Winemaker

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A Winemaker is a person that is engaged in the occupation of making wine. They are generally employed by wineries or , where their work includes;

Cooperating with viticulturists
Monitoring the maturity of grapes to ensure their quality and to determine the correct time for harvest
Crushing and pressing grapes
Monitoring the settling of juice and the fermentation of grape material
Filtering the wine to remove remaining solids
Testing the quality of wine by tasting
Placing filtered wine in casks or tanks for storage and maturation
Preparing plans for bottling wine once it has matured
Making sure that quality is maintained when the wine is bottled

Today, these duties require an increasing amount of scientific knowledge, since laboratory tests are gradually supplementing or replacing traditional methods. Hence the vast majority of winemakers have, or are studying for, a Bachelor of Science degree (or similar) majoring in oenology. Winemakers can also be referred to as Oenologists as they study oenology - the science of wine.

Winemaking practices change over time, largely as a result of increasing scientific knowledge about the biochemical processes involved. They sometimes change in response to legislation.

Winemaking can also change as a result of evolving tastes and market demands. In recent decades wine critic Robert M. Parker, Jr.'s taste and judgments have greatly influenced wine markets. A high score from Parker can dramatically increase the price of a wine whereas a low score can make it difficult to sell the low-scoring wine.

Parker's tastes in wine have encouraged many winemakers to utilize such practices as cool fermentation, adding dry ice (solid carbon dioxide) during fermentation, injecting small amounts of oxygen during fermentation, using more new oak barrel ageing, and reducing the use of fining and filtering.

Sometimes changes in winemaking are region-specific. For example, historically, all fruit along with green stems and leaves went into fermenting tanks in Bordeaux, causing the wine's trademark bitterness. However, under Parker's influence, many vintners now carefully sort grapes to remove all rotten, diseased, unripe, or blemished berries.

Although based on natural processes, winemaking evolves in response to law, new knowledge, and market demands.

Source

Echikson, Tom. Noble Rot. NY: Norton, 2004

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Winemaker

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