De la uva al vino: Descubre el proceso de elaboración del vino

Turning a bunch of grapes into wine is a blend of biology, craft and decisions. We tell you, step by step, what happens from the vineyard to the bottle.

The harvest

It all begins in the vineyard with the picking. The timing of the harvest is crucial: the grapes must be picked at just the right point of ripeness, with the right balance between sugar and acidity. They're harvested by hand or by machine, depending on the winery and the type of wine, and sorted so that only healthy fruit goes through.

Destemming and crushing

Once at the winery, the grapes are separated from the stems and gently crushed to release the must, the juice that will ferment. At this point the winemaker decides how much contact the must will have with the skins, something that will determine the colour and structure of the final wine.

The fermentation

It's the heart of the process. Yeasts transform the sugar in the must into alcohol and aromas. In reds, the must ferments together with the skins to extract colour and tannins; in whites, the already-clean must is fermented to preserve freshness. Controlling the temperature during these days is essential.

• Reds: they ferment with the skins, which give colour and body.
• Whites: they ferment without skins, seeking aromas and freshness.
• Rosés: a brief contact with the skins sets their hue.

Ageing and maturing

Once fermentation is over, the wine can be bottled young or spend time in barrel and tank. The wood adds nuances, rounds out the tannins and helps the wine gain complexity. How long and in what kind of barrel is another stylistic decision made by the winemaker.

Clarification and bottling

Before the bottle, the wine is stabilised and clarified to remove particles in suspension. Then comes the bottling, and in many cases an additional rest in the bottle before it goes to market. From there, each wine follows its own path of evolution.

Reading about it is fine, but seeing it live is what hooks you. If you'd like to follow the whole journey with your own eyes, take a look at what a visit to a winery is like and plan your getaway.