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Ever hear the old saying “Wine gets better with age”? That is what wine needs…time. Time to harvest the grapes. Time to crush them. Time to ferment. Shall I go on?

First of all, it takes time to even grow grapevines! Many apple growers in Washington State are discovering this as they have been tearing out their apple trees to plant grapes (have you noticed how low apple prices are?). They are taking their chances though, because where their apple trees were producing fruit, new grapes vines take between four and eight years to establish themselves and produce quality fruit. However, those Washington farmers who did make the leap of faith and plant grapes early on are now reaping huge rewards from the grape production. Those who are still struggling…have patience, wine supply still hasn’t met the demand and prices are still soaring because of that.

When the vine is producing quality fruit, you have to wait until the grapes ripen and attain the proper sugar levels before harvesting. Harvest grapes that don’t have the proper sugar levels and the acidity in them will surely make you pucker! Good winemakers know the exact time when to harvest for proper ripeness and balance of acid to fruit. The only way to do this is taste testing in the vineyards. And patience.

After attaining the proper ripeness and actually harvesting the fruit, the fresh grapes are gently collected into a large steel tank or huge oak barrel and then crushed. There are a few ways to crush the grapes. There are special machines with large screws that break the skins to gently crush the wine and the juice flows away (if it is a white wine) and there are machines that press the grapes to a flattened ("highly extracted") pulp. There are winemakers that even crush grapes using just the weight of the grapes themselves for the rarest drops! As mentioned above the white wine juice is completely removed from skin contact. Red wine juice stays in complete maceration (skin contact) for up to three weeks in the storage tank or barrel, requiring a little more patience.

Okay, the juice is crushed from the grape, now how does fermentation take place? Naturally, of course! Fermentation is a natural process that does not need human intervention at all, except for the above-mentioned steps. What happens in the miracle of fermentation is the natural yeasts on the grapes (or specific strains of yeast that the winemaker introduces) eat the sugars in the juice. They convert the sugars into some parts alcohol, and other parts carbon dioxide. The CO2 evaporates into the air. When the yeasts are done working, Voila! You have wine. But it does not happen overnight. The fermentation process can take three days to three weeks. More patience.

Are we done, can we drink our fermented wine now? Well yes, but it will be disgustingly gross, kind of like drinking fermented apple juice left in the ‘fridge too long. The fermented wine may now be blended with other Cuvées (wines/blends) to make a final Cuvée ready for aging in a steel tank or oak barrel to develop balance, depth, etc. Wine can be in the barrel for up to three, four or even five years. Historically, because it takes so long for the finished product to become available to the public, only the highest quality wines are in the barrel for that long. Even then the barrel product will taste different than the finished product.

In some areas of the world, wines that are finished and bottled still are not allowed to the public. Those areas require bottle age time, sometimes up to two years worth! Take for example the Brunello di Montalcino Riserva from Italy. This wine is required by Italian law to be barrel aged for 3.5 years, then aged in the bottle until total age is 5 years from harvest time. Granted, these are great wines, and in some vintages (’90, 95) can age for quite a few years. But so much time! Still more patience.

Time…is of the essence in wine. While it is one thing to buy wine and wait for it too fully mature to drink, it is another to just get it in the bottle. The steps given here are simplified: there is so much more activity than what is described here in modern winemaking--and it is not something that is rushed. So, when you are opening your next bottle of wine, remember the time it took and the patience the winemaker exercised to develop the wine. You may find yourself enjoying that  wine just a little bit more!

Andrew Campbell is Executive Editor for WineSquire.com

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