Two bottles of Chardonnay sit in front of you: one from a stainless steel tank, one from a French oak barrel. Same grape, same vineyard, same year. A guest asks why one is £30 and the other £130, and why they taste nothing alike. The answer is entirely in what happened in the winery.
The shared spine
All wine is made the same way at heart: crush the grapes, ferment the sugar into alcohol with yeast, then mature and bottle. Every difference is a choice bolted onto that spine.
Making white wine
Grapes are pressed before fermentation, so the juice never sits with the skins. That is why whites are pale and have effectively no tannin.
| Choice | Cool fermentation (12–17°C) | Warm fermentation |
|---|---|---|
| Effect | Preserves delicate fruit and primary aromas | Fuller, less aromatic, more texture |
| Typical for | Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Riesling | Some barrel-fermented Chardonnay |
Making red wine
Grapes ferment with the skins, because skins are where colour and tannin live. Warm fermentation (20–32°C) extracts more of both. The longer the juice sits on skins, the deeper and more tannic the wine.
Making rosé
Three routes, and the guest almost never needs to hear the words, but you should know them:
- Short maceration — red grapes on skins for a few hours only. The best method, used in Provence.
- Direct pressing — press red grapes immediately; palest results.
- Blending — adding a little red wine to white. Legal in most places only for rosé Champagne.
The four style levers
1. Malolactic conversion (MLC). A bacterial process that turns sharp malic acid (green apple) into softer lactic acid (dairy). It gives a rounder, creamier wine and can add a buttery note. Almost all reds go through it. For whites it is a decision: Chardonnay usually yes; Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling usually blocked, because you want that crunchy acidity.
2. Oak. Oak does two jobs. It adds flavour — vanilla, clove, smoke, toast, coconut — and it allows a slow, gentle oxidation that softens the wine.
| New oak, small barrel | Old oak / large vessel | Steel / concrete | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flavour added | Strong vanilla, toast | Very little | None |
| Cost | High | Moderate | Low |
| Result | Rich, sweet-spiced | Texture, no obvious oak | Pure fruit |
3. Lees. The dead yeast cells left after fermentation. Leave the wine on them (sur lie) and stir them, and you get bready, biscuity, creamy notes and a fuller texture. Central to Muscadet, white Burgundy and Champagne.
4. Blending. Wines from different varieties, vineyards or vintages are blended to add complexity, balance a weakness, or hit a consistent house style year after year — which is exactly what non-vintage Champagne is for.
Reading the choices in the glass
- Vanilla, toast, smoke, coconut → oak
- Butter, cream, a soft feel → malolactic conversion
- Bread, biscuit, brioche → lees
- Bright pure fruit, high acid, no vanilla → cool ferment, steel, no MLC
Onboard Notes
- The "buttery Chardonnay" a guest loves or loathes is MLC plus new oak. You can now offer them the opposite without asking them to explain themselves.
- Steel-fermented, no-MLC whites are the safest fridge staple in hot weather: crisp, low alcohol, food-flexible.
- Never call oak flavour a fault. It is a deliberate, expensive decision — even when it is not to your taste.