Hello Drinks Tube, I'm Luca and you know I'm Italian, I'm crazy about wine I'm crazy about
artisan wine and I'm here today to introduce you to how wine is made.
I'm in Italy, within Italy I'm actually in the Veneto region in the outskirts of Verona in the western part
right in the heart of the Valpolicella Classico. I'm Italian and I obviously consider Italian
wines the best. But, wherever you are, wherever the wine comes from, whether it be California,
Australia, New Zealand, France. The wine making doesn't change. And I'm gonna' guide you through
every single step of the wine making from the grape growing in the vineyards, all the
way to the tasting. The amazing world of wine doesn't begin in the cellar but it begins
in the vineyard, it begins from a vine and the most important thing to set the identity
of a wine, is the terroir where the vine is planted on to. Terroir, what a big word but
in reality, terroir only means the soil on which a vine is planted. For example, in
this case, the vineyard is very very close to the seaside as you can see and before even
tasting the wine from this vineyard, I will know already for a fact that the wine will
have a very strong character, a very salty finish also because being so close to the
seaside it means that the terroir is very rich in sea life, debris and fossils. Therefore,
very fine salty minerals will be absorbed by the roots and will be delivered into the grapes
which inevitably will end up in the taste of the wine. Whatever the terroir, wherever
the vineyards are, spring time kicks in and soon after the grapes are ready to be harvested.
But how does the producer know when it's time to harvest. Basically, he will daily check
the amount of sugar contained within the juice of the grapes because he has to make sure
that that amount of sugar is right for the alcohol level of the wine that he wants to
produce. Grapes then will be brought back to the cellar and they will have to go through
one of the most crucial and critical stages of the wine making. The de-stemming and the
crushing of the grapes. And it all happens by using machines like this one. The pigiadiraspatrice,
and now Pier Paolo Antolini, one of the greatest Amarone producers will introduce of how this machine works.
The machine, it is very simple. When arrive the grapes, we put inside here and takes to
this cylinder. The stem go out, and the grapes go down. Here we have two small cylinder that
crushing the grape. It is rubber so it is very very very soft like the feet. And then,
the freshly crushed grapes gets pumped into fermenting tanks like this where the magic
of the alcoholic fermentation happens. Tanks to the yeast, they transform the sugar in
alcohol and gas and that is alcoholic fermentation. The alcoholic fermentation will last between
five to seven days. For the white, for colour we remove the skin with it in a day. Yes,
because the colour is contained within the skin. The longer we leave the skin in maceration
with the wine, the more deeper the colour will be. As a matter of fact, for red wine
the maceration normally last from two weeks all the way to two months. For rose, in the
between. Alcoholic fermentation is finished, skins are removed, the wine now is ready for
the refining stage. Which can be in stainless steel tank or in wood barrel like here. Wood
is extremely important because through it's pores, some small quantity of oxygen will
get in contact with the wine creating a oxidation. Some woods have a tighter pores some woods
have looser pores therefore there will be a different kinds of oxidation and this will
definitely change the taste of the wine. The vast majority of producer will use barrels
made out of only one wood, but I use four type of wood. Oak, cherry, chestnut and mulberry.
Four types of wood which will deliver four different style of flavours which Pierre Paolo
as a very capable and talented orchestral maestro will then at the end of the aging process will blend
them together for a mega complex super fine spectacular example of wine. So also, for
aging barrels size really do matter. This one is called Barrique the smaller the faster
the aging. Simply because there is a greater surface area per volume of wine therefore
we have more pores oxiginating the wine. That is great for the big stronger wine like Cabernet,
Syrah and Merlot. This is called Botte, simply idea for more delicate, more deep, more elegant
wines like Nebbiolo, Corvina or Sangiovese. All is left to do is to be bottled. If the
wine is aging oak then it will be transferred again in a stainless steel tank for natural
decanting, and after that the wine will be bottled. So now, what is left to do, once
the wine is bottled, it's to open the bottle and enjoy the final product. It's been a long
journey and a very delicate process but worth the wait and worth the stress. Amazing. Drinks
Tube, this is the end of our journey. This is the end of how wine is made, but this was
all about still wine. If you want to know how sparkling wine is made, if you wanna'
know how Prosecco is made just click here but remember, whatever you do, whatever you
like, whatever you want to know about any drinks, subscribe to Drinks Tube. Chin chin.