liquid to the more concentrated liquid and, in the case of reverse osmosis, a portion of liquid With greater concentrations towards the liquid with a lower concentration. In the first case, less concentrated musts are obtained and in the second case concentrates more concentrated.
This method has been spreading in recent years due to the quality of the final product with a remarkable increase in extractive substances. In addition, the equipment used has a minimum footprint and is very easy to use. The machining mode is to deprive the solid part of the solid part and send it to a small reservoir within which a push depression is created that evaporates pure water at a temperature of 22 to 24 ° C.
The must before going to the winemaking stage is subjected to various treatments aimed at promoting fermentation, enhancing its characteristics and avoiding unpleasant effects due to bacteria or molds. Below we will look at the different treatments:
Is made by clarifying substances such as gelatin or bentonite, casein or silica gel and then with centrifugation or delicate filtration. These activities allow the clarification of the must, also favored by the cooling that allows solid parts to fall on the bottom of the tanks. Refrigeration is achieved with insulated tanks, double wall, inside which a refrigerant is circulated.
A treatment that is performed to clarify the must without adding of clarifiers. The treatment is done by cooling the must at temperatures from 6 to 10 ° C to reduce the solubility of the solid particles and thus promote precipitation. This treatment can be done using pectolytic enzymes that allow for more precise precipitation without the aid of clarifying substances that may alter the sensory characteristics of the must.
Is the most widely used treatment and consists in the addition of potassium metabisulphide must. The amount of sulfur dioxide that is used depends on the bacterial charge and the effects that you want to obtain; Thanks to the antioxidant properties, it limits the damage caused by oxygen and oxidative enzymes by reducing the diurnal phenomena; Favors clarification; Inhibits the development of wild bacteria and yeasts by favoring elliptical and selected yeasts and promotes the solubilization of polyphenolic substances present in the skin.
The must can be subjected to further treatments which give rise to various products used in the wine sector.
It is obtained by partial fermentation of grape must and having actual TAV greater than 1% in volume and less than three-fifths of its total TAV (the one which has reached the total transformation of sugars into alcohol).
Concentrated grape must is obtained by partial dehydration using physical means excluding direct fire (which would produce sugar candy) so that the value indicated by the refractometer at 20 ° C is not less than 50.9%. The most used means to reduce the percentage of water and to obtain concentration are vacuum evaporation, refrigeration with the subsequent removal of water as ice. The grape must used must have a minimum natural TAV set for the wine-growing area and belong to specific cultivars. Its effective TAV must be equal to or greater than 1% vol.
The rectified concentrated grape must (ZUI) is the non-caramelized liquid product obtained by partial dehydration of grape must. Performed by any authorized method, excluding direct fire, so that the value indicated by the refractometer at a temperature of 20 ° C, used according to a method to be established, is not less than 61,7%. Adjusted concentrated must is to be considered a private product of all those natural substances, other than sugar and water, which could make organoleptic changes to the must to which it is added. Its use makes it possible not to apply both must and wine to further correction procedures, guaranteeing wines of a certain quality.
The mute must is a must to which sulfur dioxide has been added in order to stop its fermentation. It is said to be “silent” because of the absence of the typical gurgling of the fermentative process.
Parsley caramelised fruit obtained by the elimination of water from must or mussel by direct heating to normal atmospheric pressure. The resulting sugar concentration is subject to measurements with a Babo or Baumé density meter, which is calibrated at a well-defined reading temperature. If the reading temperature deviates from the calibration value, a correction coefficient must be entered.
Sweet filtered. Partly partially fermented, whose further fermentation has been obstructed by filtration or centrifugation, and with the aid of other treatments and practices permitted.
Product obtained from a must with total natural alcohol of not less than 12 °, rendered not-fermentable by the addition of wine spirits or spirits in quantities such as to produce the alcoholic strength of alcohol (actual alcoholic strength by volume) between 16% and 20% % Vol.
Article taken from milaewines.it by Mihaela Cojocaru
read also Food and Wine pairing – part 1
By eating food an drinking wine your mouth will become accoustomized to taste a certain thing.
1- Let’s see a specific example: a dessert. The general rule is that the wine should be sweeter than the dessert so when you taste the wine you won’t be able to taste the sugar in the wine. The sugar is beeing suppressed and draggs down the fruit, the wine seems to lose body and also makes the wine taste thinner and acidic, and if it is a red wine more tannic and astringent and maybe more warmer. In short the wine loses richness and becomes “harder”. So if you have a very sweet pudding you quickly become use to it and expect the rich sweetness. If you then drink the wine and is not so sweet it will make the wine taste incredibly dry and even a dessert wine will taste less sweet when the food is tasted with it. So, for a successful combination make sure you drink a wine that is sweeter than the dessert.
2- The acidity in your food, like the tomato juice or some vinegar in your salad perhaps, make the acidity in the wine appear to go down, softens the tannins and brings up the fruit and sweetness in the wine and a bit the body. In addition the acidity helps to cut through oilly dishes providing a refreshing sword cutting the fat. A great combination is Sauvignon Blanc or Champagne with fish and chips; both high acidic wines the food quite fatty.
3- By having something “salty” you loose the perception of the tannins and acidity in the wine and of the heat from the alcohol. The wine become richer, sweeter and fruitier.
Some people like tannins, but the most of the people want food to mask rather than highlight them. Salty food often helps wine taste less tannic and astringent. If you have a wine that is to tannic for your taste just have some salty peanuts or something on those sides – the salt will do wonders to the tannins .
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Article taken from milaewines.it by Mihaela Cojocaru
I belive that 10% of the wine and food matches are fantastic, 10% don’t work at all and 80% it’s all ok. So don’t get too stress about it!
The key is if you like the food and you like the wines there is a small risk that it will become a really bad combination, but if you don’t like the wine or the food it is a significant risk even if the combination works brilliantly you won’t like it!
There are other guidelines to wine and food matching that you should consider: it is a personal experience and it is impossible to find a combination everybody will like. But you can work with some natural characteristics and understandings so that almost all the people can enjoy the combination.
With food and wine matching is one part science, two parts magic 🙂
Before we look into specific directions with food and wine, I would like to explain how different parts of the wine work together. We hear people talking about balance, but I fund that a lot of people don’t understand the balance of wine and to really knows how food changes the balance of the wine you need to understand how wine works on it’s own.
If you add some sugar to an acidic wine the sugar goes up and the acidity goes down. All the nice things in wine: sugar, fruit and body are one side of the balance and all the nasty stuff: tannins, acidity and the heat of the alcohol are on the other.
If I add sugar to the wine, the sugar in the wine goes up, but also it enhances the fruit and the body in the wine. The perception of the acidity goes down, even though the actual level doesn’t change, and so does the tannin and the heating feeling.
If I add a little bit of lemon juice to my wine the oppsite thing happens. The acidity appears to go up dragging up the tannins annd increasing the sensation of the alcohol burning. The extra acidity masks the sugar in the wines and pushes down the fruitiness making the wine taste thinner with less body. That’s why the wine taste lighter and harder.
By eating food you do a similar thing. Your mouth will become accoustomized to taste a certain thing.
read also Wine and Food pairing – part 2
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Article taken from vinopigro.it by Elisabetta Tosi
These are interesting times for a philosopher …
Some have banished the word from his wine descriptors vocabulary, those who continue to use it, in the belief of being however understood by all, and there are those who does not give up to the smokiness of the concept and insists to seek an explanation for something else. Yes, we speak of wine’s minerality, that strange thing that escapes the canonical classifications of fruity / spicy / floral / tertiary tastes-perfumes and so on. In short: when the wine reminds us of something, but we can not say precisely what, rejected all the usual descriptions, at the end, usually, it is termed mineral .For this, personally, am not so hostile to the word: for lack better than, is just one way (vague, generic) to call something that is neither fruity or spicy, etc.).
Not just common mortals and the experts seems to be curious about this odor / flavor; even the Masters of Wine have organized a special study session on the subject, which The Wine Monkeys related.
In short terms:
Is that enough? No. The agreement about wine minerality is only apparent. For winemakers means everything and nothing – a few of them, interviewed during a research meeting, came to submit 17 groups of terms, ranging from floral to gunpowder – and the consumers have an even more vague concept. At the end, it was concluded that the minerality is a concept that exists (as it is used), but that does not have any precise and unambiguous definition, because the terms used to describe it are too many and often contradictory.
At this point, there was nothing to do, but a group of Masters of Wine have been submitted for a blind tasting of 15 white wines that – in the collective imaginary – are defined as “minerals”. Cause – we assume – the different participants’ sensitivity to that feature, at the end not even the Masters of Wines have shown unanimous consent. If you say that a wine is mineral, you don’t mean much, they agreed at the end.
Moral? It is not clear what can be attributed what we call minerality of a wine, and it is not even clear what is meant, at the end, for minerality.
Maybe it’s a metaphor (of our confused times). Or, as someone suggested, it is just one way (yet another) to confuse the poor, unsuspecting consumers …
Ps: perhaps the best definition of minerality has due to the soil scientist Lydia Bourguignon: “minerality is the perception that has the taste of mineral rocks”, although so saying introduce a new additional element of discussion: the concept of perception …
Yes, they are interesting times for a philosopher.
(Pictured, a white limestone #crurock by a cru of Valpolicella)
images by vinopigro.it
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it’s an article from Vinoway – vinoway.com
There are many questions about the bottle of wine size, but the most common is: Why in the world we use 75 cl bottle measure?
Everything began in 1975 when the European Directive on packaging (Dir. 75/106) decreed that wine could be sold only in containers by 25cl / 37.5cl / 50cl / 75cl, making the 75 cl bottle the most comfortable format both for the manufacturing company and for the final consumer.
There are other theories about the use of the 0,750 lt bottle format.
It is believed that in 1700, when the wine began to be stored in bottles, the lung capacity of a glassblower could create bottle from 60cl to 75cl at once.
Others think it is linked to the 757 ml unit of measure that represent 1/5 gallon, while gallon was the measure unite widely used in Anglo-Saxon countries, in which the gallon has been for so long the measure unit to size wines and spirits.
Finally because 75 cl correspond to 6 glasses of wine of 125 ml, although today tasting glasses of much larger size are often used.
In the market, today, we could find bottles that despite the same size (75cl) got different characteristics such as the shape, the consistency of glass, the color to protect the wine from light and size to preserve the diversity of characteristics and typicality.
The 75 cl bottles for wine are also the most widespread used due their facilities to be hold, and because they are easy to be handled and the could adapt better to the delivery process.
The European Directive on packaging, today, admits other bottle sizes, here you can read the Name and the size:
Half: 0,375 L.
Liter: 1 L.
Magnum: 1,5 L equivalent of 2 bottles of 75 cl.
Jéroboam: 3 L equivalent of 4 bottles of 75 cl.
Réhoboam: 4,5 L equivalent of 6 bottles of 75 cl.
Mathusalem: 6 L equivalent of 8 bottles of 75 cl.
Salmanazar: 9 L equivalent of 12 bottles of 75 cl.
Balthazar: 12 L equivalent of 16 bottles of 75 cl.
Nabuchodonosor: 15 L equivalent of 20 bottles of 75 cl.
Melchior: 18 L equivalent of 24 bottles of 75 cl.
Primat: 27 L equivalent of 36 bottiglie bottles of 75 cl.
Melchizedec: 30 L equivalent of 40 bottles of 75 cl.
