Vine to Glass: The Process of Making

Wine- Caitlin Pauley

Audience- Wine lovers, with an interest
in what is behind the wine they are
drinking. Target Audience- 21-45, some
college and above, and middle to upper
class.
Learning- This presentation will show the
wine making process starting from the
grapes on the vine, all the way to the
bottle it is poured from.
 (Photo will need to be something bold that attracts attention to the wine but not just a bottle, it will
need to encompass more components of the process)

Vine to Glass: The Process of Making

Wine- Caitlin Pauley
(Photo will need to be of grape vines)
1 - Before wine is well wine, it starts as a grape on wine. Some would say this is the easy part of the process. That you pick a
grape when it is ripe and then move on. However, there are many different aspects at work for this part. It can even determine
the type of wine you get! The type of grape matters and the stage of the grape on the vine could determine the bitterness or
sweetness of the final wine you drink. Fun Fact: Certain countries do NOT allow farmers to water their grapes, so if it is a very
dry year the wines from that year will be more dry and bitter.

(Photo of harvesting or of a bunch of grapes together in a container)

2 - Once the grape is at the perfect ripeness for the type of wine it is going to make, it is then harvested. The grape is hand-
picked from the vine. It is common for wineries or vineyards today to still handpick the grapes. However, they can be picked by
machines. The benefit of picking by hand, is that the grapes that are bad or not as ripe can be left behind. This allows for only
the best grapes to make it into the press.

(Photo of large amounts of the grape juice in a container)

3 - Once the grapes are harvested, they are pressed to extract their juice. This process is pretty universal across the board.

(Photo of barrell or other wine fermenting container)

4 - The juice is then placed into the container it will be fermented in. The fermentation process can be anywhere between a week
to a month. The yeast has a chemical reaction that transforms the sugars into carbon dioxide and alcohol. Some wines are
fermented with the skins of the grapes and others are separated.

(Photo of wine being sun-aged)

5 - Once fermented, the wine is then aged in most cases. However, there can be certain wines that are bottled directly after
fermentation. Some wines are aged in whiskey or bourbon barrels, some in sunlight, some in regular barrels. It just depends on
what the winery is trying to make flavor wise. Some will put notes of apricot or other fruits and others will put notes of certain
spices into the barrels to give the wine certain flavors.

(Additional photo of lots of barrells of wine being aged)

6 - Once in the aging process, this step of the process could be a week to years. Yes, years! This is a very interesting part of the
process and an interesting fact, is that the older the wine, not necessarily the better. While aged wines are much more
expensive, it does not make them a better wine. They are aged to provide different flavors, not to improve quality.

(Bottle of corked wine, no label preferably)

7 - Next, to bottle the wine. Bottling the wine is the last but one of the more difficult parts of the process. There is a large
concern of oxidization when bottling the wine. You want very minimal air to touch the wine. This is a concern in the previous
step as well. If air gets to the wine, it can cause it to spoil by the time it is drank. Typically, a machine is doing the pouring from
the barrel into the bottle and a tube is put all the way at the bottom of the bottle for minimum air to touch the wine. It is then
corked or a sealed with a screw top and labeled. This is the last step before it is distributed accordingly.
 (Credit slide will have a picture of multiple components of the process)
8 - All pictures were taken by myself in France. A special thank you to the owners of the vineyard! Thank you for the tour and the
one-on-one knowledge of the wine making process.