The best red wines

Today, excellent red wines are produced in Italy in all regions, including: Tuscany, Veneto and Piedmont, known and appreciated all over the world for their great reds. Each area is characterized by the production of products with different denominations such as: Brunello di Montalcino, Chianti, Amarone and Barolo just to name a few.

But how do you make red wine? Red wine is obtained from the fermentation of red grapes. During the maceration phase, the contact of the must with the pomace causes the substances contained in the skins (anthocyanins) and grape seeds to migrate to the liquid, thus giving the product an appropriate and distinctive color and aroma. The maceration can last more or less long, with a short maceration (5/6 days) we will have young wines that are very rich in color, because the anthocyanins are transferred to the must in the first few days, with a long maceration (about 20 days) we will obtain important wines with long aging. The long maceration is intriguing because to master it, analysis is not enough, it is necessary to taste, and this is the charm, the man who is in tune with the wine.

Now let's explain the main phases of red vinification. To start: destemming to remove the stalks and gently pressing the bunches. We move on to alcoholic fermentation by bringing the must and the pomace into contact; the yeasts multiply and begin fermentation, causing a tumultuous movement of the skins, which are pushed upwards by the formation of carbon dioxide developed by the transformation of sugars.

Folding: submerged fermentation and reassembly to avoid layering of the pomace at the top. The racking: the wine is separated from the lees and the pomace. After racking, the wine stays for a few days in tanks to remove all the solid parts. The malolactic fermentation that transforms malic acid into the more graceful lactic acid to soften the taste. The aging can be short (a few months) or long (a few years) depending on the product you want to obtain and the raw material used, namely the starting grape. The container in which the refinement takes place affects the final result.

Stainless steel tanks: used for short refinements, steel does not give and does not take away, it preserves the characteristics of the wine. Cement tanks: used for short and long refinements, cement respects the characteristics of the product, has good thermal insulation and the absolute absence of electrostatic currents. Wooden barrels: used for long refinements, where the product requires evolution and great final structure, the porosity of the wood ensures oxygenation and initiates a series of reactions that lead anthocyanins to bind with tannins, thus making the wine softer and with a more intense color.

Bottling takes place at the end of refinement, the minimum duration of which is established by the DOC regulations. For some wines there is a further refinement in the bottle, in this phase the refinement is called “reductive” because it takes place in the absence of oxygen. During this phase, the temperature, the type of cap, and any exposure to light are decisive for the formation of a pleasant bouquet. The product, once unglazed, is characterized by many shades of red that depend on the characteristics of the grape variety from which the grapes come, the aging method to which the wine is subjected and the area in which the vine