What do wine makers do different to make red wine ‘red’, and white wine ‘white’?
allielea asked:
I want to know what they do to make white wine and what they do to make red wine. It may sound daft, but i’ve heard two different explanations and would like the truth. thanks.
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I want to know what they do to make white wine and what they do to make red wine. It may sound daft, but i’ve heard two different explanations and would like the truth. thanks.
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July 15th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
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I always thought red wine was made from purple grapes, and white wine from green grapes. I’m interested to hear the 2nd explanation you got.
July 16th, 2009 at 3:51 am
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July 19th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
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White wine has had “minimal contact” with the grapeskins during fermentation compared with red wine. The variety of grapes also makes a difference. Some “experts” have recently been fooled into thinking they were drinking a red wine, when in fact it was a white wine dyed red!
July 20th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
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Yeah, I always thought it was based on the type of grapes used as well.
July 23rd, 2009 at 2:38 am
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There are different grapes that make each wine. Sometimes it is also a matter of how they are fermented and how long they are stored, but the white versus red relies on the grape.
July 23rd, 2009 at 9:21 am
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You can make white wine from red grapes but not the other way round.To make red wine,you need to leave the red skin on for a longer period which releases color and tanning.It is the skins that give red wine color,but if they are pressed too early ,you will only get white wine.
July 25th, 2009 at 1:28 am
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Red wine gets the color from the skin of black/red grapes. White wines are made without using the skins.
The juice of virrtually all wine grapes is clear. Squeeze the grapes, throw away the skins and ferment the juice and you have white wine.
Ferment black grapes with their skins and you get red wine, then you press the by now red juice from the skins and throw away the skins.
To get pink wine, ferment black grapes with their skins for a very short time (say around 12 hours) then you press the juice from the skins and throw away the skins and you get pink wine.
If anyone doubts that you get white wine from black grapes, buy a bottle of Champagne. All Champagne that is not labelled ‘Blanc de Blancs’ is made from the black grapes Pinot Noir & Pinot Meunieur maybe with Chardonnay
July 26th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
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Many of the comments made are quite correct. Remember that most of the aroma and taste of the grape is in the skin so almost all grapes are left after picking for at least 24 hours skin contact time to allow those flavors to absorb into the grape.
The grapes are then skinned or left with the skins on – depending on the wine to be made – and sent to the winepress for juice extraction.
But the process of making red wine is usually more lengthy and complicated to making white – and I’m speaking in very general terms because some white wines are quite complex.
It becomes even more confusing because the color of the grape sometimes has nothing to do with the color of the wine. Juice from red and white wines can be mixed to achieve a particular wine flavor that is needed by the producer.
Visit for more information and there is a very good wine guide that will answer your questions at