How red wine is made

Red wines require skin contact during fermentation. The grape is destemmed (the stalks are removed) and lightly crushed. Skins, seeds and must ferment together, often in open concrete vats or closed stainless steel tanks at 25–32 °C. During fermentation the skins float to the surface and form a 'cap' that must be regularly broken up and mixed back into the must by pumping over (remontage) or punching down (pigeage). This contact extracts anthocyanins (red pigments) and tannins from the skins. The longer the maceration, the more colour and tannin. Once fermentation is complete the wine is pressed off from the skins and aged further. The press wine is more tannic and may be blended in varying proportions.