Una breve storia del vino

The history of wine has disasters too. In France, phylloxera was first recorded in 1863, and it spread fast. This parasite eats the roots. It killed the vines and destroyed the work of many people. The first “cures” did not work. Fear spread faster than any solution. The lasting solution came with grafting onto resistant rootstocks—a practice people still use all over the world today.

Science also changed wine, especially cleanliness and consistency. In the 1860s, Louis Pasteur studied wine spoilage and fermentation problems. He linked microbes to the problems and pushed for cleaner practices. Later, more cleanliness and temperature control reduced failures. Today wineries measure sugar, acidity, and temperature with special tools. They do not replace tasting, but they prevent unnecessary mistakes.

To understand how wine is made, imagine a whole year in the vineyard. In spring, buds open and shoots grow quickly. The flowers become small grape berries. In summer, the berries swell, soften, and change color. Sugar rises, acidity drops, and flavors develop slowly. People in the vineyard check heat, rain, and diseases, because everything changes ripening. The goal is balance—not only sweetness or high alcohol.

Harvest time, and especially when to harvest, is one of the most important decisions of the year. If you pick early, the wine can be acidic, light, or “green.” If you pick late, it can turn out heavy and tired. Some vineyards harvest by hand in small crates to protect the grapes. Others harvest with machines, often at night when the air is cooler. In any case, the grapes must arrive at the winery quickly, to stay fresh.

Then a calm but serious routine starts. They do the sorting: remove the leaves, remove the rotten parts, remove the damaged bunches. Depending on the style, the grape can be crushed or pressed whole. Pressing separates the juice from skins and seeds, and this choice changes bitterness, the feeling in the mouth, and aroma. A gentle pressing usually gives cleaner flavours than a strong, fast pressing. Producers choose the method based on the grapes they have in front of them.

Contact with the skins is the big difference between red wine and white wine. Most red wines ferment with the skins, and over time they take colour and tannin. Most white wines separate the skins immediately and ferment a clearer juice to keep freshness. Even red grapes often give a clear juice at first, because the colour is in the skins. In red wine, the skins rise and form a “cap”. Producers mix it or push it down to keep it wet, extract more, and protect fermentation. It seems simple. It is not. The right moment changes everything.

Fermentation is the living heart of the cellar. It is the moment when grape juice stops being “just juice” and starts to become wine. In a tank or in a vat, the yeast wakes up and starts to work. It eats the sugar and turns it into alcohol and gas. That gas can make bubbles or foam on the surface, like a quiet boil.