Winemaking

Winemaking is the process of making wine, starting by picking the fruit, its fermentation into alcohol, and the bottling of the finished liquid. The history of wine-making is over a million years old. There is evidence that shows that the earliest wine production took place in Georgia and Iran around 6000 to 5000 B.C. The science of wine and winemaking is known as oenology. A winemaker may also be called a vintner. The growing of grapes is viticulture and there are many types of grapes.

Winemaking process
There are five main stages to the wine making process. The first stage is harvesting or picking. After the harvest, the grapes go to a winery and prepared for primary ferment. At this stage red wine becomes different than white wine making.

Red wine is made from the pulp and juice of red or black grapes and fermentation happens together with the grape skins, which brings it its flavor and color. White wine is made by fermenting juice which is made by pressing crushed grapes to take out the juice. The skins are removed and have no role in white winemaking.

Winemakers
List of top 15 wine producing countries by volume. (Volume in thousands of hectoliters)
 Country  2010  2011  2012  2013  2014  2015  2016  2017  2018   48,525  42,772  45,616  52,029  44,739  50,000  50,900  42,500  48,500   44,381  50,757  41,548  42,004  46,698 47,000  45,200  36,600  46,400   35,353  33,397  31,123  45,650  41,620  37,700  39,300  32,500  40,900   20,887  19,140  21,650  23,590  22,300  21,700  23,600  23,300  23,900  16,250  15,473  11,778  14,984  15,197  13,400  9,400  11,800  14,500   11,420  11,180  12,260  12,500  12,000  11,900  13,100  13,900  12,500   9,327  9,725  10,569  10,982  11,316  11,200  10,500  10,800  9,500   13,000  13,200  13,511  11,780  11,178  11,500 11,400  11,400  10,800   8,844  10,464  12,554  12,820  10,500  12,900  10,100  9,500  12,900   6,906  9,132  9,012  8,409  9,334  8,900  9,000  7,500  9,800   7,148  5,622  6,308  6,237  6,195  7,000  6,000  6,700  5,300   3,287  4,058  3,311  5,100  3,700  3,600  3,300  4,300  5,200   6,400  6,353  6,400  5,300  4,900  5,600  5,200  4,700  4,700   -  -  -  2,600  2,400  2,600  2,500  2,500  3,400 Rest of the World  27,847  30,906  27,194  31,000  27,100  29,800  29,900  30,900  30,700 World  264,425  267,279  257,889  290,100  270,000  277,000  273,000  251,000  282,000

More readings
 Thomas Pinney. The Makers of American Wine: A Record of Two Hundred Years. Berkeley. University of California Press, 2012.
James Simpson. Creating Wine: The Emergence of a World Industry, 1840–1914. Princeton University Press, 2012.

References

Category:Wine