A good cider maker is much like a good winemaker. They should possess expert apple-growing knowledge, from soil types to apple varieties, as well insights into every aspect of the cider-making process, from harvesting and blending to fermenting and bottling. While some production methods might vary from cider maker to cider maker, the process is fairly standard across the board. The following is a general guide to how commercial ciders are made.

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The First Steps After Harvest

Apples picked directly from the tree are not necessarily ready to be immediately pressed for cider. The fruit benefits greatly from sweating—a process in which apples are stored on a clean surface so air can flow freely between them. This allows the fruit to lose some of its moisture, which concentrates sugars and softens the fruit’s texture. This greatly helps during the grinding process. Ideally, apples will be soft enough that a firm press from a finger can indent the flesh.

Before making juice, the cider makers will first sanitize their equipment and the apples themselves. A simple, weak solution of bleach and water or non-toxic cleanser is used on the fruit-filled pallets and equipment and then rinsed with clean water. The apples are then picked over; any moldy or rotten specimens are removed, along with twigs, leaves and other organic material. Then they get a hearty shower with clean water.

Larger operations will use conveyor systems with high-powered spray nozzles to remove dirt and other unwanted contaminants. Smaller operations, on the other hand, might use tanks or tubs to dunk the apples, making sure the fruit bobs to the surface. If it falls to the bottom, it’s generally a sign of spoilage and is discarded, generally for compost.

Picking the Blend

It’s at this stage of the process that the cider maker will blend different apple varieties to create a desired flavor combination. The British have classified cider apples into four categories that include sweet (like Gala and Honeycrisp), bittersweet (such as Yarlington Mill), sharp (Crimson King and Harrison) and bittersharp (Kingstone Black and Stoke Red). Some of these varieties serve a dual purpose—they are both suitable for cider production and eating raw—while others are grown specifically for the purpose of making cider. Cider makers pick and choose the percentage of each apple variety that will comprise the final bottled cider before the varieties are mixed and grinded together.

Grinding and Pressing the Pomace

Cider makers long ago discovered the benefit of grinding apples into a pulp, known as pomace. Even after they’ve been sweated, apples are often thick and difficult to press while still whole. An apple grinder does just what the name suggests: Whole apples—seeds and pips included—are fed into a shaft where stainless-steel blades, knives and prongs slice, dice and macerate the fruit into uniform pieces. This process is also known as milling or crushing.

After grinding, the pomace is moved to a press. Some cideries will immediately press the cider, while others will choose to wait for a short period of time—at least 15 minutes, but up to one day in the case of some English or French recipes—to let the pomace oxidize, which causes it to darken in color. This will later translate to the color of the finished, packaged product. Then the pomace is pressed, extracting the liquid juice—often referred to as must—from the solids.

Fermentation and Racking

Fresh-pressed cider does not become hard cider until yeast has the chance to consume its sugars and convert them into alcohol. Once the cider has been pressed and aged to the maker’s specifications, it is transferred to fermentation vessels for this to occur.

Larger operations will use stainless-steel fermentation vessels that are measured by barrel size. Smaller operations might use plastic fermentation vessels or even carboys, which are glass jugs that resemble water cooler bottles. They have a seal at the neck that allows the carbon dioxide (a yeast byproduct) to escape.

Some producers choose to barrel-age their ciders, which infuses offerings with the flavor and aroma of the wood. If the barrels once held whisky, those pleasing flavors will become a part of the final product as well.

Once the juice is brought to a cool, suitable temperature, yeast is added to create hard cider. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a strain of yeast that has proven most effective in converting sugars into alcohol. Cider makers can choose from a vast library of Saccharomyces cerevisiae that are most often used for making beer or wine, but also work quite well with ciders.

After all this is done, the cider gets racked. The term “racking” simply means to place elsewhere. Once the cider has finished its primary fermentation, sediment that has gathered at the bottom of the vessel (the lees) is siphoned away from the liquid and is transferred—meaning racked—to another vessel. This could be a bottle, a secondary fermentation tank or a storage container.

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Filtration and Carbonation

Although lees are generally always removed from the liquid, cider is still naturally hazy. More and more often these days, you’ll find naturally hazy ciders for sale. Still, many cider makers—and customers—prefer a clear beverage in which bubbles can be seen rising from the bottom of the glass.

To achieve this look, cider must be filtered. There are several different options available to cider makers, including cyclone filtration, which uses media like diatomaceous earth or natural filtration to cause sediment to gather at the bottom of a vessel. The clarified cider is removed without disturbing the organic material left behind.

As for carbonation? While yeast does indeed create CO2 as a byproduct of fermentation, it is often very little and not the tongue-scrubbing bubbles that many look for in cider (or beer, or Champagne). During secondary fermentation, before packaging, many cider makers will force carbonate, which involves forcing CO2 into the liquid.

Getting It Ready for Market

Packaging can come in many forms these days. Bottles are a natural choice, but draft cider is becoming increasingly common in the U.S. So is canned cider, much thanks to the craft beer movement.

Certainly, the consumer isn’t hurting for choices. These days, whether it’s a sweet and bubbly new-school cider or one that harkens back to ancient traditions, there are plenty of options at the ready. Interested in picking some up? Here are some of our favorite ciders to drink right now.

The post How Hard Cider Is Made appeared first on Wine Enthusiast.

Will the drink contain citrus juice, zest, oils or just something decorative in the glass that won’t affect the balance of the cocktail itself? Depending on the bar, “with a twist” might get you a wedge, a wheel, a strip, a spiral or maybe even a dehydrated disk that’s as beautiful—and about as edible—as a stained-glass window. And, if it is, in fact, imparting flavor, is this garnish actually helping the cocktail or could it be hurting the end result? Let’s dig in.

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To Twist or Not to Twist?

“Twists are great for classic martinis, which benefit from the oils. [They] subtly flavor the rim,” says Gustavo Zamora, bar manager at Oceans and Carlotto in New York City. “But sometimes they can harm the drink; if they get inside the glass and stay there too long, they add another profile note that isn’t needed.”

It’s true: The bitterness of pith, the cottony white layer between the peel and flesh of citrus fruit, can throw a cocktail off balance. But as long as the twist (also called a citrus curl or citrus spiral) sits on the edge of the glass, the oils can be expressed without the pith macerating in the glass.

“Garnishes can add color, taste and texture when used properly, but personally, I’m careful when garnishing each cocktail,” says Zamora. For example, he opts for a twist rather than a wedge in a “skinny” margarita, “because it already has a tart profile.” In contrast, he goes for a lime slice or wedge for a classic margarita “since they’re a bit more on the sweeter side and it adds freshness.” In a Negroni, an orange peel balances the booze-forward cocktail, he continues, while the oils brighten and enhance the notes of the Campari. For an Old Fashioned, “I do ‘bunny ears’—orange and lemon twists—since it’s a booze-forward cocktail that welcomes a subtle citrus note without overwhelming it.” As for sodas and tonics? He garnishes with lime and lemon wedges respectively, “to add both flair and flavor.”

How to Make a Twist

Fortunately for the at-home mixologist, a proper lemon twist and other citrus garnishes are easy to produce and aren’t much harder than peeling a carrot.

“Make twists or slices when you don’t want to add more juice to an already balanced drink, like a classic daiquiri,” says Angel Bautista, head bartender at Houston’s Andiron. “I enjoy using a potato [vegetable] peeler, as it offers great dexterity and helps me to make a lot of quick cuts more safely than I can just using a knife.”

That said, Bautista also knows the value of a good four-inch paring knife. “It’s sometimes an overlooked tool because of its size, but it’s one of my favorites because I can make small, precise cuts for smaller details on garnishes, and I can also clean up any harsh cuts made from the potato peeler.”

And this is where specialty bar tools can come in handy. “I definitely recommend a channel knife, especially for a home bar, as it’s easy to control and makes consistent clean cuts,” explains Bautista. “I would also recommend pinking shears, which are a super easy way to make a decorative edge on small cuts of citrus peel.”

3 Ways To Make a Lemon Twist

1. Channel Knife

This is an inexpensive product that essentially exists to make citrus twists. It makes thin strips with just enough pith to hold their shape and not break when you try to extract their oils. Make strips as long or short as you want—four inches is usually best. Then use a paring knife to clean up any excess pith or rough edges, if necessary. Twist strips into a spiral with your hands or wrap them around a chopstick or straw. Hold it tightly for at least a few seconds, which will help it hold its shape.

2. Vegetable Peeler

This tool is good for wider and more rustic twists, where expressing the oils over the drink is a priority. Carefully, and with steady pressure, peel thick strips from the lemon; usually going end-to-end works better than around the middle, because there’s less risk of the strip breaking as you peel. Use a paring knife to straighten the edges, if desired, and twist into a spiral with your hands or around a chopstick or straw.

3. Paring Knife

Using a paring knife is a fool-proof method good for when you want to make several twists in advance. The only downside is that the lemons become less juiceable than in the previous two methods, which leave the fruit whole. Cut thin (about 1/4 inch) slices from the middle of the lemon (each lemon’s twist yield will vary with its size). Lay the slices flat and make a cut from the center of each slice to the edge (just as you would if placing the slice on the edge of a glass). Then use the tip of the knife to separate the peel from the lemon flesh, striking a balance between not including too much pith, but not cutting so close to the edge that you risk cutting through the peel. As with the other methods, use the paring knife to clean up any excess pith or rough edges, if necessary, and twist into a spiral with your hands or around a chopstick or straw.

The post How to Make a Lemon Twist Cocktail Garnish appeared first on Wine Enthusiast.

Batching cocktails, i.e. pre-mixing them in large quantities, has long been used as a secret weapon by professional bartenders.

“It’s worth learning to make batched cocktails, because once the prep is completed, you can easily pour a consistent drink,” says Joe Campanale, partner and beverage director at New York City’s Bar Vinazo. “Batching allows me to keep up with the demands of our guests… and every drink in the batch will taste pretty much the same.”

Even if you’re not mixing drinks for hundreds of thirsty guests, you can still reap the benefits of batching cocktails. Whether you want to gift a bottle of Manhattans to the host of a soiree or stash some martinis in the freezer to share with friends on a whim, here’s what you need to get started.

What Cocktails Can You Batch?

Before you begin, you’ll need to decide on an appropriate cocktail recipe to batch, keeping in mind that not all cocktails should be prepared and bottled in large volumes.

“Spirit-forward, stirred, classic cocktails lend themselves to batching as they are more shelf-stable in comparison to anything with juice, citrus or syrups,” says Steven Roennfeldt, an Australian cocktail expert known on Youtube as Steve the Bartender. Think drinks like the Negroni, Manhattan, martini and old fashioned.

On the other hand, shaken cocktails, like daiquiris and margaritas, don’t always work as well in large batches. John Ware, head bartender at Forsythia on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, says this often has to do with the large amount of citrus in many shaken cocktails.

“One of the most important aspects of shaken drinks that include citrus is the aeration that occurs and the way it softens the bite of the lemon or lime,” he says.

That said, if you have your heart set on batching a shaken cocktail, it can still work—if you get the timing right. “Some ingredients, such as juices, will oxidize, so you should avoid preparing it too far in advance,” Roennfeldt explains. “You will still need to shake the drink, as shaking also incorporates aeration and texture to a cocktail.”

For best results, keep your cocktail shaker handy when you’re ready to serve. For each cocktail, combine the prepped ingredients and shake vigorously over ice before serving.

It’s also important to note that punches and pitcher drinks, like blended piña coladas, are typically made right before serving or kept in a moving vessel that keeps the ingredients mixed. These likely won’t batch well.

What Do You Need to Batch Cocktails?

Besides your drink ingredients, batching cocktails requires minimal supplies. You will need:

• Sterilized bottle, Mason jar or jug for storing and chilling, like these
• Liquid-measuring cup
• Funnel for pouring ingredients into the bottle
• Labels
• Cutting board, knife and citrus juicer (as needed)
• Scale to measure the amount of dilution required—more on that soon

How to Convert a Single Cocktail Recipe to a Batch

Batching a cocktail recipe usually comes down to simple math—multiplying ingredient quantities by the number of servings you want to make. Be sure to use liquid measuring cups, and remember: two tablespoons are equal to one fluid ounce, and there are eight fluid ounces in a cup. If you get stuck on the math, Google is your friend.

“Let’s say you’re batching a martini that you want to predilute and keep in your freezer so that you can pour yourself a delicious, frosty martini when you get home from work,” says Deke Dunne, beverage director at Allegory and Wild Days at the Eaton Hotel in Washington, D.C. “You would take your single cocktail specs: two ounces gin, one-ounce dry vermouth, two dashes orange bitters and one-ounce water [for predilution], and you multiply those ingredients to equal the size of the batch you want to make.”

If you wanted to make a batch for 10 martinis, you would measure 20 ounces (2.5 cups) of gin, 10 ounces (1.25 cups) of dry vermouth, 20 dashes of bitters and 10 ounces (1.25 cups) of water, he explains. “Combine those ingredients, stir and then bottle and put them in the freezer,” Dunne says.

Note that a small, but crucial, step in batching many spirit-forward cocktail recipes is the addition of water. The exact amount of dilution required in batching a drink will vary depending on the cocktail, how it is served (up or over ice) and personal preference. Roennfeldt recommends calculating the required water by preparing a single cocktail and weighing your drink before and after stirring. The difference in weight is the amount of water you will need to add to your batched cocktail.

“The key is incorporating the water that would normally be added when stirring [or shaking] the cocktail,” Roennfeldt explains. “The addition of water to a cocktail is an important component as it lowers the ABV, opens up the aromatics and helps balance the drink.”

If you’re planning to serve your cocktail on the rocks or shake with ice as you serve, you may be able to skip this step. Just be sure to wait until it’s time to serve to add your ice so the cocktail doesn’t get too diluted.

How Long Do Batched Cocktails Last?

This can vary based on the ingredients used in the cocktail, Roennfeldt says. Generally, cocktails with citrus or juice should be consumed the same day and stored in the fridge before serving. Spirit-forward cocktails with vermouth, like a Manhattan or Negroni, can last up to a month stored in the fridge or freezer in an airtight container. Other spirit-forward cocktails, like an old fashioned, can last indefinitely when properly stored in the fridge or freezer.

If you do want to batch a cocktail that includes additional ingredients, like citrus or fruit juices, it can still work for long-term storage as long as you’re storing them separately. “If you’re batching, say, a margarita, you would want to batch together the non-perishable tequila, orange liqueur and any sweetener,” Dunne says. “That batch will last a very long time since it doesn’t have hardly anything perishable in it.” When you’re ready to serve, you’ll just need to add the fresh-squeezed lime juice, ice and a quick shake.

Master these tips and tricks and your pre-batching efforts will really start to pay off. Pouring a professional-style cocktail will be as simple as popping a bottle.

The post How to Batch Cocktails for a Crowd appeared first on Wine Enthusiast.

What Does “Appassimento” Mean?  

Appassimento translates to “fading” or “withering” in Italian and refers to a winemaking process where dried grapes, instead of fresh grapes, are fermented. When winemakers use the appassimento process, they create wines that are full-bodied and packed with intense fruit, balanced acidity and sometimes sweetness.  

While the grapes in Amarone tend to take center stage when many think of appassimento, they’re not the only grapes processed in this style. You can find examples of wines using appassimento methods in northern Italy with Barbera and Sangiovese, as well as Moscato Ottonel and Vidal in Austria, the U.S. and Canada. The resulting wines can be dry or sweet.  

How Does the Appassimento Method Work?  

Appassimento begins when producers pick ripe grapes, dry them out and ferment them into wine. By picking the grapes when ripe, as opposed to letting them dry on the vine, winemakers can maintain the grape’s acidity while creating deep flavor.  

Andrea Millineux, co-owner and winemaker of Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines, told Wine Enthusiast in 2020, “When [grapes are] cut off the vine, it halts the ripening process, so you’re no longer losing acidity as the grapes become sweeter. You’re concentrating the sugar, but also concentrating the acidity.” 

Once picked, the grapes are then dried. There are many methods of drying grapes, and it is determined by the winemaker’s preference and desired result.  

For example, the Consorzio Tutela Vini Valpolicella, a group of wine producers, growers and bottlers dedicated to the quality of the Valpolicella wine production area, determine the standards for producing Amarone di Valpolicella. They stipulate that grapes must be dried for 100 to 120 days using air conditioning or “traditional” drying processes until the grapes have lost half of their weight.  

To do this, winemakers can place their harvested grapes on wooden crates or bamboo drying mats, known as arelles, or plastic crates in large rooms during the drying process. This will later result in the deep red color, velvety mouthfeel and notes of dried fruit and spices characteristic of Amarone di Valpolicella.  

The traditional drying process relies on natural air circulation, with “a window on one side and a window on another side [to allow] the wind in winter [to] come across,” says Bill Nesto, MW. This can keep the grapes from molding, he adds.  

For red wines like Amarone, this mold isn’t a bad thing. The mold, also known as Botrytis or noble rot, offers another layer of complexity to the final product. “A lot of the compounds in the skin add richness and aroma to wine,” explains Nesto.

He adds that the mold can make the grapes more floral and less fruity while maintaining sweetness, too. In contrast, grapes that don’t have noble rot, have more anthocyanins, says Nesto, resulting in a darker wine with less sweetness but more fruit and structure.   

What Kind of Wine Is Appassimento?  

Once a producer has dried the grapes, they can make sweet dessert wine, like Recioto, or dry wine, like Amarone.  

If a winemaker wants a sweeter wine, they’ll use a sweet winemaking process where fermentation stops earlier—creating a wine with about 50 grams per liter of residual sugar, according to the Consorzio Tutela Vini Valpolicella.  

However, if they let the process continue until the yeast has died out, the final product will be less sweet and have higher alcohol, like Amarone. This is limited to nine grams per liter of residual sugar and up to 14% alcohol by volume (ABV).  

Because of the dried grapes, both wines will be dark and full-bodied and have notes of dried fruit.  

Where Can You Find Apassimento Wines?  

Appassimento wines are made all over the world, from Italy to Canada, as well as some surprising locales in the U.S. However, it can be tricky to know which wines are made with dried grapes if you don’t know what to look for. For dry wines, Nesto suggests looking for the word “passito” on the label, which hints at the winemaker’s use of dried grapes, like the Malvaxia Passito White.   

If you’re not sure if the final product is sweet or dry, check the ABV listed on the label. “The lower the ABV in a passito, the more perceived to actual sweetness you’ll get,” notes Betsy Swan, former sommelier and instructor at Le Cordon Bleu in Boston, Massachusetts.   

What Is the Difference Between Ripasso and Appassimento?   

There can be some confusion between the two winemaking terms. Ripasso is a fermentation method when winemakers reuse grape skins.  

“You basically reuse them or ‘pass over again,’” Nesto explains. For example, during the fermentation process of Valpolicella—which uses the same grapes and comes from the same region as Amarone—winemakers will add the skins from an Amarone pressing. These wines are a great option if you’re looking for a wine with a bit more heft than a traditional Valpolicella.    

So, the next time you pick up a bottle of that bold Amarone di Valpolicella or a sweet Malvaxia Passito White, you’ll know that the extra powerful flavor is coming from a labor of love that picked, dried and fermented the grapes to bring you a beautiful glass of wine.  

The post What Does ‘Appassimento’ Mean in Wine? appeared first on Wine Enthusiast.

This would quickly change with the craft beer revolution. Those who sipped an Anchor Liberty ale (first on the market in 1975) or Sierra Nevada pale ale (1980) would instantly realize some ingredient was creating its citrusy aroma, piney flavor profile and, most importantly, a bitterness that was a heck of a lot different from the grainy, corny and slightly sweet Budweiser and Coors Banquet that dominated the market at the time.  

“For some folks, the bitterness, flavor and aroma was just too much to handle,” says Jeremy Moynier, senior manager of brewing and innovation at Stone Brewing in San Diego “But as they started to catch on, the people who liked these beers were super excited and vocal about it and this passion [for hops] is what basically ignited craft beer.”  

Whether you’re a die-hard hops lover or a beer beginner, here’s a primer on everything you need to know.  

What Are Hops?  

Hops are the flowers of the Humulus lupulus plant. They are a climbing plant known as a bine, as opposed to a vine. On the bine are cones made of soft tissue petals and inside are a sticky, yellow gland containing a resin known as lupulin. They are often used in beer brewing to add aroma and flavor notes, as well as to increase shelf life.  

The History of Hops  

Beer has been brewed as far back as 4,000 B.C. by the Sumerian population of Mesopotamia. The earliest beers were probably gruel-thick and made of cereal grains, spontaneously fermented by the yeast inherent in the air. Whether using barley, wheat or oats, these early beers would have surely been cloyingly sweet—something was needed to balance the flavor.  

Enter gruit, a mixture of herbs and flowers that may have included dandelion, marigold, horehound and/or heather. These could balance out the sweetness, but they weren’t able to preserve beer from spoilage. So, early brewers started searching for another, better option. (Though a modern style of unhopped beer, also known as gruit, still exists today, it is rarely seen.) 

That’s when brewers turned to hops, which in addition to providing a bittering element, were able to protect beer from bacterial infections and spoil. 

“The hop was widely grown and used for brewing in Bavaria, Slovenia and Bohemia from the ninth to the 12th centuries,” says Ian Hornsey, author of Brewing.  

Beers brewed with hops would, to a certain extent, launch the craft beer movement. Over time, brewers began brewing beers with even more, a process called extreme hopping. This perhaps started in 1994 when Vinnie Cilurzo, then working for Blind Pig Brewing in Temecula, California, created the world’s first double IPA.  

Today, IPAs remain the predominant style of craft beer, but hops no longer need to lend a bracing bitterness. Starting in the mid-2010s, a new breed of IPAs, hazy in appearance, juicy in flavor and soft on the finish began to merge. These are known as New England IPAs, Northeastern IPAs or, eventually, just hazy IPAs. They utilized new-fangled hops specifically designed for their citrus and fruity—not piney—flavors.  

“Hazy IPA created an appreciation for the more tropical side of hops and not just that famous, gripping bitterness of the West Coast IPA,” says Matt Brynildson, brewer at Firestone Walker in California.     

How Are Hops Used in Brewing Beer?  

Hops, usually in a dried, pellet or extract form, are added by brewers during the boil—one of the earliest steps in brewing. The alpha acids inherent in hops release their bittering elements.  

Additional hops can also be used later in the process—toward the end of the boil—for the flavorful qualities present in their essential oils. To get the absolute most aroma from them, however, they can also be added post-boil through a process known as dry hopping. Since this is done post-boil, no bitterness is imparted, only an aroma.  

Additionally, there are fresh or “wet” hops. In the fall, when they are harvested, brewers immediately take just-picked whole cones to the brew kettle within 48 hours. This produces a uniquely seasonal beer with a fresh green aroma. 

Some hop varieties are ideal for their bittering qualities (like Chinook), while others, including many of the more modern varieties, are best for their flavors and aromas—but we’ll get to that soon. Many brewers mix and match, almost treating hop varieties like a spice rack.  

Hops to Know 

There are several major hop-growing regions in the world, typically in areas with mild climates that offer rich soil, abundant sunshine and reliable precipitation. Hundreds of hop varieties grow in these regions, each offering different attributes of bitterness, flavor and aroma. Here are the common varieties to know.  

The Noble Hops  

Noble hops are the classic European varieties that have been cultivated since perhaps the eighth century, mostly in the Czech Republic and Germany. The four noble varieties are Hallertauer, Saaz, Tettnang and Spalt. They are favored for their herbal, grassy and floral notes and a zesty, spicy bite. They are mainly deployed in pilsner and other Old World lager styles, as well as some Belgian ales.  

The “C” Hops  

Though hops had been grown in America since colonial times, prohibition and two world wars would lead to their decline. It would take until the 1970s for America to again offer its own unique hops—a troika of Pacific Northwest-grown varieties all starting with the letter C. Their aromas and flavor profiles would come to epitomize the first few decades of craft beer in the U.S.  

First was Cascade, created by Oregon State University’s USDA breeding program. The piney, citrusy profile burst onto the scene via Anchor Liberty ale and Sierra Nevada pale ale. Next, Centennial—sometimes known as “Super Cascade”—arrived in 1990, even more bitter and deployed in icons like Bell’s Two-Hearted and Pliny the Elder. Finally, there was Columbus, dank and potent, and ideal for adding complexity to the other Cs. Today, Oregon, Idaho and Washington remain the prominent hop-growing states.    

The Juicy Hops  

When bitter IPAs became divisive, fruitier and juicier hops completely changed things. This began with the release of Citra in 2008. Created with funding via the Deschutes, Widmer Brothers and Sierra Nevada breweries, Citra would revolutionize the industry and lead to a whole new breed of pale ales and IPAs, like Three Floyds Zombie Dust and The Alchemist Focal Banger. Other juicy hops of note include Mosaic, often said to taste of blueberries, and El Dorado, famed for its mango and pineapple notes.  

The Australasia Hops  

Another hop-growing region emerged in Australia and New Zealand, which created unique varieties soon beloved by American brewers. Notably, from Australia there was Galaxy, also ideal for hazy IPAs, and Topaz with its incredible lychee aroma. New Zealand gave us Nelson Sauvin, favored for its Sauvignon Blanc notes, and Motueka, mojito lime-reminiscent hops often used in pilsners.   

The Experimental Hops  

Some of the most desirable hops today are essentially coming from laboratories.  

“Hop breeders first create new cultivars by cross-pollinating different varieties of hops together, hoping that the child will exhibit the best qualities of both,” says homebrewing expert Chris Cagle.  

Some favored proprietary hops of the moment include Vista (ideal for fruit-forward IPAs), Talus (offering a coconut aroma), Peacharine (peach/nectarine notes) from New Zealand and Anchovy (hints of watermelon) from Yakima, Washington.  

FAQs 

What Are the Benefits of Hops?  

Hops are necessary for adding bitterness to beer, which keeps a beer from tasting too cloying. They are also used to add aroma and flavor, most notably in beers like pale ales and IPAs. 

Do All Beers Have Hops?  

The vast majority of beers and beer styles use hops. Gruit, an ancient style, is one of the few to neglect them, instead relying on herbs and spices for bittering elements. 

What Do Hops Taste Like?  

Hops have a wide variety of aromas and flavor profiles. Some are more piney and dank or juicy and tropical, while others are more spicy and floral or even redolent of blueberries, white wine or eucalyptus. 

The post What Are Hops? A Beginner’s Guide appeared first on Wine Enthusiast.

Co-fermentation isn’t limited to the natural wine community, nor is it the only tool in all winemakers’ arsenals. There’s also blending, another practice with a long history. Though, for reasons that aren’t always clear, it tends to come up less frequently in conversations about natural wine.

At first glance, these practices look similar but are actually quite different—as are their impacts on the final product. Here’s a guide to understanding the differences between co-fermenting and blending, and how each can affect the wine in your glass.

What Is Blending?

To understand what blending wine means, it’s helpful to zoom out and review how wine is made. Winemakers use yeast to turn the sugars in grape juice and/or must into alcohol. That process is called fermentation. Or, more specifically, primary fermentation.

To make a blend, you combine two or more finished fermentations, explains Maya Hood White, winemaker at Early Mountain Vineyards in Virginia. “This can be across varieties, [and is] often done prior to bottling,” she says.

Blending is an ancient technique that goes back hundreds of years. It allows winemakers to essentially matchmake the characteristics of complementary grapes. For instance, many winemakers in Bordeaux grow Merlot alongside Cabernet Sauvignon in their vineyards and then ferment the varieties separately in the winery. Once blended, Merlot provides softness and body, while Cabernet supplies tannin, aromas and acidity.

What Is Co-Fermenting?

Co-fermentation entails combining the juice and/or must of multiple grape varieties in the same vessel to undergo fermentation together. There are many ways to do this. For example, you can co-ferment the juice from white wine grapes with must from one or several red wine grapes, you can co-ferment white wine juice with rosé juice and so on.

One benefit of co-fermenting is winemakers can create the combination they want without having to tweak a recipe after fermentation like in blending.

Winemakers can also get ahead of a lot of the chemical changes that happen during primary fermentation, like phenolic extraction, the compounds that create the mouthfeel, color and tannins in a finished glass of wine. By co-fermenting complementary varieties of grapes, winemakers avoid having to manipulate wines to tweak color, alcohol level or other attributes prior to bottling. “Why add [stabilizers like] tartaric acid when you can add Petit Manseng,” says Hood White.

It’s a timeworn approach. Since the 14th century, Domaine du Beaurenard, a winery in France’s Châteauneuf-du-Pape, co-ferments all of their 13 varieties. “When you blend, it doesn’t have the same integration,” says Frédéric Coulon, a seventh-generation winemaker. “We know the vineyard, the grapes and how they develop. We are more like chefs in a kitchen than a chemist in a lab.”

Kiley Evans, the winemaker at Oregon’s Padigan Wines, formerly known as 2Hawk, almost always co-ferments his Grenache with 5–10% of Syrah to balance its color and acidity. “The people that have been doing this a heck of a lot longer than I have figured out years ago that Grenache and Syrah are really good partners,” he says.

The Bottom Line

Co-fermenting and blending can be used to make traditional or minimal-interventionist wines, but one isn’t more “natural” than the other. “That sounds like something someone on a date would say to impress the person he’s with,” says Evans, laughing. “There are times when blending is the way to go, there are times when you want to co-ferment.”

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“Lake County has diurnal swings that other regions can’t duplicate,” boasts Lake County Winegrowers on its website. The swing can be more than 50 degrees and helps produce more complex flavors and balance in both grapes and wine, according to the article. But it seems that other regions can duplicate Lake County’s diurnal swing. In Paso Robles, 300 miles south, winemakers also cite a difference of 50 degrees or more in a day. Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance claims its diurnal shift is “a greater day-to-night temperature swing than any other appellation in California.”

I am a fan of both Paso Robles and Lake County wines, but are claims like these helpful when you’re shopping for wine?

Let’s take a deeper look: Wine grapes gradually develop sugar, which is fundamental for alcohol and fruit flavors, in the heat and sunshine of summer days. Natural fruit acid in the grapes moves in the opposite direction. It starts high and slowly decreases until harvest.

The highest quality wines are generally made from grapes with good balance, that is, sugar that grows just enough and acid that doesn’t drop too low. Since cool nights slow the sugar development and the acid dissipation, the argument goes that they enable better balance in a region with hot days.

I discussed the diurnal debate with Colorado-based geographer Patrick Shabram, an expert on grape-growing conditions, who has worked in numerous U.S. wine regions. He says that diurnal shifts are useful when arguing for an area’s unique terroir, but he laughs when I ask if highs near 100 and lows below freezing—a 70-degree swing—would be better than a swing of 50.

The sheer size of the diurnal shift is not a proxy for wine quality. “Sometimes it’s the opposite,” says Shabram. Pinot Noir grapes in the West Sonoma Coast adjacent to the notoriously cool Northern Pacific see a modest 20-degree shift in some parts. “If you’re growing Pinot Noir there, you get a lower daily high that prolongs the growing season a little,” Shabram says, “while a higher minimum temperature allows for some metabolism at night. People argue that that is better than a big swing.”

The high quality of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and other wines from lower-shifting regions in California like Santa Barbara, Santa Lucia Highlands and Carneros also supports this observation. Not to mention the classic expression of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot wines from Bordeaux, where the July diurnal shift averages only 20-25 degrees in many vineyards. Wine producers and promoters up and down the state would be smart not to devalue the concept of diurnal shift by beating this drum too loudly and too often. It just adds to the marketing noise. And consumers would be smart to take the producers’ claims of diurnal superiority with a few grains of salt.

Diurnal shift is one of many factors that make wine a fascinating and complex subject, but it’s not a magic ingredient that necessarily makes one region’s wine better than another’s.

This column originally appeared in the April 2023 issue of Wine Enthusiast magazine. Click here to subscribe today!

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Sure, we know beer—famously a cereal grain-based beverage—is off the table for gluten-free folk, but what about wine? We asked industry experts if wine is gluten-free, so those with dietary restrictions can imbibe worry-free.   

Is Wine Gluten-Free?  

According to the FDA, in order for a product to be considered gluten-free, it must contain less than 20 parts per million of gluten. Products that meet this legal standard contain less than 0.002% gluten.  

So, does wine meet these standards? Tricia Thompson, M.S., R.D., is the founder of the Gluten Free Watchdog, an organization that tests consumer products through Bia Diagnostics, a food testing lab in Vermont, to determine levels of potential gluten. Her answer? Yes, but with a caveat. (More on that below.) Wine has always been considered naturally gluten-free, she points out, since the ingredients used in fermentation (grapes and yeast) are naturally gluten-free ingredients. 

The Risk of Cross-Contamination  

But, it may not be so simple. Though wine’s ingredients are 100% gluten-free, there is always the risk of cross-contamination, which is the process by which bacteria or other microorganisms are inadvertently transferred from one surface or substance to another, sometimes with harmful effects.

Some winemaking processes could potentially unintentionally introduce gluten to the mix, like fining, which is the process of filtering out unwanted particles that may cause a wine to look hazy or taste bitter. Strict gluten-free adherents may want to ensure that fining agents are gluten-free. 

From a cross-contamination standpoint, that may be difficult to do, especially because most countries have different regulations when it comes to wine production. The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau reports that approved fining agents in the United States include chitosan (a type of sugar) and pea protein. Other countries, like Australia, tend to use ingredients like egg whites and gelatin.  

The good news for gluten-free folk? None of these additives contain gluten, in theory. (Several, however—including gelatin, isinglass and egg whites—contain animal products, which means they may not be suitable for vegetarian or vegan wine drinkers.)

Here’s the rub: There’s no way to say for sure that a wine was or wasn’t made with a fining agent cross-contaminated with gluten. But, Thompson notes, “In the U.S., The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau which oversees the industry, provides a list of materials authorized for the clarifying, filtering or purifying treatment of wines.” She notes that no gluten-containing ingredients are listed, and it’s reasonable to assume that most bottles made with fining agents are gluten-free.

Another risk factor to consider is that some wines are fermented or aged in oak barrels. This winemaking technique gives the finished product a soft, silky texture. Traditionally, the barrel heads (the round tops) were sealed with a gluten-rich, wheat-based paste, which theoretically presents a risk of gluten contamination. Red wines such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Zinfandel tend to age longer in these oak barrels and therefore may run a greater risk of being contaminated with gluten. That said, the risk is still very minimal.  

However, it’s clearly an issue on the minds of people concerned with gluten contamination. A representative from Independent Stave Company, the largest barrel maker worldwide notes, “In 2019 we switched from wheat flour and transitioned to gluten-free buckwheat flour and paraffin to seal heads.” 

This seems to have become the industry standard. “Since 2020, our barrel heads have been sealed with paraffin and beeswax,” says Mick Wilson, co-owner of Wilson Creek Winery in Temecula, California. Wilson has celiac disease and is particularly attuned to problems surrounding cross-contamination. “In earlier barrels, there was potential for gluten cross-contamination between the wine through the barrel heads,” he says.

That said, even Wilson acknowledges that the risk of such gluten cross-contamination was likely low. “The amount of flour paste to seal the barrel heads was minimal,” he explains. “Typically, the paste raised the amount of gluten to only five to 10 [parts per million].”  

Indeed, in 2012, to address the question of total gluten parts per million, Thompson’s organization tested bottles of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, both of which went through extended barrel aging. Gluten-free Watchdog found all samples tested contained less than 10 parts-per-million gluten.   

“Generally speaking, people with celiac disease who would like to enjoy a glass of wine should feel free to do so,” concludes Thompson. Of course, it’s important for those concerned to talk to their doctor about their personal risk.  

How to Choose a Gluten-Free Wine  

If you’re newly diagnosed and want to be absolutely certain that your wine didn’t come in contact with oak barrels, choose varieties aged in stainless-steel vats. Additionally, avoid flavored wine cocktails which can include barley malt (always a source of gluten) and added flavors that may contain gluten. 

And, if you want to support wineries going above and beyond to provide a full gluten-free experience, check out these spots. In addition to offering beyond-the-shadow-of-a-doubt gluten-free wine, these operations also provide gluten-free dining experiences. 

Gluten-Free Wineries 

Wilson Creek Winery, Temecula, California 

The celiac-accredited kitchen has gluten-free staff training and color-coded prep areas, utensils and plates. Plus, the property’s restaurant, the Creekside Grille, offers steaks, salmon and sandwiches all made on locally baked gluten-free bread. Don’t forget to stop in for the extensive gluten-free Sunday brunch.  

Solterra Winery & Kitchen, Leucadia California  

This winery and kitchen combo offers a largely gluten-free menu. Don’t miss the paella or the fish caught by winemaker and owner Chris Van Alyea on his skiff off the coast in San Diego, not to mention the daily happy hour.  

Cooper’s Hawk, locations nationwide   

A full gluten-free menu is available the operation’s many outposts, featuring contemporary global flavors with curated wine pairings. Everything is scratch-made and incorporates seasonal ingredients.  

Nashoba Valley Winery, Bolton, Massachusetts  

At the property’s Vintner’s Knoll tasting area, enjoy wine flights on the outdoor picnic grounds and indoor restaurant. Here, guests can enjoy wine flights along with gluten-free options like charcuterie platters, wraps and chocolate brownies. Or, experience award-winning fine dining at J’s Restaurant on a lovely restored farmstead, where dinner and Sunday brunch menu items are mostly gluten-free.  

The post Is Wine Gluten-Free? The Answer May Not Be So Simple appeared first on Wine Enthusiast.

Besides Jacquesson, a handful of other houses also have multi-vintage offerings: Krug makes its Grand Cuvée, Laurent Perrier makes Grand Siecle Iterations and Champagne Lallier created the multi-vintage bottling Serié R (the “R” stands for “Recolte,” the French word for “harvest”). But are these multi-vintage wines all that different from their nonvintage counterparts?

The answer is a resounding “oui.”

What Is Nonvintage?

If you’ve ever enjoyed a moderately-priced bottle of yellow label Veuve Cliquot or blue label Nicolas Feuillatte, you’re probably somewhat familiar with nonvintage Champagne—these wines don’t have a singular harvest year (aka “vintage”) specified on the label. The wine industry has long used the term “nonvintage” (sometimes written as “NV”) to indicate wines made with grapes from several harvest years. This is a particularly important practice in Champagne, where wine reserves are kept to mitigate the effects of a bad growing season.

“Traditionally blends were made to avoid the vintage’s effects like yield and quality,” says Maximilien Bernardeau, enologist at Station Oenotechnique de Champagne (SOEC). “[Blends also help] preserve the same taste year after year.”

Nonvintage bottlings account for over 75% of Champagne shipped around the world, according to data provided by the Comité Champagne. Part of the allure of these wines is that since they’re made yearly, and in large quantities, they’re typically more abundant and less expensive than vintage Champagnes. They have a consistent style and familiar flavor profile, regardless of the release date.

The Nuance of Multi-Vintage

While all nonvintage Champagnes are technically “multi-vintage,” the producers opting to use that specific verbiage want to differentiate these bottlings from a typical house blend. Because the term “multi-vintage” isn’t one regulated by Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) rules, how each house chooses to blend can vary greatly—they only have to abide by the same guidelines as they would if they labeled their wine as nonvintage.

For Louis Roederer, the new multi-vintage process involves a base wine created from a “reserve perpetuelle,” much like the solera system used when making Sherry: A reserve of older vintages is kept in a vat that is replenished with wine from the current harvest. For Jacquesson, the base wine comes from the most recent harvest, supplemented by 20 to 30 percent reserve wines. At Krug, the Grand Cuvée is centered on a specific harvest year, then meticulously blended with dozens of wines from ten or more different years. Lallier focuses on a single harvest mixed with small quantities of vintage years, and Laurent Perrier Grand Siecle blends just three outstanding vintage years.

While nonvintage wines strive for uniformity and consistency from year to year, multi-vintage wines manage to retain a more distinct style. They’re also meant to highlight the best attributes of a specific harvest and offer unique characteristics for each bottling—all traits that are usually only associated with vintage Champagnes.

“We now blend our multi-vintage with a vintage philosophy more than a non-vintage philosophy,” says Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon, chef de cave at Louis Roederer. “Each blend—242, 243—has a distinctive character and singularity of its own. That gives a real identity to each wine, almost like a vintage.”

A Stepping Stone to Vintage

Vintage Champagnes are only made in the most exceptional years, which is why they are highly coveted by wine collectors and connoisseurs, and often reserved for special occasions. For casual drinkers of sparkling wines, making a foray into vintage Champagnes can be quite a costly endeavor; the price of many bottles start at over a hundred dollars and, depending on the year and availability, can range well into the thousands.

But just because a Champagne is considered vintage doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a superior wine.

“Even a qualitative vintage is not perfect, except for a very rare vintage like 2008,” says Bernardeau. “[Multi-vintage, which are] blends of the best vintages to get a high-quality cuvée, are often better than a single vintage.”

Multi-vintage options aren’t necessarily inexpensive, but they are often more accessible than their single-vintage counterparts. They can also offer insight and education about vintage variations without losing the consistency of a house’s signature style. These blends are the perfect vehicle for exploration by combining the best of both vintage and nonvintage cuvées.

“Elevating our ambitions toward a multi-vintage freed us from any previously imposed formula,” adds Lecaillion.

In short, multi-vintage Champagne may fall under the umbrella of nonvintage wine, but the category allows winemakers more creative latitude since they aren’t trying to make the exact same wine as the year before. The resulting wines are often more expressive and complex, and may lend themselves better to aging.

To many, this puts them a cut above your typical nonvintage Champagne—something worth raising a glass to.

The post The Difference Between Multi-Vintage and Nonvintage Champagnes appeared first on Wine Enthusiast.

But how does it happen? We talked to some of our favorite winemakers, cider brewers and sommeliers to get all the details on alcoholic fermentation. But don’t get it twisted: The stars of this story are yeast and sugar, since there would be no alcohol without either. Here’s everything you need to know about it. 

What Is Alcoholic Fermentation?

Alcoholic fermentation is the chemical process that creates alcohol. Basically, it comes down to yeast eating a form of sugar, which is the starting point for everything from beer and wine to sake and cider. Even hard liquors—like your favorite tequila, perhaps—start with simple alcoholic fermentation. It then goes through another process called distillation to become a spirit, but that’s a whole other story. 

What Is Yeast? 

As Karen MacNeil explains in her authoritative tome The Wine Bible, now out in its third edition, yeast is a tiny, single-cell organism.  

There are hundreds of strains of commercial yeast, and anyone making beer, wine or cider is very particular about the ones they use. Different commercial yeasts can produce different flavors. For example, if you wanted to make a hard apple cider with notes of apple blossom and dried hay, you might choose a yeast strain known for creating those flavors. 

How Does Yeast Cause Alcoholic Fermentation? 

As yeast converts sugar into alcohol, it also creates carbon dioxide and heat, which raises the temperature of the fermenting grapes from 60° to 85° Fahrenheit. The yeast will keep eating the sugar until it’s all gone, or until the level of alcohol in the mixture reaches about 16%. Above that level, the alcohol will kill the yeast and stop it from converting any more sugars.  

Many growers pick their grapes at night or early in the morning to prevent the fruit from getting so hot that it begins to ferment on its own. This is also why it’s usually recommended to store beers, wines and ciders in cool, dry places away from sunlight. If a bottle gets hot, there’s always a chance that the yeast inside will heat up and start eating the sugars within, thus bumping up the ABV of the bottle and potentially altering its flavor. It could also make the bottles burst, which for obvious reasons isn’t great. 

However, with naturally-fermented wines and ciders, no commercial yeast is added. That’s because natural yeast strains are all around us—in the air, on the outside of grapes and apples and inside a winery or cidery. Natural wine and cider makers press their fruit and then let the natural, ambient yeasts that are floating around get busy. 

Where Does the Sugar Used in Fermentation Come From?  

Grape juice and apple juice are noticeably sweet, but even rice and grains have sugary starches in them that yeast can convert to alcohol. Grains for beer are simmered in water to release the sugars first, which creates a starchy liquid called the wort. 

What Are the Byproducts of Alcoholic Fermentation? 

There are three main byproducts of alcoholic fermentation. Unsurprising, a significant one is alcohol, which has historically been a key attribute of beer, wine and hard cider. (For what it’s worth, however, there are plenty notable zero-ABV drinks on the scene these days.) 

But there are other byproducts, too. “When sugars are fermenting into alcohol it produces a lot of heat,” says Ashley Trout, winemaker and owner of Vital Wines and Bull & Brook Cellars in Walla Walla, Washington. Five-tons of fermenting grapes, for instance, produces quite a bit of heat. As mentioned earlier, the yeast can get so hot, they die—which can burn off all the beautiful aromas in the wine.  

The last major byproduct of fermentation is carbon dioxide. If you get a chance to go to a winery and witness the fermentation phase of production, you’ll notice that the fermenting juice is a little bubbly. This is thanks to the release of carbon dioxide, which is also what gives Champagne and sparkling wines their effervescence. The highest-quality sparkling wines see a secondary fermentation inside the bottle, which further traps carbon dioxide bubbles. 

Flavor is in large part determined by what happens during fermentation. “You may get more orchard fruit notes, which you’ll see in Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc as well,” says Tonya Pitts, sommelier and wine director at One Market in San Francisco. “In Champagne, you would probably get …more of … that kind of brioche, fresh baked bread, creamy butteriness.” 

What’s the Chemical Equation for Alcoholic Fermentation? 

If you want to get wonky, here’s the chemical equation for fermentation:

C₆H₁₂O₆ → 2C₂H₅OH + 2CO₂

For all you non-science-minded folk, this formula essentially describes what happens when a yeast cell eats a sugar molecule, thus converting it into alcohol and carbon dioxide.  

If it’s not yet abundantly clear, alcoholic fermentation is deeply important to the drinks we know and love. Without it, there’d be no ripe Pinot Noirs, no crisp Rieslings, no flinty Sauvignon Blancs. No hoppy IPAs or smoky mezcals. Not even a funky kombucha.

It’s just another example of how science shapes the way we eat and drink. Want to learn more? There’s plenty more to discover, from the science behind beer flavors to molecular engineering in spirits. 

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