California Drinking:
The wine industry and winemaking process By: Andrew Baumgartner
California: known for sun, surf, and—through the Beach Boys—girls. But California is not only the home of Hollywood films and stars, hot sunny days, and high-rising redwoods. It is also home to one of the largest winemaking industries in the world. California’s wine industry not only produces 90% of the wine in the United States, but if it was considered a separate country, it would be the fourth largest producer of wine in the world1. Winemaking was imported to California, and has a tradition that stems back thousands of years, with evidence of wine production appearing up to 9,000 years ago. Signs of grape wine, the most common type of wine produced today, have been discovered as far back as 5,400 BCE2. But how is wine made, and how did it come to California to flourish into a respected and renowned industry?
First Planting California’s winemaking history began not as an industry for commerce, but out of religion. Spanish explorers and Franciscan fathers began moving north from Mexico in the early 1700s into California. To provide wine for their sacramental ceremonies, the Franciscans planted grape vine cuttings in the fertile soil. However, California wine’s history nearly never happened. Originally, Spanish authorities made the decision to have Mexican wine shipped north for the new missions, but problems traversing the supply route led to the planting of new vineyards3.
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1 Stevenson, Tom (2007). Sotheby’s Wine Encyclopedia (4 ed.). Dorling Kindersley. p. 462. 2 Newman, James L (2000). “Wine”. Cambridge World History of Food. 1. 3 MacNeil, Karen (2001). The Wine Bible. Workman Publishing. pp. 636–640.
Spreading the Vines Spanish settlers in California began planting small vineyards as early as 1783. By the 1830s, Los Angeles had several commercial wineries producing wine. The gold rush in 1849 shifted populations in California to the northern regions around San Francisco. As the number of treasure seekers grew, the demand for wine increased, and the wine industry migrated to Sonoma Valley and then to Napa Valley (see fig.1). Both valleys had conditions better than Los Angeles for vineyards, and so some of the most famous wineries in California got their start4.
The Winemaking Process The procedures of creating wine may vary, but the wines of California, and most of the world, are created out of one common ingredient: grapes. The fermentation of grapes creates the wine, but there is a complex process to produce an enjoyable beverage.
fig. 1 - California’s vineyard migration, and the modern day areas of growth
First, to understand how the process begins, one must first understand the composition of a grape. When measured by weight, a grape is typically 75% pulp, 20% skin, and 5% seeds (see fig.2). The pulp is the main ingredient to the winemaking process, but the other components can also play a part. Grape pulp contains mostly water, as well as the key ingredient: sugar. The grape’s natural sugar converts to alcohol during fermentation. Fermentation is a metabolic process, much like how a person’s digestive system converts food into energy and nutrients. The skin and seeds can have a role as well. Grape skins give a wine its aroma and flavor, as well as its tannin and color. Tannin is a natural chemical compound contained in the skins and seeds which can affect the bitterness and astringency, or dryness, in the wine5, and has also been shown to provide health benefits.
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4 MacNeil, Karen (2001). The Wine Bible. Workman Publishing. p. 641. 5 MacNeil, Karen (2001). The Wine Bible. Workman Publishing. p. 7.
fig. 2
The Right Climate Grapevines thrive best in areas where the ambient temperature remains above 50°F. Once below that mark, the vines will not grow. When the average daily temperature is between 63°F and 68°F, the vines start to flower, and once the average temperature rises into the mid-80s, vine growth flourishes. California, with its Mediterranean climate, is well suited to the production of grapevines. However, there are challenges, such as California’s high summer temperatures. When sustained temperatures rise above 104°F, the heat can cause the grapes to wither into raisins. Excess heat can also stress the grapes, causing them to produce more sugar. Therefore, many vineyards are planted on north-facing slopes in California, so that the grapes do not get sunburned6.
Harvesting When the grapes are ready to be harvested, they can be picked by hand—as is the tradition in Napa Valley—or they can be collected using mechanical harvesters. A mechanical harvester is capable of picking up to 200 tons of grapes per day. Each ton of grapes can produce approximately 60 cases, or 720 bottles, of wine. This number can vary, however, since the amount of juice yielded from each ton can be vastly different7. After harvesting the grapes, creating wine at the winery involves a common process, but with some differences. Both red and white wines are created by first crushing the picked grapes. To make white wines, the grapes are pressed (see fig. 4), have their skins removed, and then the remaining juice is put into a tank. Yeasts are added to help the fermentation process, and allowed to convert the natural sugars into alcohol. The wine is then separated from the lees (dead yeast cells) if necessary, and then either cold stabilized, put into barrels to age, filtered, or a combination of all three.
fig. 3, above - One ton of grapes can produce 720 bottles of wine fig. 4, left - White wine grapes in the press to extract the juice
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6 MacNeil, Karen (2001). The Wine Bible. Workman Publishing. pp. 12-15. 7 MacNeil, Karen (2001). The Wine Bible. Workman Publishing. p. 26.
Red wine goes through a few extra steps. After the grapes are crushed, they are put into a tank, along with the juice, skins, and seeds. During fermentation, the cap of skins that forms on top (see fig. 5) is pushed down into or pumped over the fermenting liquid to enhance the color, flavor, tannins and aroma. Then, once the wine is ready, the liquid is pressed off the skins and put into barrels to age (see below). Throughout the aging process, the wine is racked (see fig. 6).
fig. 5 - Grape skins rising to the top during fermentation
Racking is transferring the wine from one barrel to another using gravity, so as not to disrupt the aging process with a mechanical pump. The wine can also be filtered at this point. Once the aging process is complete, the wine is bottled8. This process does have some variation to achieve the same end, but the methods used in California’s vineyards have allowed them to grow since those first Spanish settlers migrated north. Today, California wines are recognized as some of the best in the world. The practices of wine creation described above have ensured their quality, and have given California vineyards a secure place in the winemaking world.
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8 MacNeil, Karen (2001). The Wine Bible. Workman Publishing. p. 38.
fig. 6 - Racking the wine from one barrel to another