# Fine Wine Demo How fine wine is made: climate, soil and grape variety, then fermentation, pressing and the glass By Laura Hales Topic: Food & Drink [Open the interactive Jig](https://ask.jig.com/j/dZILqRi6k0CO) ## Transcript ### 1. Fine wine, from vine to glass Every great bottle starts long before the cork\. Climate, soil and the grape variety decide what the fruit can become\. Then yeast turns sweet grape juice into wine\. Let us follow it from the vineyard to your glass\. Drag anywhere on the scene to look around\. ### 2. Climate sets the ripeness Fine wine grapes grow mostly between 30 and 50 degrees of latitude, where the growing season averages 12 to 22 °C\. Cooler sites give crisp acidity and delicate flavour\. Warmer sites give riper, sweeter fruit and so more alcohol\. Slide from cool to warm and watch the light and the grapes\. Balance matters: in too much heat the acidity that keeps a wine fresh fades away\. ### 3. Soil: water and warmth Under a vineyard lie layers like these: topsoil, gravel, clay and limestone\. Vine roots push deep to find water\. Stony, well\-drained soil keeps a vine a little thirsty, so it grows smaller berries with more concentrated flavour\. You cannot taste the minerals of the soil in a wine\. Soil works through water, heat and how vigorously the vine grows\. ### 4. The grape variety Each variety suits its own climate\. Cabernet Sauvignon has small, thick\-skinned berries that like warm, gravelly sites\. Pinot Noir is thin\-skinned and needs a cool climate\. Chardonnay is a green\-gold grape for white wine\. Choose one, or tap a cluster\. All three belong to one species, Vitis vinifera, the European wine grape\. ### 5. Harvest and crush The grapes are picked when sugar, acidity and tannin are in balance\. They are stripped from their stems and gently crushed into an oak vat\. Juice, skins and seeds together are called must\. Our wine will be red, from dark grapes like Cabernet\. The juice of most red grapes is almost clear\. The colour is in the skins\. ### 6. Yeast makes wine Yeast feeds on the grape sugar and turns it into alcohol and carbon dioxide gas\. Watch the bubbles rise while the gold sugar gauge falls and the red alcohol gauge climbs\. The skins colour the must a deep red\. Press Add yeast to begin\. Sugar becomes alcohol and carbon dioxide\. Red wines ferment warm, at about 25 to 32 °C, for one to two weeks\. ### 7. Punch down the cap The rising gas lifts the skins into a floating layer called the cap\. Winemakers push it back under several times a day\. That keeps it moist and draws more colour and tannin from the skins\. Drag the paddle down, or press Punch down\. Some wineries pump juice from the bottom over the cap instead\. ### 8. Press, soften and age When the sugar is gone, the new wine is pressed off the skins\. A second, gentle fermentation by bacteria turns sharp malic acid into softer lactic acid\. Fine reds then rest in oak barrels for months, gaining roundness and gentle spice\. A Bordeaux barrique holds 225 litres, about 300 bottles\. ### 9. Into the glass Finally the wine is bottled and corked\. Climate, soil, grape and the winemaker's care all end up in this glass\. Press Pour a glass, or tap the bottle, and admire the colour\. Please enjoy wine responsibly\.