Fermentations

Many people do not understand how wine is made or how it ages. In order to help you understand more about wine, it may be helpful to go over a few basics about alcoholic beverages in general.

We can classify three basic types of alcoholic beverages: wine, beer and liquor. Wine is fermented fruit juice. Wines can be made out of pure grape juice or combined with other fruit juices. Sometimes wines are made with no grape juice at all. Even vegetables have been used to make wine. Honey wine (mead) is fermented honey. Wine is a living thing and continues to age and mature after it is bottled. Beer on the other hand, will not improve with age after it is bottled. It will lose its taste and/or become flat. Liquors will continue to age and mature only while they are in the barrels, which is why 12-year-old scotch is better than 8-year-old scotch. Once bottled, however, liquors will not improve with age.

Now you can understand why wineries normally include the vintage year as part of the label information. This information gives you an idea of how old (mature) the wine is and also allows for judgment as to the initial quality of the wine; some vintage years are better than others because of the growing conditions the grapes experienced in the vineyards. The wine we make at our home is made with grapes. We also make mead from time to time as a dessert wine.

- Chuck Blethen, Vigneron in Residence, Black Mountain Oasis Vineyard, Scottsdale, AZ