In the previous chapter, we presented an inventory of the equipment necessary to make wine at home. Once these items have been obtained, it is time to buy the must1 best suited to your purposes. Some amateurs like to drink their wine as soon as possible, while others prefer to wait a year before opening their first bottle.
Whichever course you decide upon, we strongly recommend that you seek advice from an experienced retailer of must. He or she will be able to tell you which must is appropriate for making a wine that matures early, or a wine that will be much better after a certain amount of aging. The essential thing is that you be aware of all the possibilities open to you, as there are several different ways that you can make your wine.
In this chapter, we will present an overview of the musts available. We will pay particular attention to the methods of concentrating the juice, and with good reason: if home wine-making has grown by leaps and bounds over the last fifty years, it is due to the technique of concentration, which allows a wide variety of musts to travel across the world without spoiling or fermenting.
Concentrated musts were the first to become generally available to home winemakers, who were previously limited to buying whole fresh wine grapes at the market in October. The high demand by a more knowledgeable clientele has incited the producers of concentrated musts to develop an increasingly sophisticated technology to improve their product.
A refrigerated tanker truck carrying fresh must.
Since the arrival and increasing popularity of brew-on-premises wine stores (in Ontario, for example, there are now hundreds of these facilities), companies are producing much more representative concentrates and semi-concentrates. These have continued to occupy a larger share of the market than sterilized and fresh musts which can be transported by refrigerated tanker trucks to points of sale right after harvest.
The technique of concentrating must has been practised for more than 100 years. This process allows the must to be preserved for a period long beyond the grape harvest season. The preserved musts can be transported to other localities or other countries, where they are diluted with purified water and fermented to become wine.
Over the last thirty years, there has been considerable progress in developing more sophisticated techniques to preserve the inherent character of the grapes. This technology has progressed from boiling directly over a fire or a heating element to a very complex process that works by osmosis.
The earliest method used to concentrate grape must simply consisted in boiling the must until a large part of the water contained in it had evaporated.
The concentrated must obtained by this method could be more easily transported than in its more voluminous original state. Concentrate was also easier to transport because the pasteurization that occurred during boiling prevented any possibility of unwanted fermentation. The concentrated must could therefore be kept until the winemaker decided to start the fermentation process.
The practice of this simple and natural concentration technique produced certain side-effects intrinsic to the method, that is, the high temperature required to boil the must resulted in “burn” (or caramelization). The wines made from this type of must could unfortunately be distinguished from traditionally-produced wines by their “burnt” taste, eventually discouraging a good number of amateur winemakers who were disappointed by the results.
To minimize the caramelization effect, engineers invented a way to boil the must under a partial vacuum. This allows evaporation to occur at lower temperatures, thus considerably decreasing the burn phenomenon. Also, the juice is sprayed onto the heated walls of the boiler to make the evaporation occur more rapidly than it does in ordinary boiling. The steam is evacuated by vacuum pressure, leaving only the concentrate. By obtaining the appropriate relationship between the vacuum pressure and the temperature of the must, it is possible to produce a concentrate (the volume being reduced from 4.5 litres to 1 litre!) with a much less discernible caramel taste. This technique is clearly superior to simple boiling. However, these products should not be purchased with blind confidence, as certain types of vacuum apparatus are more effective than others. In fact, vacuum-evaporation techniques have considerably evolved since they were first tried; therefore, a concentrated must made with more recently-developed technology will probably be a better bet than concentrates made with older systems.
Concentration by Cryogenization
Concentration by cryogenization has been practised for several years now and has produced excellent results. In this technique, the temperature of the must is lowered, turning the water in the must into ice which can then be removed, leaving only the concentrated must. The idea of proceeding in reverse, by freezing instead of heating the must, was a stroke of genius. The caramelization factor is completely eliminated and as a bonus, the full bouquet of the wine is protected! The fly in the ointment: the high cost of this process is transferred to the retail price of the must. Therefore, not many of these musts are sold on the market, precisely because of their prohibitive production costs.
Another method which has proved successful in conserving the natural flavours of the must is concentration by osmosis. This technique simply relies on pressure. The must is blocked by a low-porosity filter which allows only the water to pass through it. This same technique of concentration by osmosis, which is by no means new, is used in concentrating the raw maple sap collected to make maple syrup. In the case of wine, the higher acid content has made it necessary to carry out major and extremely complex technological modifications to this basic technique.
The results have been quite impressive, although in this concentration method as well as in the preceding one, the high costs of the procedure (with the resulting undesirable trickle-down effect on retail prices) have caused winemakers to adopt a wait-and-see strategy, in hopes that the prices will go down. Several companies now produce osmosis-concentrated musts, offering a nice selection of Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and other varietals.
When it is concentrated by osmosis, the must loses almost none of its inherent character, even if a few precautions must be taken to maintain its balance, and to protect it against the proliferation of bacteria. This concentration technique appears to be the most promising one, as long as production costs can be brought down within reasonable limits.
The Availability of Concentrated Musts
There are presently a large variety of concentrated musts on the market. Most of these, as explained above, have been concentrated by one of the evaporation methods, and techniques vary considerably from one company to another. How can you find your way in all of this? It is best to rely on the advice of your winemaking retailer, and also, on the infallible method of trial and error.
In any case, you should read all you can about the different types of must available, to have a better idea of the value of the respective products before making your choice.
Straight Concentrate Format Kits
For a long time, the 3-litre format has been considered the standard volume for concentrated must, and it has certainly been the most popular one for many years. It contains 3 litres (100 oz.) of concentrate at a rate of 4 ½ to 1. The concentrated must is usually packaged directly by the producer at its place of origin. At the standard concentration rate, three litres will allow you to make between 19 and 23 litres of wine2 . If you do not add as much water as directed, your wine will have too much body and tannin, but if you stretch it beyond 23 litres3 the wine will be thin and insipid.
It is important to know that this kind of concentrate (sold in a metal container, or in a plastic bag inside a box) is not balanced in acids and sugar, and therefore, you will have to carry out those operations yourself. You will also have to procure the necessary packets of additives (clarifiers, stabilizer, etc.), as well as approximately 2 kilos (4.4 lbs.) of sugar to be able to produce a wine with an alcohol content of about 12%. Full instructions are usually provided with the concentrate.
The first time that concentrated must was sold to the public, it was in this format. Even if a bit more work is required and the margin of error is greater, wines produced from this product continue to amaze us. Experienced winemakers can use it with full confidence and experiment with their own blends.
The home winemaker can also procure a 3-litre format kit, containing all the elements needed to produce the wine. This type of kit usually contains the ingredients listed below, although (b) is not always included.
a) the concentrated must;
b) a packet containing the acids and tannin to balance the must;
c) yeast;
d) one or two clarifying agents;
e) a stabilizing agent.
When (b) is included,, the winemaker does not have to worry about the acidity (the pH level), because the balancing has already been worked out. Besides the basic equipment shown in the preceding chapter of this book, the only thing needed is to add the purified water and sugar to the must in the proportions indicated in the directions.
Buying a kit makes the winemaking process even easier, especially when the balancing process is taken care of, and the demand for this product has overtaken the demand for concentrate sold by itself.
Here too, the results have often been quite astonishing, giving full satisfaction to winemakers who have become enthusiastic converts.
The 5 or 5.5-Litre (200 - 250 oz.) Format Kit
In this kit, the degree of concentration is weaker than in the preceding formats. Already balanced in sugar and tannins, this concentrate comes in a plastic bag (inside a cardboard box). The customary additives (yeast, clarifiers and stabilizers) are included, with directions for use. In both the 5-litre and the 5.5-litre format, the concentrate will produce 23 litres of wine. It is available in a wide range of grape varieties (eg. Cabernet Sauvignon and Chenin Blanc) and wine types (eg. Burgundy, Chianti, Valpolicella, etc.).
All musts can acquire a hint of oak aging with the addition of oak chips or essence.
Making wine with these kits is a relatively simple operation, as you just have to add purified water and follow the steps that are very clearly explained in the directions. The quality of each type of concentrate is reflected in its retail price, which varies considerably from one brand to the next, and from one grape variety or blend to another. Some concentrates have been kept at low temperatures and must be made into wine as soon as they are taken out of refrigeration, whereas others may stay at room temperature for months without any problem.
The results can be remarkable: the quality of the wines made from these products—especially if care is taken in the production process, and if they are allowed to age adequately—often surpasses that of the non-appellation wines available on the market.
In building up a supply of wine, the amateur winemaker will obtain good results from this product: wines that are easily prepared, reliable, and well-liked. Many types of wine prepared in this manner can be drunk almost right after bottling, but all of them will improve by aging for a few months, and can be kept for about three years, depending of course on factors such as how the wine is bottled, the type of cork used, and the temperature that the wine is stored at.
The term “semi-concentrate” refers to concentrated must to which pasteurized (sterilized) must has been added. Semi-concentrates come in plastic bags (inside attractive cardboard boxes or plastic pails); they are recent arrivals on the market, and have been selling very successfully.
The recipe is simple: pure sterilized must is added to the concentrate to heighten the bouquet of the wine that will be made from it. The quantity added varies among the different producers, and is usually a closely-guarded secret. The proportion of sterilized must present determines whether just a small amount, or no sugar at all will be added when making the wine from the concentrate. Semi-concentrates are available in 10-litre and 18-litre formats with additives included. The wine-maker only has to add the required quantity of purified water to produce 23 litres of wine, depending on the degree of concentration.
It is very easy to make wine from semi-concentrates: along with the simple addition of water, the directions are not at all complicated, and good wine can be made with a minimum of time and effort.
The wines made from the 18-litre format are more complex than those produced from the 10-litre format; several can be drunk right after bottling, and all of them age well. Due to the addition of the unadulterated grape must, some of these wines develop an extraordinary flavour and bouquet after aging for a year or so. They will keep well from two to four years if aged in an appropriate cellar.
In this category as well, quality and price closely correspond: the more you pay, the greater the probability that you will be buying a better-quality product. For the best choice according to your needs, we again advise you to consult your winemaking specialist. It cannot be denied: generally speaking, semi-concentrates are superior to plain concentrates in flavour and in quality, depending, of course, on the standards and conscientiousness of the companies that produce them.
Originally developed by the Mosti Mondiale company a few years ago, sterilized musts have proven their worth. Also referred to as pasteurized musts, they are sold in a 23-litre format and are more expensive than concentrates and semi-concentrates. However, they generally make better-quality wine.
The advantage of sterilized must is that it is always available. Moreover, it is completely whole and natural. Nothing has been added to it; it has simply been sterilized and balanced with products that are found naturally in wine, such as tartaric acid and tannin. It is also colour-enhanced naturally with pigment obtained from tinting grapes.
Winemakers who appreciate sterilized must are usually willing to spend a bit more for a product which is not only better quality, but which does not have to undergo the malolactic fermentation stage as fresh grapes and fresh musts do. Thus, the amateur of sterilized must aims for superior quality “within a reasonable delay,” as the wines made from it can be drunk younger than wine made from whole grapes or from unsterilized fresh must.
The results are very satisfactory.
Available in 20- and 23-litre formats, fresh refrigerated musts have radically changed the home winemaking scene since they appeared on the market almost twenty years ago. They are 100 % fresh musts that have already been balanced and inoculated with selected yeast. Therefore, they are ready for fermentation without further ado.
Refrigerated just near their freezing point, these musts start to ferment as soon as they lose their chill. Of all the types of must available, this one is the closest to whole grapes, but without the inconvenience and expense of crushing and pressing, as all the grape residue has been removed.
Fresh musts can produce spectacular results.
Fresh refrigerated musts are not sterilized, so they may eventually undergo malolactic fermentation. This fermentation stage must be properly dealt with if you do not want the corks to shoot out of their bottles during the aging process! (Explanations of the malolactic fermentation stage are found in Chapters 2 and 6 of this book.)
Fresh musts are available mainly in the autumn when the wine grapes are harvested, but they can be found throughout the year if producers feel that there is a sufficient demand for them. Musts from some grape varieties sell out very quickly, while others remain available much longer.
Although making wine from fresh must requires a little more care, the results can be of quite exceptional quality (although some years are better than others, of course). Many winemakers swear by this form of must, as they have found it most rewarding.
Another appreciable advantage of fresh musts: because they have not gone through the pasteurization process, they generally cost a bit less than the sterilized musts.
Home winemaking beginning from whole grapes is still very popular, particularly among North Americans of Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, or Greek origin, many of whom have fairly elaborate production systems at home. Unfortunately, the resulting wine is often harsh or semi-sparkling, mainly because archaic techniques are used. Winemaking according to the time-honoured traditional method requires considerable know-how and equipment, as well as good, mature grapes. An amateur winemaker who cannot distinguish among the many varieties of grapes available is in danger of being greatly disappointed when the first bottle is opened. We will not beat around the bush: wait until you have quite a lot of skill and experience behind you before trying to make wine this way. Even old hands occasionally suffer bitter reversals in this delicate art.
None the less, Chapter 6 of this book does offer instruction and advice in the art of winemaking with whole grapes.
The quality of a must mainly depends on the grapes that go into it. We can easily imagine that the makers of concentrated, sterilized, or fresh musts do their utmost to provide the best possible product in order to satisfy an increasingly discriminating clientele.
Naturally, these producers would like nothing better than to offer their customer musts made from the most prestigious Burgundy or Bordeaux grapes, at competitive prices. Unfortunately, not only these classic varieties, but French wine grapes in general are the most difficult to obtain. In France, national laws established to protect the wine industry set quotas for vintners: grapes that surpass the quota must go to growers’ cooperatives where they are mixed with other varieties. Thus, buyers of grapes for must never have access to the top-name French varieties, but are only able to buy “generic” regional varieties, which are in fact a blend of several grape varieties. This is why you will never see the names of the great French vineyards on commercial must containers.
Laws are less strict in other wine-producing countries, allowing dealers of must to buy their raw material from among the classic grape varieties. Producers have seized the occasion, and therefore more good-quality single-variety musts are becoming available to home winemakers.
This choice exists, but it is far from being the norm. The majority of the must-seller’s stock consists of generic grapes bought wholesale on the different world markets. The producer has to do what he or she can with them to produce the best quality of must possible in the circumstances. To offset the homogenizing effect of a mixture of grape varieties and to create a distinctive type of must, some oenological experts add the extract of certain fruits (peach, pear, and raspberry, for example), or resort to what practically amounts to a breach of ethics in wine production: the addition of artificial flavouring.
The expert faced with the task of blending different types of concentrated must strives to achieve a blend which will give predictable and consistent results. A must can be said to produce a wine resembling a Burgundy or an Alsace wine, for example. The term “type” often occurs in the names of commercialized must: “Burgundy type” or “Bordeaux type” clearly specifies that the wine made from that must should taste like a wine from that particular region, or even like a particular varietal from that region. The fact is, however, the must is probably not made from that variety of grapes at all, but from grapes from different parts of the world which have been blended to make the resulting wine taste as if it has been made from that variety.
There are musts available which are identified by the name of a single variety, for example, “Cabernet Sauvignon,” “Chardonnay,” or “Riesling”. This means that the must in question is constituted wholly or partially of the grape variety marked on the container. The problem is that there are no laws, either in Canada or in the United States, requiring that the must be constituted wholly of the grape variety marked on the label. Thus, a producer can perfectly well label a must a Cabernet Sauvignon, when the must in question only contains 40% of that variety!
In the area of naming commercial brands of must, there exists a lamentable no-man’s-land in the legislation which governmental authorities are not in hurry to fill up. Apparently, they prefer to leave amateur winemakers in doubt so as not to overly encourage artisanal production and self-sufficiency in this area! In spite of this loophole in labelling regulations, the majority of must-producers hold to a voluntary ethical standard, ensuring that at least half of the contents corresponds to the variety indicated on the label. This is better than nothing, but it is still not good enough. The company selling the must should at least clearly mark the percentage of the advertised variety with respect to the other grape types blended into it. In any case, we are well aware that it is almost impossible to find a must containing 100 % of a classic variety for sale in a winemaking store. This is logical, given the fact that even the appellation contrôlée wines as well as the vins délimités de qualité supérieure (the second rank of appellations in France) contain a proportion of assemblage wines which reaches 25 % in many cases. Aren’t the grands crus elaborated with a certain proportion of less noble varietals? For example, the greatest Bordeaux red, first-growth Château Lafite Rothschild, is composed of 70 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 5 % Cabernet Franc, 20 % Merlot, and 5 % Petit Verdot grapes. As for Châteauneuf du Pape, it is made from up to 13 varieties! Assemblage4 is such an accepted practice that even the State of California, while upholding puritanical standards in many other aspects of the wine industry, has surrendered to it. The great California wines (Mondavi, Joe Heitz, Beaulieu, Ridge Vineyards) are now allowed to be assembled as long as they contain a minimum 75 % of the variety indicated on the label.
In truth, the blending of musts is a felicitous practice which can correct inherent defects in the mainstay variety (deficient tannin, too much astringency, a too-pale colour, etc.) and is of benefit to all concerned when it is carried out with inspired intuition, intelligence and precise care.
The quality of home-made wine is directly related to the value of its ingredients. Thus, to be able to sell kits at low prices, the quality of the concentrate is sacrificed, or part of the concentrate is replaced by colouring and sugar. In this domain, as in most others, there are no miracles, just as there is no substitute for good quality. This is why we advise our readers to always choose the best. It will cost you an average of 25 or 50 cents more per bottle, but you will be infinitely more satisfied. In any case, you need to be careful. To give an example, some companies sell sterilized musts that have been adulterated, partially or totally. That is, these musts are not 100% pure, but are composed of reconstituted concentrated must. Therefore, you should always read the labels attentively and consult your retailer to know about the processing methods involved. It would be ludicrous to pay a higher price for what is simply a concentrate to which the producer has added water; you can carry out the same operation yourself and pay less!
An additional quality criteria for concentrated must should be its age. Heavy in sugar and acidity, concentrates have a limited conservation time, depending on storage temperatures. You shouldn’t be surprised to discover that there is a marked difference in flavour between a wine made from fresh concentrate and one made from concentrate which has been allowed to sit on the shelf too long. Producers of must have begun to indicate production dates, although on a voluntary basis; with luck, you should be able to a start with a truly fresh base for your personal vintage.
To be able to choose the appropriate kind of must for your needs, it is best to become familiar with winemakers’ supply shops, which are fortunately becoming more common in most cities and towns. There, amateurs will obtain top information about the different brands and types of musts, as well as good practical advice about most other aspects of home winemaking. The customer can ask questions and take notes on what the retailer has to say about each product. We recommend that you avoid large supermarkets, department stores, and discount megastores when buying must, as you may only obtain incomplete and vague information from salespeople who are not experts in this domain.
Of course, every winemaker has his or her own individual criteria. Those who want to make table wines that can be drunk as young as possible will have a choice among several brands and types of concentrated must which will give them satisfaction.
On the other hand, more patient amateurs who prefer to take the additional time necessary to obtain a richer and more complex wine are advised to look into semi-concentrated, sterilized, or fresh musts. They will have to pay more and wait longer, but it will be worth the trouble.
The Lifespan of Home-Made Wine
Home-made wine, just like the table wines sold in stores, does not last anything near the length of time that the finest wines do.
This is understandable: the home wine market consists mainly of people who want to drink their wine within a reasonably short time (with many among them finding it impossible to wait until their production reaches full maturity before trying a bottle!).
These home winemakers do not want to increase the amount of tannin in their must; on the contrary, they would rather try to attenuate its effects in a wine intended for drinking very young. The consequence of this approach is that home-made wines meant for drinking young cannot age as long as fine wines, which have a much higher tannin content than wines destined for everyday consumption. In fact, in the case of most of the commercially available first-growth wines, it is not advisable to drink them until 5 or 10 years after bottling.
To give winemakers a more precise idea of the maturation times of wines made from the different types of must (concentrated, semi-concentrated, sterilized, or fresh), we have included a Wine Maturation Graph (on The Fermentation Stage: A Very Complex Phenomenon). You will notice that wine made from concentrates has a shorter lifespan than wine made from whole must. This is due to two factors. The first factor concerns the wine’s body: wines made from concentrate, precisely because they have been reconstituted, have a less complex particle balance and a lower proportion of solid matter than wines made from pure must. The other factor relates to the alcohol content: most of the wines made from concentrates are meant for drinking young (like the “28-day” concentrate kits); because of this, they contain less alcohol, a component which contributes positively in the aging of wine. For these reasons, wines made from concentrated musts have a shorter drinking life (from 10 months to three years after fermentation) than those made from sterilized musts (one to four years). As for wines made from fresh must, their lifespan is even longer, from one to five years, on the average.
In the Wine Maturation Graph on the facing page, a horizontal line cuts through the curves showing the respective life spans of wines made from the different types of must. This line is referred to as the Tasting Limit: its first intersection with the curves indicates the minimum maturing time before opening the first bottle of wine made from each particular type of must. The second intersection (with the same curves) represents the maximum time that the wine made from that type of must can be safely stored without losing its flavour or even becoming undrinkable.
As seen in the Maturation Graph, home-made wine can be drunk as early as two months after fermentation (although it is always better to wait for three months). This minimal standard applies to all wines, except those made from fresh must, which can only be drunk after six months of maturation. That said, all home-made wines taste better after one year of aging. It is at the one-year mark (as shown in the Graph) that they reach their full degree of maturity. In the case of wine made from fresh and sterilized must, this plateau lasts longer, and the optimum tasting period can be delayed, as these wines continue to improve for two years and even longer.
It should be noted that wines made from fresh must have a longer life than those made from the other forms of must, often going beyond five years.
Wine Maturation Graph
Another important factor to consider is that the Graph is based on wine stored at the ideal temperature (between 10°C and 15°C, or 50°F - 59°F) and at a normal humidity rate. It is also presumed that the bottling has been carried out after proper sulphiting and that corks of the appropriate type have been used. If your wine is kept in an apartment at room temperature, its lifespan will be somewhat shorter, as warmer temperatures accelerate the wine’s maturation as well as its subsequent decline.
1. A reminder that the term “must” refers to grape juice destined for fermentation. It may or may not contain skins and stems.
2. You may notice that the amount of water to be added is greater than the quantity that was removed from the must in the concentration process. It was found that if the must was reconstituted with the same proportion of water, the wine produced had too much body and was overly tannic.
3. For the equivalents in Imperial and U.S. measures, see Precision Test.
4. The term “assemblage wines” applies to wines made from different varieties grown in the same vineyard, whereas blending is the result of mixing grapes grown in different vineyards, regions, countries, or even continents.