Frequently asked questions about winemaking
What is the difference between reductive and oxidative winemaking?
In reductive winemaking the winemaker tries to keep oxygen away (stainless steel, cooling, sulphur dioxide), and the result is a fresh, fruity wine. In oxidative winemaking the wine is deliberately and carefully exposed to air, which gives it a deeper, nuttier, more honeyed and spicier character.
Why is red wine red, and how does orange wine come from white grapes?
The colour, the tannin and many aromas come from the grape skins, which is why red wine ferments together with its skins. If white grapes are treated the same way and fermented on the skins for days or months, the result is an amber or orange-coloured wine.
How is rosé made? Is it really a blend of white and red wine?
No. Rosé is made from black grapes, and its pale colour comes from the juice being in contact with the skins for only a short time. In the European Union, still rosé generally may not be made by blending white and red wine; the exception is sparkling rosé.
What is the difference between sparkling wine and pét-nat?
For traditional-method sparkling wine, sugar and yeast are added to the base wine, and the secondary fermentation and long lees ageing take place in the bottle. Pét-nat is bottled before the end of the first fermentation and usually receives no further sugar or yeast, so it is often cloudy, yeasty and raw in character.
What do brut, demi-sec and off-dry mean?
In sparkling wines, brut is dry (0–12 g/l residual sugar), while demi-sec is an off-dry category (32–50 g/l) that already means a noticeably sweet wine. In still wines, off-dry means at most 12 g/l of residual sugar (up to 18 g/l at a certain acidity), so the same term stands for a sweeter wine in sparkling wines.
What does puttonyos mean, and what is the difference between aszú and eszencia?
The puttonyos number is the old sweetness designation of Tokaji aszú: it showed how many puttonyos of aszú berries were added to one barrel of must. From the 2013 vintage every aszú must contain at least 120 g/l of residual sugar. Eszencia is the juice that drips from the aszú berries under their own weight, with at least 450 g/l of sugar, and its alcohol content is only a few percent.
