Winemaking in the cellar
After harvesting, the grapes are crushed and the so-called must is produced.
Winemaking in the cellar
It is a long journey from the vines in the vineyard to sipping a beautiful wine. A winegrower therefore has three professions: as a winegrower, cellar master and more recently, also as a merchant.
But that's not all. To produce a good wine, one also requires valuable experience passed down through generations, a feeling for nature, zeal, diligence and a precise knowledge of the skills needed by a cellar master.
Masterwork in the cellar
When nature has done its job and the grapes are harvested, it is the task of the cellar master to bring the fine attributes of the grapes, generated in the vineyard, into the wine without loss of quality and to then refine them through the winemaking process. But lets go step be step...
After the harvest, the grapes are first pressed gently. The berries are crushed, creating the so-called ‘mash’. Winemakers seeking quality may de-stem some varieties before pressing (separate the grapes from the stems). For white or rosé wines, the mash is pressed shortly thereafter. These wines are then called light-pressed. Alternatively, for red wine, the mash is fermented or warmed before it is pressed. By pressing the mash, the winemaker obtains the must that still contains sediment.
This must is stored in barrels or tanks and begins to ferment there. Fermentation is started by yeasts, which are a natural component of the grapes and juice. Alcohol and carbonic acid are formed from the conversion of the grapes’ fruit sugar. The naturally available yeasts are often not enough to get the fermentation going, therefore, the winegrowers use so-called pure culture yeasts that were specially developed for winemaking.
Patience is rewarded
Potentially, wine yeast could convert all of the sugar into alcohol, but from 12-15% content, the yeast is "exhausted" and the fermentation is finished. Nowadays fermentation in the cellar is mainly controlled by heating or cooling the tanks or barrels. This makes it possible, among other things, not to let the wine ferment through to the end, but to leave some fructose as residual sweetness.
A residue of fructose can also remain with fully-fermented wines, however the proportion with dry wines is low - maximum 9 grams per liter. In the case of noble sweet wines in the higher Prädikat levels (Auslese, Beerenauslese, Trockenbeerenauslese and ice wine), the residual sugar is very high and can be up to 200 g / l.
After fermentation is complete, the yeast settles on the bottom of the fermentation tank and the clear wine is carefully removed from this sediment. This process is called racking, after which the wine is most often sulfurized to protect it from oxidation. After a certain time, the very last yeast residues and microscopic particles can be filtered out in one or two steps. The wine is now clear and ready to be bottled. Depending on the quality, it can age there for years or even decades as alcohol, acidity and residual sweetness conserve the wine in a natural way. This last stage of creating a top-quality wine requires patience. But as the saying goes: anticipation is the greatest joy!
Click here for short video on bottling.
In the cellar, opinions differ
Nowadays, the winemaker can choose the right type of vinification depending on the grape variety and wine style. In addition to the traditional large wooden barrel, there are also stainless steel tanks which, after their evolution more than 30 years ago, have increasingly found their way into German cellars, as well as the more recent trend for the barrique barrel.
In the end, it is not the container that decides the quality of a wine, but the ability of the cellar master to handle and understand the numerous processes involved in winemaking and bring these all together to a trusted, high quality product. Such sensitivity is rewarded with wonderfully complex and structured wines.
How do barriques, tonneaus and piece barrels differ from each other?
What they all have in common is their material wood. Barriques hold 225l, tonneaus 500l and piece barrels 1,200l. Half-piece barrels hold 600l accordingly and double piece barrels 2.400l.
Varietals
More recipe ideas
Tips from Asian cuisine CHINA : Dumpling
German wines have a natural advantage when it comes to entering into perfect harmony with select Asian dishes. With a lower alcohol content, sometimes crisp acidity, moderate residual sweetness or soft tannins in red grape varieties, they are a perfect match for a variety of styles of Asian cuisine.
- 500g Flour
- 240ml Warm water
- 400g Minced pork
- 100g Celery
- 1 TL Salt
- 1/2 TL Sugar
- 3 EL Light soy sauce
- 1 EL Oyster sauce
- 2 EL Oil
- 100 ml Water
PREPARATION
MAKE DUMPLING WRAPPERS
Pour flour into a large bowl, add 240ml warm water and stir until well-combined.
Wash and dry hands. Dip in some dry flour and knead the dough until it becomes smooth.
Place the dough in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 1 hour.
MAKE DUMPLING STUFFING
Mix minced pork, salt, sugar, light soy sauce, oyster sauce, oil and 100ml water, stir well and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Chop the celery and pat dry with kitchen towel.
Take the pork out of the fridge, add chopped celery and stir well.
MAKE DUMPLINGS
Divide the dough into 8g pieces.
Rub the dough with a rolling pin and press into a circle about 7cm in diameter.
Take 15g stuffing and put it in the center of the dumpling wrapper. Fold the wrappers, use fingers to press the edges together.
BOIL DUMPLINGS
Fill in a clean pot with water, and bring to the boil. Pour in an appropriate amount of dumplings according to the size of the pot, and boil them until they rise to the surface.
Take out the dumplings and serve.
- Pinot Blanc (trocken)
- Pinot Blanc (halbtrocken & feinherb)
- Silvaner (trocken)
- Silvaner (halbtrocken & feinherb)
- Spätburgunder / Pinot Noir (trocken)
- Spätburgunder / Pinot Noir (halbtrocken & feinherb)
Tips from Japanese cuisine JAPAN : Sashimi
German wines have a natural advantage when it comes to entering into perfect harmony with selected Asian dishes. With a lighter alcohol content, sometimes crisp acidity, moderate residual sweetness or soft tannins in the case of red grape varieties, they are a perfect match for a wide range of styles of Asian cuisine.
- 200g Tuna Sashimi
- 200g-250g Squid sashimi
- 8 Blätter Green Shiso
- 10g Spice (garnish, white radish sprouts, etc.)
- 10g Soy sauce, wasabi
- 1,5 EL Soy sauce
- 1 EL Red wine
- 1 TL Olive oil
PREPARATION
1. Mix the sauce in a sandwich bag (ziplock). Put the tuna in it, remove any air, seal and leave it in the refrigerator for 12 hours or overnight.
2. Make a thin cut of about 2 mm on one surface of squid. Turn it over and place green shiso on the front. Roll up from the front and cut into pieces for easy eating.
3. Dry the tuna with a paper towel and cut into bite-sized pieces.
4. Serve tuna and squid with condiments, soy and wasabi.
- Pinot Blanc (trocken)
- Silvaner (trocken)
- Spätburgunder / Pinot Noir (trocken)
- Pinot Blanc (halbtrocken & feinherb)
- Silvaner (halbtrocken & feinherb)
- Spätburgunder / Pinot Noir (halbtrocken & feinherb)
Tips from Japanese cuisine JAPAN : Soy braised pork
German wines have a natural advantage when it comes to entering into perfect harmony with selected Asian dishes. With a lighter alcohol content, sometimes crisp acidity, moderate residual sweetness or soft tannins in the case of red grape varieties, they are a perfect match for a wide range of styles of Asian cuisine.
- 1 kg Pork belly
- 120 ml German white wine
- 80 ml Soy sauce
- 80 ml Honey
- 50 ml Water
- 4 cm Leek (green part)
- 3 Ginger (thin slices)
- 4 Boiled eggs
- 1 Vegetables such as Chinese cabbage
PREPARATION
1. Cut the pork belly into large pieces to fit your pan.
Put the frying pan on high heat. When it gets hot, add pork belly, browning all sides, and then put in a saucepan. Add enough water to completely cover the meat.
Add ginger and leek and put on high heat.
2. When it starts to boil, turn the heat down low and boil for around 1.5 hours until the meat is soft (test with a fork). If it is drying out, add more water and let the dish boil slowly.
3. Let the soup cool down, then remove the meat and cut into blocks of about 4-5 cm square. (If you cool it down well at this stage, the meat will not become dry.)
4. Put meat and all the other seasoning except soy sauce, into a new pan (which fits the meat neatly) and heat. When it boils, turn the heat to low and cook for around 5 mins, then add soy sauce.
5. Place a plate, which fits snugly into the pan, directly on the meat (a drop lid is also acceptable). Boil for about 30 minutes.
6. Remove pork from the pan, put the boiled eggs and green vegetable to season them, and boil the broth to half the volume.
Put the meat back in and mix well with the broth. Put meat on a plate, add boiled egg or boiled green vegetables and pour over broth.
- Lemberger (trocken)
- Dornfelder (trocken)
- Spätburgunder / Pinot Noir (trocken)
- Lemberger (halbtrocken & feinherb)
- Dornfelder (halbtrocken & feinherb)
- Spätburgunder / Pinot Noir (halbtrocken & feinherb)
Tips from Chinese cuisine CHINA : Steamed scallops with vermicelli
German wines have a natural advantage when it comes to entering into perfect harmony with selected Asian dishes. With a lighter alcohol content, sometimes crisp acidity, moderate residual sweetness or soft tannins in the case of red grape varieties, they are a perfect match for a wide range of styles of Asian cuisine.
- 4 Scallops
- 1 Bündel Mung bean noodles
- 2 Garlic
- 12 Cloves
- 2 EL Oil
- 1,5 EL Chinese rice wine
- 1 EL Light soy sauce
- 1 Fresh chili
- 2 Spring onions
PREPARATION
1. Clean the scallops, take out the scallop meat and marinate in the rice wine. Wash the shells.
2. Mash the garlic, mince the spring onions and the fresh chilli.
3. Heat a pan with oil over high heat, add garlic and fresh chilli, stir for 1-2 minutes, then put it into a bowl, add light soy sauce and mix well to make the garlic paste.
4. Place the vermicelli in a bowl and soak in warm water for 5 minutes until soft.
5. Take the scallop shells, arrange the vermicelli across these, and place a scallop on each.
6. Pour the garlic sauce evenly over the scallops.
7. Steam the scallops for 6 minutes.
8. Sprinkle with chopped spring onions.
- Riesling (trocken)
- Grauburgunder / Pinot Gris (trocken)
- Riesling (halbtrocken & feinherb)
- Grauburgunder / Pinot Gris (halbtrocken & feinherb)
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