The juicy flesh of the grape berry contains flavour compounds and sugar, which, when combined with yeast, forms alcohol and carbon dioxide gas.

Yeast occurs naturally, and yeast spores stick to the waxy ‘bloom’ on the surface of the grape berries, ready to convert the sugar as soon as the grape is crushed.

The fermentation process doesn’t begin until the grapes are crushed, because the grape skin keeps the yeast and sugar apart.This is (in very simple form) the ‘Great Wine Equation’ SUGAR + YEAST = ALOCOHOL + CARBON DIOXIDE (+heat).

Fermentation is a gradual process, and the winemaker can decide to stop the reaction at any stage, to make a semi-sweet wine, an off-dry one or a completely dry wine.

The carbon dioxide gas is allowed to escape from the fermenting tank when natural, or ‘still’ wines are being produced. When sparkling wine is made, the carbon dioxide is trapped and stored in the wine under pressure, to be released later in the form of tiny bubbles, or mousse, which gives the sparkling wine its seductive twinkle.

In South Africa the sugar content of a wine determines what the wine may be called. Sugar content is expressed in grams per litre, and, in order to get an idea of the actual quantity involved, remember that a teaspoon holds about 2,5 grams of sugar.

One litre is the capacity of a large cold drink bottle (the standard wine bottle size, 750 ml, is of course three quarters that volume).

The official sugar classification in South Africa is as follows:

Extra Dry: 2,5 gm/l or less

Dry: 4,0 gm/l or less

Off –Dry: 4 to 12 gm/l

Semi-sweet: 4 to 30 gm/l

Special Late Harvest: 20 – 50 gm/l

Noble Late Harvest: 50-plus gm/l (there are other requirements to be met with a Noble Late Harvest as well).

From this it can be seen that considerable leeway is allowed. A wine with 5gm/l, for example, could be called either a semi-sweet or a special late Harvest.

A wine with 4gm/l could be anything from dry to semi-sweet. However for a wine to be called either off-dry or semi-sweet another factor enters the equation, which is acidity.

Off-dry wines with up to 9 gm/l of sugar must have no more than two grams less acid than sugar. Up to 12 grams of sugar the acid must not be less than 7 grams. If you have a wine that falls into the off-dry range (i.e between 4 and 12 gm/l) and you want to label it semi-sweet, then it must have less acid than the above figures.

But what does all this talk about sugar mean? The good news for the sugar-conscious is that an extra dry wine will contain less than a teaspoon of sugar to a litre of wine — hardly worth worrying about. The bad news is that alcohol is about as high in kilojoules as sugar is.

The first step, after choosing your wine, is to remove the end of the capsule, which hides the cork. It is not necessary to remove the whole capsule. Take a knife and slit carefully round the top, just above the ridge on the bottle neck. This allows you to pop off the top of the capsule neatly. Capsules on some of the older red wines may still be made of lead, but almost all modern capsules are made of less toxic materials - plastic, tin, or aluminium foil.

The main purpose of the capsule is decorative, it hides the cork and the fact that the level of wine in each bottle may not be exactly the same.
Having removed the capsule, wipe carefully around the mouth of the bottle to remove any foreign matter. You can now withdraw the cork.
Corkscrews come in a bewildering variety of shapes and designs; some good and others frankly bad. When selecting a corkscrew, look for one with a wire spiral, rather than the auger type with a solid centre. If the cork is tight-fitting, the auger-type corkscrew tends to gouge a hole through the centre of the cork, and still leave it behind in the bottle. If the cork is old then it makes the cork crumble. The spiral type is better because it winds itself around and inside the cork and gets a good grip on a lot of the material.
Some designs of corkscrew incorporate some method of providing leverage, so the cork can be pulled without effort.
The Waiter’s Friend is one of these. It has a small leg which rests on the rim of the bottle while the lever handle is lifted.
The Screwpull features a teflon-coated spiral and arms that grip the bottle neck. For old and damaged corks you can use the Butler’s Friend which has two thin spring blades that slide down the sides of the cork and allow you to twist and lift it out without damaging it.
Once the cork is out, take a good look at it. It can provide useful clues about the condition of the wine. It should be moist for only part of its length. If the wine has seeped all the way to the end, it could indicate a problem.
Sniff the cork. It should smell clean and pleasant. A mouldy smell could be a sign that the wine is ‘corked’. This does not mean the cork has crumbled. Or that there are bits and pieces of it floating around in the wine. It means the cork has developed a fungus and this has tainted the wine. The wine smells of musty old rags.

Some wine drinkers declare that a red wine should be allowed to ‘breathe’ in the bottle before it is poured. Frankly, this doesn’t do much to improve the wine.

The surface area of the wine in the bottle neck is so small that hardly any oxygen can reach the wine in the hour or two in which it is left standing.
If you really do want to oxygenate the wine, decant it by pouring it gently down the side of a glass decanter.
Some older red wines develop a sediment at the bottom (or side, if the bottle has been stored lying down) of the bottle.
This is not a sign of any defect, but if you prefer to keep the sediment out of the glass, you can also pour the wine carefully into a decanter, leaving the last bit, with the sediment, in the bottle.

Remember that wine should delight ALL the senses. It should not only taste and smell good, but look good as well. Serve wine in a thin, clear glass that shows off the colour and clarity to best advantage. Avoid coloured glasses.

The glass should have a stem, so it can be held without warming the wine inside it.
The rim should preferably curve inward, so it gathers the aromas together and concentrates them under the drinker’s nose.
Wine glasses should always be stored the right way up. If they are left upside down they can develop a slightly mouldy smell from the trapped damp air inside. They can also pick up odours from the shelf. Some restaurants use a rack that suspends wine glasses upside down by their bases.
Glasses should be kept sparkling clean and given a wipe with a soft cloth before being set out.
If they are washed in detergent, make sure they are well rinsed in clear water before drying. Even a minute hint of detergent residue can affect the taste of the wine.

Sparkling wine is usually served at special occasions and demands special care when serving. Start by finding the little tab at the side of the foil and pulling it off, and then remove the top of the foil to expose the cork in its wire cage.

Take care to keep the bottle aimed away from people or breakables at all times, as the contents are under high pressure.
Twist the wire loop to loosen it. Remove the cage gently. Hold the cork firmly with a cloth to protect your hand and gently twist the bottle with the other hand, pulling downwards. In other words, don’t turn the cork, turn the bottle.
Here’s what is important about opening a champagne bottle: don’t let the cork fly across the room! The cork should leave the bottle with a soft plop, rather than a bang. In France they say the cork should leave the bottle with a satisfied sigh.

The idea of firing the cork over the heads of bystanders is generally acceptable only when you win the Grand Prix and you don’t intend to drink the contents. You can lose a lot of wine that way and the sudden release of pressure makes the wine lose some of its sparkle.

When you pour sparkling wine, tilt the glass slightly and pour the liquid down the side of the glass so as not to create a head of bubbles. Use tall Champagne flute glasses rather than Champagne saucers. The flat saucers provide a large surface area, so the bubbles are soon dissipated. Tall glasses allow the bubbles to last until the end of the drink. It’s also fun to watch the columns of tiny bubbly rise all the way up a long flute glass.

Wine is the fermented juice of the wine grape - vitis vinifera. It is a drink that has been known for many thousands of years and, like so many great discoveries, was probably found by accident. Fermentation occurs when yeast and sugar combine to create alcohol, gas (carbon dioxide) and heat.

The grape contains all the ingredients necessary to get this equation going. You’ve noticed the dull sheen or ‘bloom’ on grape berries. That is a natural yeast that occurs on the outer skin of the grape. The pulp of the grape is rich in sugar. All that needs to happen for fermentation to start is for the skin to be broken to allow the yeast and sugar to meet. It’s that simple.

In commercial winemaking this is seldom allowed to happen, as the ‘wild’ yeasts on the grape skins are sometimes unpredictable, so commercial yeasts of known characteristics are used instead.

To make white wines, the grapes are picked at their optimal ripeness, when the sweetness and acidity are perfectly balanced, and are taken to the cellar where they are crushed and the stalks removed. Sulphur dioxide gas is pumped through the juice to kill the wild yeasts and selected yeasts are added to begin the fermentation. As this is a slow process, lasting several days, the winemaker can elect to stop the fermentation at any time, leaving part of the grape sugar unfermented. In this way the same grapes can be used to make semi-sweet, off-dry or very dry white wines. It is simply a matter of deciding when to stop the fermentation process.

Red wine is made in a similar way, except that the colour of the wine is obtained by leaving the juice to soak on the grape skins, which contain the red pigmentation. If the juice is drawn off the skins immediately after crushing, and the grapes are cold enough, there will be no colour at all. So you can, in fact, make a white wine from red grapes. If you leave the juice in contact with the skins for a short period of time so that it has a coppery-pinkish colour then you have a blanc de noir (say blanh den nwah) - white from black.

Rose (say ro-zay) wines are made in the same way, either from red grapes only or from mixing both red and white. Most reds are allowed to remain on the skins until fermentation is complete; sometimes as long as three weeks.

Red wines are generally made completely dry.

What is the difference between a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Sauvignon Blanc?

You know there are different types of apples: Granny Smith, Starking, Golden Delicious. There are also different types of grapes. So when you see a name like Cabernet Sauvignon or Sauvignon Blanc on a label it means the wine is made from a grape of that name. If there is no name the wine might be a blend, a mixture of different varieties.

White wine grape varieties include the popular Chenin Blanc (say shen-in blanh). Chardonnay, noted for its nutty, toffee character with hints of fresh lime juice; Sauvignon Blanc (say so-veen-yon blanh), with its fresh, herbal character and undertones of grassiness, green pepper and asparagus; Semillon (say semi-yon) with its pine, almonds and lanolin flavours; and the honey-flavoured muscat grape varieties, like our famous hanepoot or muscat d’Alexandrie.

The best known red varieties include Cabernet Sauvignon (say ca-ber-nay so-veen-yon) , the basis of all good French clarets; Merlot (say mer-lo), used in the claret blend as a softening influence; Shiraz, rich and smoky; Earthy Pinot Noir (say pee-no nwah), which made the wines of Burgundy famous; and our own Pinotage, developed as a cross between Pinot Noir and Hermitage, or Cinsaut (say sin-so).

Which grapes make the best wines?

Not a fair question. You should rather ask, ‘This is a Chenin Blanc – is it a good Chenin Blanc?’ Each wine has characteristics of its own. Some are meant for easy drinking and early enjoyment. Others are serious wines, with depth and character, and need to be laid down before they are at their best. When you feel like one or other type of wine the important thing is not to be disappointed. The best wine is a well made wine, whatever the variety.

Whether you use plain or fancy glasses, it is important to keep them sparkling clean and free of contaminants if you are going to get serious about tasting wine. Just the merest hint of soap in the glass, or a very slight mustiness from the cupboard could make an appreciable difference to your assessment of the wine.

The trick to washing the glasses is in the rinsing. If the glasses are not properly rinsed they will dry with a dull lustre that is actually a film of soap or grease. This not only affects the taste but also the appearance of the wine. Many dishwashers do not have a sufficiently thorough rinsing cycle, so it’s better to rinse the wine glasses by hand. After washing, pour warm—not hot—water into the glasses until they overflow slightly over the rim (or immerse them in clean, warm water).
After rinsing, and before drying, leave a little of the water in the glass to keep it warm. A warm glass is easier to dry and polish than a cold one. Dry it with a soft, lint-free cloth. Always give the glass a bit of a polish when you take it out the cupboard, too, in case it has picked up some dust or odours.

When storing glasses, don’t place them upside down on a shelf or they may draw up moisture and become cloudy or pick up a musty ‘shelf’ odour.

Store the glasses upright and place a strip of tissue paper over the top to prevent dust settling in them. This may seem very pretentious and fussy, but it takes very little time and effort. It’s worth spending a few minutes if it means you will get a little more enjoyment from your wine.

The following guidelines will ensure that you enjoy your wine to the fullest.

Sparkling: 4,5-7°C
Whites: 7-10°C
Rosés and Light Reds: 10-12,5°C Medium Bodied Reds 12.5-15,5°C
Full bodied Reds: 15,5-18°C

Ice in cold water will chill the wine effectively and will keep it cold. Over chilling wines kills the flavour and aroma.

Too much warmth makes the wine taste bland. In summertime, when it’s hot, it’s not a bad idea to chill a red wine by leaving it in the fridge for 20 minutes before opening.

When you are tasting a wine, information about it can be gained by looking at its viscosity, which is seen in the "legs" or "tears" that cling to the side of the glass after the wine has been swirled around in the glass. If there are prominent traces, the wine has a high alcohol or sugar content or both.

If climate conditions in autumn are warm and very humid, grapes left on the vine may be infected by a fungus called botrytis cinerea or noble rot.

Botrytized grapes are shrivelled and dehydrated, but the sweetness is concentrated. Some grape varieties are affected more than others, namely Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Semillon and Gewürztraminer. An excellent example of a very sweet dessert wine made from these grapes is Nederburg’s famous Edelkeur.

There are four key parts to a vine: Below the ground we have the roots, and above the ground we have the trunk, arms and canes.

The Roots make up about one third of the dry weight of the vine. Some roots are from 60 cm to as much as 1,5m. Roots play a very important role in accumulating nutrient reserves during autumn.

The Trunk is the main permanent and undivided stem of the vine, which is the connecting link between the roots and the arms or main branches. The trunk increases in diameter every year.

The Arms or branches of the trunk are where the canes or spurs grow and these are pruned to produce vigorous growth for a good grape crop.

The Canes and Shoots originate each year from new buds. They begin as shoots, bear flowers and fruit, and then mature into woody canes. In winter they are pruned back in preparation for the next harvest.

Seasons of the Vines

During Winter (June, July and August) the vine is dormant and uses this period to rest.

Spring (September, October and November) is a sensitive time in the vine’s annual cycle. Severe spring frosts can injure young shoots. When the vines are flowering, strong winds can prevent good pollination. Cold bouts during flowering and blossoming time can also lead to poor berry sets. These are all factors that affect the quality of the wine. They are among the reasons why a Sauvignon Blanc from Constantia is not the same as one from Stellenbosch, or one from Robertson.

During Summer (December, January and February) the vine needs a steady supply of both warm temperature and lots of sunshine. Heat and light enable the necessary photosynthesis that produces the sugar in the grapes. When there is not enough sunshine the sugar content in the grape is low and this results in a light wine, high in acid and low in alcohol. Too much sunshine and heat and the grapes ripen too quickly and the wines are high in alcohol. Again, each factor affects the end product, the wine in your glass. There are also seasonal variations, which is why a Sauvignon Blanc from a particular region might be poor this year after being great the previous year.

Autumn (March, April and May) is a very busy time in the vineyards. By mid-April late-ripening varieties are finally brought to the crusher. By early May cover crops are planted and in June pruners remove all unwanted growth. Canes are selected, then and left for the final pruning at the end of winter.

Grapes vary slightly with regards to their individual needs but they will generally thrive within certain climatic conditions. An average annual temperature of between 14-15°C, with Summers not less than 19°C would be ideal.

The Summers should not be too hot and Autumn should not be too cool. The vines need around 675ml of rain per year, with the majority of showers in the Winter and Spring months. Too much rainfall in Summer and Autumn can harm the grapes. They become overblown and watery—and the wine tastes like that too. The weather, as we see, is a constant worry for grape growers.

How Climate Can Vary from Region to Region, Even Farm to Farm

There are three types of climate that affect the quality of grapes:
The Macro-Climate is the climate of a large area within a district. It might cover many farms that all have the same weather patterns.

The Meso-Climate is the climate experienced by a specific vineyard block (on one farm, say) and it is influenced by slope, altitude, surrounding water masses such as lakes and dams, and the protection afforded by hills, ridges or avenues of trees. All these factors mean that a block of Cabernet grown on one part of a farm produces a different quality wine to a block of Cabernet grown on another part of the same farm and is the reason why a producer may give a different name to the same varietal of wine produced by it.

The Micro-Climate, the prevailing climate within the vine canopy, is influenced by row direction, the trellising system used, and the nature of the soil surface. This is why even wines from different barrels taste differently.

Most South Africa soils are not very fertile but this does not have to be a disadvantage. Rich soils can often produce over-vigorous vines, which means the grapes produced can have little complexity or character. Even so, we have three types of basic parent materials and each produces a different soil type.

The parent materials and the soil types they produce are:
Granite: Tukulu, Hutton, Clovelly
Shale: Swartland and Glenrosa
Sandstone: Longlands, Fernwood, Estcourt

Soil classification is an intricate and specialised subject and we won’t go into it too much. We just need to point out that the criteria are organised according to the colour of the subsoil and topsoil, the presence and order of the various layers in the soil, the clay content, and lastly the sand fraction.

Good drainage can be recognised in soils that are red or yellow in colour, while dark colours which range from blue-black to dark brown can indicate poor to average drainage and could be due to a high water table. In these soils rust spots or white spots can indicate even further that the soils are waterlogged. White soils indicate that there is too much drainage and are seen mostly in sandy soils where nutrients and chemical compounds have leached away.

Water retention capacity is a term that is used to refer to the amount of water that is stored by the soil, and is a key factor in overall vegetative growth and fruiting capacity of South Africa’s vines.

The depth that is accessible to root penetration is called the effective soil depth. Water retention capacity and plant nutrients within the soil determine the effective depth of root growth. There are three soil depth classifications: Deep (90 cm or more), Medium (60-90 cm), or shallow (less than 60 cm).

That’s a good question. And if you get satisfaction from a R20 bottle of wine, go for it. There is no exact scale of values in wine, as in most commodities. There’s no way you can judge accurately whether a R120 bottle provides three times the pleasure of a R40 bottle.

But there are also real reasons for the high prices of some wines. It’s not all marketing hype. Yield per hectare is one criterion. If you irrigate a vineyard during the ripening season you can achieve a harvest of 20 tons a hectare, but the grapes can be plump, watery and flavourless. On the other hand, if you limit production by not irrigating and even cutting half the bunches from the vines before they ripen, you may end up with only two tons a hectare where the berries will be small, intensely flavoured and they could make a big, flavourful wine. However, they will have cost you 10 times the amount to produce. It’s every farmer’s dilemma. High yields or high prices?

Then there’s the matter of wood maturation. Oak barrels cost several thousand rand each, and are used for only two or three vintages. Cheaper wines, on the other hand, are often made in stainless steel tanks that last for decades and do not need replacing.

In the making of some top-quality wines the bunches of grapes are hand-sorted on a moving table before crushing and any unripe bunches are discarded. In some cases even individual berries are removed from bunches and discarded. All this requires labour and that doesn’t come cheap. So very often there is a good reason for charging a higher price for a good quality wine. But, as in any industry, there will always be some products that are overpriced. Your membership in the Wine-of-the-Month Club keeps the chancers at bay. When panel members find a pleasant, more-than-acceptable wine that is overpriced, they show it the door. It never makes it into a pack and, certainly, never into a Best Value pack. Finally it’s up to each of us to decide what we can afford and which wines in that price category please us the most.

Isn't it a bit tacky? Not necessarily. It depends on several factors, like the attitude of the restaurateur, your own budget and the kind of wine you intend to bring to the table.

If the restaurant has a good wine list that has been carefully selected to complement the style of food they serve, you may be advised to accept their offerings, if you can afford them. It would certainly be a bit tacky to arrive at a good restaurant clutching a bottle of R20 plonk. But if you have a special bottle of good wine you’d like to share with your dining companion, it should present no problem, even if there’s a heavy corkage charge. Some restaurants charge ridiculously high prices for their wines, and here it is often worth bringing your own, if they allow it. In any case, it’s wise to call ahead and find out what the restaurant’s policy is regarding BYO.

At one time we were constantly being confused by the difference between Steen and Stein, and wine snobs enjoyed pointing out that one was a wine style while the other was a grape variety. Now they both seem to have disappeared. What happened to them?

They died of confusion. At one stage of the Cape’s wine history we believed we had a local grape variety that we called ‘Steen’. At the same time, several wine producers were trying to copy the German style of crisp, semi-sweet wines made in the style called ‘Stein’. Usually the Stein wines were made from Steen grapes, just to confuse buyers even more.

Thank goodness somebody discovered that the grape we called ‘Steen’ was actually known as Chenin Blanc in other countries. Now we could make ‘Stein’ wines out of Chenin Blanc. But the confusion remained in the minds of many wine lovers and vintners gradually dropped the ‘Stein’ label. These days not many Cape winemakers use the term ‘Stein’.

It is very difficult to determine the best time to pick grapes for making wine. As the grapes ripen, acid levels drop while sugar, colour intensity, and tannins increase. A wine’s acidity must be balanced against the richness it gains during ripening.

Winemaking begins when ripe grapes are delivered to the cellar but the ripening process in the vineyards needs to be monitored throughout the growing season and, particularly so, as the full ripening stage approaches.

How can you tell if the berries have enough sugar? Well, for one thing, you can taste the grapes. But winemakers also use a fractometer, which measures what is known as ‘degrees balling’. As grapes approach a ripeness of between 5 and 7° Balling below their full ripeness winemakers take samples to measure the progress of sugar and acid development. Although both of these measurements follow predictable curves they can vary slightly according to weather conditions.

While laboratory tests are important, the quality and condition of the fruit are best assessed by tasting. This can put a winemaker into a quandary. Sometimes the tasting tests and the lab results don’t correspond and the winemaker then has to make a decision on when to actually pick. The decision will influence the wine's eventual quality.

Grapes can arrive at the cellar in various containers depending on the method of picking used by the farms. The smallest containers are called Lug Boxes and are the most expensive to use. They allow gentle handling without breaking the berries. Larger containers called Pallet Bins or customised trailers can be used to handle large volumes but, as one can understand, they make it difficult to eliminate bad fruit or foreign bodies.

The fastest process is the use of mechanical harvesters, which pick grapes from their stems in the vineyards. However, they break the fruit so there is no scope for selection. A plus in their favour is that they can operate at night or in the early morning and so avoid any spoilage from the sun, heat or excessive exposure to air.

When the grapes arrive they are weighed at the receiving depot and then go through the first stage of mechanical processing.

There are differences between making red and white wine. More than 80% of all wine produced in the Cape is white.

I have often heard winemakers say the wine has not been filtered, but only ‘racked’. Sometimes they add that the wine was ‘fined’. What’s this all about?

These are all ways of clarifying wines by removing the suspended particles, particularly yeast (the lees). Once the lees have settled at the bottom of a barrel or tank, the wine can be gently pumped out from a level higher than that of the lees. This way the lees are left lying at the bottom of the tank and the clear wine is drawn off. Fining is done by adding certain substances (like egg white) to the wine. The egg white spreads across the surface of the wine and then slowly sinks to the bottom of the tank, taking all the suspended particles down with it. The clear wine can then be drawn off and bottled. These processes are considered preferable to filtration, in which the wine is pumped under pressure through a series of paper filters to remove any sediment. Filtration sometimes removes some of the flavours of the wine, and can leave a slight ‘cardboard’ taste in the wine unless it is very carefully done.

The ‘extract’ consists of all the complex compounds that give the wine its flavour. Wine consists mostly of water, plus about 13% of alcohol. Then there are the actual flavourants obtained from the grapes. In a light-bodied, thin-ish wine you would expect to find about 18 grams per litre of extract.

A white wine with any more than about 22g/l would be quite a full-bodied, serious drink. A full-bodied, heavy red wine might contain up to 30g/l of extract. You could call the extract a measure of the concentration of flavour in a wine.

They do. It’s called grape juice. Wine, by definition, is the fermented juice of the grape, vitis vinifera. And when it ferments, alcohol is formed naturally by the reaction between yeast and sugars.

By this definition, a non-alcoholic wine would not be a wine at all. Alcohol acts as a preservative, which is why wine can be kept for years in the bottle without spoiling. For those who don’t want to drink alcohol, there are literally thousands of non-alcoholic drinks on the market. Here’s even a better idea: buy yourself a copy of the book, Mocktails, written by Wine-of-the-Month Club panellist David Biggs and published by New Holland. It contains 80 recipes for non-alcoholic cocktails that are delicious enough to divert attention away from the missing alcohol.

The process for making a red wine is as follows:
Harvest: The grapes are picked when they are ripe. This is determined by taste and sugar.

Stemmer/Crusher Machine: This machine removes the stems and pips from the bunches and crushes the grapes so that they are exposed to the yeast for fermenting and the skins can give the wine a better colour.

Fermentation: Yeast turns the sugar in the wine mostly into carbon dioxide, heat and alcohol.

Maceration: This is a period when the berries are allowed to crush naturally and the must (juice and solids) pick up flavour, tannin and colour. Left too long the wine can taste bitter, too short and it is thin.

Pumping Over: Skin and other solids float to the top and need to be pushed back down to the bottom to stay in contact with the must. This can be done with a tool or you can pump the must from the bottom over the cap.

End of Maceration: The wine maker must now decide if the must has sat long enough or leave it for longer.

Remove Free Run: The best quality wine is made from the free-run juice portion of the must. It is removed and the rest (now called pomace) is sent to the press.

Press: This squeezes the remaining juice out of the pomace. This can be tricky because if you press too much or too hard you can affect the quality of the wine.

Settle: The juice which is now wine needs to settle.

Racking: Moving the wine from one barrel to another allows you to leave solids and anything else that might cloud the wine behind.

Malo-Lactic Fermentation: This is a secondary fermentation that turns the tart malic acid (as found in green apples) into softer lactic acid (as found in milk). Not all red wines go through this step.

Oak Aging: Oak is expensive so depending on the wine’s quality it may only be in oak barrels for a short time or not at all.

Fining: A process that is used to remove anything that can make a wine appear cloudy.

Filtering: A process that helps to remove any fining agents or other solids left in the wine.

Bottling: This is done carefully so that the wine does not come into contact with air. Fine wines can be stored for several years in a bottle before being opened.

Before the introduction of stainless steel tanks, comparatively recently, wine was stored in large vats because there was no other way of keeping it. After a couple of years those big vats no longer added much flavour to the wine, but acted simply as storage space.

Today oak barrels are carefully selected to add flavour to wines. After the second year of use much of the oak flavour has been leeched out of the wood. At this stage the inner layer of oak can be planed off to uncover a second layer and give the barrel another season of use, but this is labour and time consuming stuff. Those ancient oak vats you saw are there mainly to add atmosphere to your tour and provide a sense of the rich history of the Cape’s winemaking tradition.

Next time you visit that winery, take time to examine those old vats. They are works of art worthy of our admiration. Each of those curved staves was shaped by hand in an age without machine tools. And they fit together so perfectly that not a drop of wine can escape, even a century later.

Brett is short for a naturally occurring yeast called brettanomyces, which is now being blamed for many of the ills which befall bottled wines, and red wines in particular. When Brett is present it triggers the formation of a whole lot of the flavour compounds we don’t enjoy, such as volatile acidity (vinegar) and some stinky phenols.

It used to be quite trendy to murmur something like: ‘I think I detect a touch of corkiness on this wine’. Now you can be even smarter and claim to detect a hint of Brett. Nobody will dare contradict you and you’ll be regarded with huge respect.

Better not try this in the presence of a professional winemaker, though. You could end up looking a bit silly. But remember, you don’t have to pontificate over every glass you drink. If you like the wine, drink it. If you don’t like it, sidle up to the nearest pot plant.

If everybody liked the same wines it would be a simple matter to hold a single competition to pick the best. The problem is that every wine lover—including highly respected wine judges—has his or her own tastes. Medals and awards are simply the result of a panel of seven or eight judges’ combined opinions.

A different team of judges will have a different opinion. There is no absolute right or wrong when it comes to flavours. Also, judges from different countries have different expectations of what certain wines should be. They base their opinions on the wines they know back at home.

So we have the annual Veritas Awards Competition, which is judged by panels consisting of seven judges each, with one of them an invited overseas expert. The Michelangelo International Wine Competition has judging panels made up of overseas judges, with one South African on each panel. The Trophy Wine Show tries to select the country’s best wines in each category and uses a panel of mixed local and overseas judges.

So each competition looks at wine from a slightly different perspective. Remember, though, there is only one wine judge whose opinion should matter to you, and that is yourself.

Sparkling wine is a wine which bubbles when poured into a glass. This fizziness which causes the wine to sparkle is what makes this category of wine unique.

How do you get the wine to sparkle?

This is the result of dissolved carbon dioxide in the wine – held under pressure in the bottle moving from a meta-stable state once the pressure is removed by uncorking.

Champagne is best known as sparkling wine originating from the Champagne region of France. While some other countries use the word Champagne for domestic sparkling wines, this practice is illegal in Europe as some sparkling wines are not even made using the Champagne Method.

There are 3 ways of making sparkling wines in descending order of quality:

Champagne Method:
The bubbles are produced in bottle
Charmat (or Transfer) Method
The bubbles are produced in a vat or tank.

Carbonation:
The bubbles are produced by adding CO2
All sparkling wines start as finished wine. Most of the time it is made from white wine. There are also some dark sparkling wines that start with red wine. The pink/rose style of wine can either be made from rose to start with or red wine is added at the end.

The Champagne Method:
The wine is transferred into a bottle along with yeast and sugar. The yeast east the sugar and expels alcohol, carbon di-oxide and heat. There is no way of escaping the bottle so it mixes with the wine which makes it sparkle. After time the yeast runs out of sugar and dies off, which leaves you with a cloudy bottle of sparkling wine with dead yeast in it.

In the olden days, and possibly currently, the process of removing the yeast was done slowly by hand. It is now more often done faster and more economically by machine.

Whether it is by hand or machine,they gently coerce the yeast to the neck of the bottle and for the bottle to end up neck down. When using the hands on method the wine is put into an A frame rack in a horizontal position and a mark is made on the bottom of the bottle with chalk. Over a period of time it is turned a few degrees until it has gone all the way around. It is then tilted slightly vertically and the turning operation is repeated.

When using the machine method this process is much faster and doesn’t require any specialized labour.
Once all the yeast has accumulated together, the neck of the bottle is plunged into a cold brine solution which freezes the wine around the yeast and when the bottle is opened the plug of ice and yeast expels from the bottle.

The bottle is now a little emptier and replaced with the same amount of sugar. The amount of sugar is determined by what style of sparkling wine it will be. The different styles are extra dry-Brut, Dry-Sec, Semi-sweet-Demi-sec and Sweet/Doux.

The finished sparkling wine is corked and ready to be sold. Once the yeast is removed sparkling wine does not really improve with age.

Charmat or Transfer Method
The wine is transferred into a vat or tank and sugar and yeast is added to produce bubbles. Once the yeast has done its job the wine is transferred into bottles leaving the yeast behind in the vat or tank.

This is far easier and more cost effective but the result is usually a wine with less toasty flavours which the yeast imparts.
The bubbles tend to be larger than when using the Champagne method and in sparkling wines the bubbles are the main indicator of the quality. This style is very good for fresher, fruitier styles of sparkling wines.

Carbonation Method:
This is the approach for the least expensive style of sparkling wines. There is no flavour from yeast and the bubbles are coarse. The only advantage that this style has is economic.

We live in a far more relaxed age than that of Mrs Beeton and Emily Post. There are very few rigid rules of etiquette these days, so we are free to do whatever suits us best.

The main concern when pouring sparkling wine is to retain the bubbles. This means the wine should be poured as gently as possible. Tilting the glass and running the bubbly gently down the side is as good a way as any when you are pouring just two or three glasses for a few guests.

This is also known as a liqueur. It is a wine that is fortified with additional alcohol (wine spirit) which is added to the base of wine during fermentation, which results in the average alcohol content increasing to between 17 – 20%. There are two styles of fortified wine which are either dry or sweet. The most common types of fortified wines are Port, Sherry, Marsala and Madeira.

Wine spirit is made from the third or fourth pressings of the grapes. This wine is distilled in a continuous process that of all its flavor and ethyl alcohol is retrieved in a virtually pure state as neutral wine spirit.  It does not contribute to the aroma complexity of the fortified wine and only preserves and fortifies the flavours that are already present.

How are fortified wines made?
Fortified wines are blends of different grapes and vintages. The determining factor for whether they are dry or sweet is when the alcohol (known as Neutral grape spirits) is added to the wine during fermentation. If you are making a sweeter wine the neutral grape spirits are added within the first day and a half of fermentation.

The reaction is, once the additional alcohol is added, the yeast stops converting sugar to alcohol and all of the remaining grape sugar is left as residual sugar. If you are making a dry style, you let the full fermentation process run its course which means the alcohol converts the remaining sugar and then you add the neutral grape spirits to the wine.

How is a fortified wine aged?
Many fortified wines undergo aging in wooden casks. The aging depends on the fortified wine but normally the cheaper the fortified wine the less time it spends aging in oak. Due to the deep wood aging, many fortified wines will benefit from being decanted and aerated.

Different types of Fortified wine:
There are different types of fortified wines, namely Sherry, Port and Muscat type dessert wines e.g. Muscadel, Hanepoot, Marsala and Madeira.
These wines differ from one another by the following points:

• Utilisation of grape variety
• Point when fortification takes place
• Type of spirit added
• Blending
• Method followed for ageing or maturation
  

Dessert wines are very sweet and can be divided into two categories: non Muscat which are port and sherry and then Muscat which is Muscadel and Hanepoot

Sherry :
Sherry is traditionally from Spain. Due to similar geographical and climatic factors in South Africa we are also able to produce sherries which are close to the Spanish product. The most famous region for producing South African sherries is the Boberg Region (Paarl and Tulbagh).

The grape varieties used to make sherry in Southern Africa are Chenin Blanc (Steen), White French (Palomino), Colombar and Semillon.

Grape Varieties used to make sherry in Spain are Palomino and Pedro Ximinez. Sherries are made from white wine with little aroma and have a neutral character. The character develops during the maturation process. Sherries can vary from being very dry to full sweet. In South Africa 4 basic components are blended which are used to provide different styles of sherry. The components in their unfinished form are: Pale sherry (for flor character), Brown Sherry (Backbone), Sweet Sherry (Sweetener) and Shermos (colour).

Pale Sherry – Fino is the main ingredient of classic pale sherry. During production the flor yeast is introduced which helps give the sherry the nutty character.

Brown Sherry – (Oloroso) – this is the second building block. Sweet sherry – this is also known as white Jerepigo. This is full sweet grape juice that is used exclusively for blending. No fermentation of this juice takes place.

Shermos – this is a blend of brown sherry and concentrated grape juice. The concentrate is caramalised so it is dark in colour.

There are 4 different styles of Sherry:

• Fino or Pale Dry (this is a straw colour)
• Medium Dry (richer to golden colour)
• Full Cream (warm golden colour and is a little sweet)
• Old Brown (this is very dark brown almost like chocolate and is very sweet)
  

Port :
There are 4 different types of ports.
Cape Ruby Port is made from grapes which have been selected for their specific character of freshness and fruitiness. These are matured in large vats for 6 months. The ruby red colour is usually retained and so is the fruity character.

Cape Tawny Port is made from wines which have greater character and are matured in wood. The influence of the wood and larger degree of oxidation that takes place, results in the port becoming browner in colour as the port matures. You are not allowed to blend white and red port.

Cape Vintage Port is made from grapes of only one vintage. They select the best wine and it is matured in oak vats for a minimum of one year. After that the port is bottled and then aged in bottles for longer. The longer they have been matured in the bottle the better.

White Port is made from non-Muscat and Chenin Blanc in South Africa and due to the white grapes it lacks colour. This is matured in wooden casks of all different sizes for a minimum period of 6 months

Muscadel and Hanepoot:
Muscat dessert wines refer to the grape variety used. Muscat d Alexandrie and white or red muscadel have a very distinctive Muscat-type flavour and aroma to the wine. They have loads of fruit character. The areas that produce good muscat dessert wines in South Africa are the Klein Karoo, Robertson, Worcester, Montagu and Bonnievale.

Remember there are no hard-and-fast rules. These suggestions should be used for many exciting South African food and wine adventures. Boerewors needs a robust dry red wine like a Cabernet Sauvignon, or a blended red but remember you will be eating standing up and wreathed in smoke from the braai, so don’t go serving an expensive bottle with subtle nuances of flavor.

Traditional braai wines include old favourites like Tassenberg and Chateau Libertas. Mieliepap is our equivalent of the Italian polenta, so try a sturdy red wine as close to Chianti as you can get. A shiraz could be exactly right.

Biltong is very seldom served with wine. You may find it simpler to have it with a beer. If you are having wine, try a Pinotage. That’s a truly all South African combination.

Sosaties come in many guises, but they’re usually spiced with some curry flavours. You’d probably find a nicely chilled dry Rose makes a good match. Or go with a gewürztraminer or a crisp young Riesling.