Near the end of sugar fermentation, a wine press is used to separate the liquid from the solid materials. White wine is made by a different process. First the grapes are crushed and pressed immediately to separate the juice from the solids. After pressing, the skins, stems and seeds are discarded, and the juice is cooled to a low temperature. Then the cold juice is allowed to settle for several hours, and the clear juice is decanted off the residue before it is fermented.
White wine is made by fermenting clarified juice.
These are the fundamental differences between making quality, red wine and white wine. At first glance, the two winemaking processes may appear similar because several steps are identical. Nevertheless, the steps are done in a different sequence, and the sequence makes a large change in wine characteristics. The two processes are shown in the Figure below. It has often been said that wine quality is made in the vineyard, and few experienced winemakers disagree with this statement.