WYNCH · Reference library

Maceration

Contact between juice or fermenting wine and grape skins. It extracts substances including colour and tannins from the skins.

Explained simply

Grape juice and skins stay together for a while—rather like tea steeping in water. Colour, aromas and tannins can move from the skins into the wine.

Sources: Natural wine without myths

In more detail

Maceration is contact between juice or fermenting wine and grape skins, and sometimes seeds and stems. Time, temperature and movement determine how much colour, aroma and tannin are extracted. Longer skin contact with white grapes can produce orange wine.

Sources: Natural wine without myths

What to look for

Look at both duration and timing. A few hours before pressing have a different effect from several weeks during fermentation.

Sources: Natural wine without myths

Read in the journal A barnyard or medicinal smell in natural wine can hide the fruit — guests do not have to drink it bravely. Explained in context in our article about natural wine.

Sources

  1. Natural wine without myths ·

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