Winification

Grape must into wine

Is the process that turns the grape must into wine. During that process not only does the sugar become alcohol, but some byproducts are generated, like the acetic acid and secondary alcohols, among others. Some of these byproducts are aromatically charged and, since they are generated during the fermentation process, are called secondary aromas.

The ratio sugar/alcohol

is 17 grams per sugar to obtain 1 grade of alcohol.

Must acids: citric - tartaric - malic

Wine acids: citric - tartaric - malic/lactic - succinic - acetic

Yeasts

The yeasts are microorganisms, of the mushroom kind, that can metabolize sugars. These yeasts are the saccharomyces cerevisae. Around February, they spontaneously appear in the wine yards, where they pose on the soils and, specially, on the skin of the grapes. The yeasts don't generally act in temperatures lower than 1 grade or higher than 35 grades. They die when the concentration of alcohol reaches about 15 or 16 grades.