The winemaker begins in the winter pruning. Here the old fruit tails are cut off. By nature, the vine is a liana plant that climbs on the trunks and spreading its shoots over the treetops. Such driving wild vines get only low yields and small, sour grapes. To obtain economically sufficient yields of good quality one must bring the vines through the incision into a cultural form, which also technically good work opportunities. By pruning is achieved that allows many sticks planted side by side, the number of good-quality grapes produce. Similarly, the cut is achieved by an early fertility of the vines, regular income and a relatively long lifetime.
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Too much rain and lack of sunlight encourage juice formation. The grapes are mature but not fully, the sugar content is low and the wrong kind of acid (malic acid) is high.

The result is often insufficient degree of alcohol and a pale color in red wine. The wine is thin, sour, with no balance and short-lived.
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The Cellar Vallebelbo, its foundation is one of the most important Italian cooperatives. Nobility and prestige derives from its natural basis: the 600 hectares of DOC vineyards located in the most prestigious wine regions of Piedmont: Langhe.

A wise management industry has not lost the relationship with the age-old tradition of this land. If the most sophisticated technology is the backbone of his latest establishment, the hall of Slavonian oak barrels for aging and the aging of red wines classics, is the heart of the tradition of this company.
Being the largest Italian manufacturers of Moscato d’Asti can also pride.
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Viognier, the rare white grape of France’s Rhône Valley, is one of the most difficult grapes to grow, But fans of the floral, spicy white wine are thrilled by its prospects in the south of France and the new world. So far most of the Viogners produced in the United States are rather one-dimensional, with an abundance of spiciness but less complexity than they should have. Still, there are a few bright spots.
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Spain’s major contribution to red wine, Tempranillo is indigenous to the country and is rarely grown elsewhere. It is the dominant grape in the red wines from Rioja and Ribera del Duero, two of Spain’s most important wine regions.

In Rioja, Tempranillo is often blended with Garnacha, Mazuelo and a few other minor grapes. When made in a traditional style, Tempranillo can be garnet-hued, with flavors of tea, brown sugar and vanilla. When made in a more modern style, it can display aromas and flavors redolent of plums, tobacco and cassis, along with very dark color and substantial tannins. Whatever the style, Riojas tend to be medium-bodied wines, offering more acidity than tannin.
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On its own or in a blend, this white can age. With Sauvignon Blanc, its traditional partner, this is the foundation of Sauternes and most of the great dry whites found in Graves and Pessac-Léognan; these are rich, honeyed wines,. Sémillon is one of the grapes susceptible to Botrytis cinerea. Australia’s Hunter Valley uses it solo to make a full-bodied white that used to be known as Hunger Riesling, Chablis or White Burgundy. In South Africa it used to be so prevalent that it was just called “wine grape,” but it has declined drastically in importance there.
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One of the world’s greatest white wine grapes, the Riesling vine’s hardy wood makes it extremely resistant to frost. The variety excels in cooler climates, where its tendency to ripen slowly makes it an excellent source for sweet wines made from grapes attacked by the noble rot Botrytis cinerea, which withers the grapes’ skin and concentrates their natural sugar levels.

Riesling is best known for producing the wines of Germany’s Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Pfalz, Rheinhessen and Rheingau wines, but it also achieves brilliance in Alsace and Austria. While the sweet German Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese wines, along with Alsace’s famed Selection de Grains Nobles, are often celebrated for their high sugar levels and ability to age almost endlessly, they are rare and expensive.
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Carignane

Also known as Carignane (California), Cirnano (Italy). Once a major blending grape for jug wines, Carignan’s popularity has diminished, and plantings have dropped from 25,111 acres in 1980 to 8,883 in 1994. It still appears in some blends, and old vineyards are sought after for the intensity of their grapes. But the likelihood is that other grapes with even more intensity and flavor will replace it in the future.
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Chile’s wineries have been geared for over a century to satisfy local tastes, but what sells at home–oxidized whites and simple, often dried-out reds–has little appeal to international markets. To make the fresh, fruity varietals now so popular in the United States, they have had to reorient the vineyards, reengineer the wineries and reeducate the winemakers and grape growers.

“Clonal selection. Microclimates. Appellations. No one really studied these things.” Fernando Almeda, 28, is the winemaker at Miguel Torres’ winery in Curicó, 150 miles south of Santiago. He transferred here from the principal Torres winery in Spain two years ago. “I volunteered to come because of the challenge. I love this country. We can do great things here.”
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The origins of the Port trade began in the 17th century, when wars with France deprived the British and Dutch of French wines. Both ventured up the rugged Douro River Valley for wines, but it wasn’t until the mid-18th century, when brandy was added to the traditional wines of the region to stabilize them for their journey across the seas, that modern Port began to take form.

Port today is a sweet fortified wine that is high in alcohol due to the addition of a neutral spirit during fermentation. After fermenting for two or three days, the grape must (the half-finished wine) receives a dose of neutral spirit distilled from grapes. The fortification stops fermentation by killing the active yeasts while leaving some of the unfermented sugars. The level of sweetness varies according to the shipper’s house style, but the alcohol level is generally about 20 percent.
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