Elaboración del vino

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HOW IS WINE MADE?

GROWING GRAPES

Grapes grow on vines. There are many different types of grapes, but the best wine grape is the European Vitis vinifera. It is considered optimal because it has the right balance of sugar and acid to create a good fermented wine without the addition of sugar or water.

HARVEST

Weather is a major factor is determining whether a year is going to be a "good vintage" (or "year"). For example, was there enough heat during the growing season to lead to enough sugar? At harvest time, the short-term effects of weather are quite important. To produce great wine, the fruit should have a high (but not overly high) sugar content ("brix"). Think of raisins.

As the fruit dries, the water evaporates. What is left is the sugary fruit. If it rains just at the point the wine grapes are ready, and before the grapes can be harvested, the additional water will cause the water level to increase, and the brix will go down. Not good. (You might ask, why not just add some sugar in the wine making process? Some do. Also considered "not good.")

Every year the wine grape grower plays a game of chance and must decide when to harvest. Simplistically, if you knew it wasn't going to rain, you would just test the brix until it was just right, then harvest. If you harvest too soon, you will probably end up getting a wine too low in alcohol content (there won't have been enough sugar to convert to alcohol). These wines will be "thin." If you delay harvest, there may be too much sugar, which leads to too low acid content. This also affects the taste (and the aging possibilities) of the wine.

INITIAL PROCESSING OF THE GRAPE JUICE

Grapes can (and might still) be crushed by stomping on them with your feet in a big vat. But a more practical way is to use a machine which does the job (and at the same time, removes the stems).

What you get may or may not get immediately separated. Skin and seeds might immediately be removed from the juice. Separation may not immediately occur (especially for red wines), since skins and stems are an important source of "tannins" which affect wine's taste and maturity through aging.  The skins also determine the color of the wine (see WHAT IS WINE).

Maceration (the time spent while skins and seeds are left with the juice) will go on for a few hours or a few weeks. Pressing will then occur. One way to press the grapes is to use a "bladder press," a large cylindrical container that contains bags that are inflated and deflated several times, each time gently squeezing the grapes until all the juice has run free, leaving behind the rest of the grapes. You can also separate solids from juice through the use of a centrifuge.

¿CÓMO SE ELABORA EL VINO?

EL CULTIVO DE UVAS

Las uvas crecen en la vid. Existen diferentes tipos de uvas, pero la mejor es la que procede de la Vitis vinífera de Europa. Se considera óptima porque tiene el balance justo de azúcar y ácido para obtener un buen vino fermentado sin la adición de azúcar o agua.

LA COSECHA

El tiempo es un factor importante a la hora de determinar si va a ser un año de “buena vendimia” (o un “buen año”). Por ejemplo, ¿hizo suficiente calor durante la época de crecimiento de manera que tenga suficiente azúcar? En la época de cosecha, los efectos a corto plazo del tiempo son bastante importantes. Para producir un vino de buena calidad, la fruta debería tener un alto (pero no demasiado) contenido de azúcar (“grados brix”). Las pasas son uvas secas con un contenido muy alto de azúcar.

Mientras la fruta se deshidrata, el agua se evapora. Lo que queda es la fruta con alto contenido de azúcar. Si llueve justo en el momento en el que las uvas están listas y antes de que se puedan cosechar, el agua adicional aumentará el nivel de agua y los grados brix disminuirán, lo cual no es bueno. (Uno se podría preguntar, ¿por qué no añadir un poco de azúcar en el proceso de elaboración del vino? Algunos lo hacen, lo cual tampoco se considera bueno.)

Cada año, el agricultor debe elegir, como en una especie de juego de azar, cuándo cosechar. En palabras simples, si se sabe que no va a llover, se pueden probar los grados brix hasta que sean los adecuados y, entonces, cosechar. Si se cosecha demasiado pronto, probablemente se obtendrá un vino con un contenido  de alcohol muy bajo (no habrá suficiente azúcar que se convierta en alcohol). Estos vinos serán “delgados”. Si se aplaza la cosecha puede haber demasiada azúcar, lo que llevaría a un muy bajo contenido de ácido. Esto también afecta al sabor (y las posibilidades de añejarlo) del vino.

PROCESAMIENTO INICIAL DEL JUGO DE UVA

Las uvas se pueden  triturar aplastándolas con los pies en una tina grande (lo cual se hace incluso hoy en día). Pero una forma más práctica es usando una máquina que hace el trabajo (y al mismo tiempo remueve los tallos).

Lo que se obtiene puede, o no, separarse inmediatamente. El hollejo y las semillas se pueden remover rápidamente del jugo. Puede que esta separación  no ocurra de inmediato (especialmente para los vinos tintos), ya que el hollejo y los tallos son una fuente importante de taninos, que afectan el sabor y la madurez del vino a través del envejecimiento. El hollejo también determina el color del vino (véase ¿QUÉ ES EL VINO?)

Luego, por unas pocas horas o pocas semanas, viene la maceración (el tiempo que pasa mientras el hollejo y las semillas están en el jugo). Entonces, se realiza el prensado. Una forma de presionar las uvas es usar una “prensa neumática” un contenedor cilíndrico grande, que tiene colchones que se hincha y deshincha varias veces, cada vez, apretando las uvas con suavidad hasta que salga todo el jugo, dejando atrás el resto de las uvas. También se puede separar el jugo del residuo sólido a través de una centrífuga.

Minería

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Opal

Opal has been a mystery for centuries. No two opals look alike. The word ‘opal’ was derived from a Greek word opallos, meaning “to see changes of color”. Opal is derived as a precious gemstone which is formed from non-crystalline silica gel. It consists of 6 to 10 per cent water and small silica spheres are arranged in a regular pattern. It generally measures 5.5 to 6.5 on MOH’s hardness scale with diamonds measuring 9 to 10 and pearls 4 to 5.

Opal dates back to 1849 where it was found at a cattle station named Tarrawilla, near Angaston some 80 km outside Adelaide in Australia. Nearly 95% of the opal is found in Australia. A small number is found in other countries like Mexico, Brazil and USA. There are three major opal mining regions in Australia that produce different types of opal.

White opal also known as “milk” opal is found in and around the towns of Coober Pedy, Mintabie and Andamooka in South Australia. The most famous opal is the black opal which is found in Lightning Ridge in the state of New South Wales. Boulder Opal is found in Central Queensland, Quilpie, Winton and Opalton. Other opals include Light Opal, Doublet, Triplet, Common, Synthetic and Imitation.

Most of the opal deposits are found in New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland. At present, mining of opal is done in the following areas and each produces solid Opal with specific characteristics and color patterns.

Lightning Ridge, NSW, is famous for glorious black opal. This town is located 770 kilometers northwest of Sydney. Black opal was first discovered at Lighting Ridge in the late 1880’s.

White Cliffs is Australia’s oldest commercial opal field. This is located around 295 kilometres northeast of Broken Hill. Opal was first mined at White Cliffs about 1889. For nearly 30 years, White Cliff opal fields produced opal for the world market.

The real development of Queensland’s vast opal deposits began in 1873 with the discovery of fine quality opal north of Thargomindah. Opal mines are concentrated in certain regions like Yowah, Quilpie, Eromanga and Jundah.

Coober Pedy is famous for White or milky opals. At present, opal fields encompass an area of approximately 45 kilometres. Andamooka is found southwest of Coober Pedy in harsh desert country. Andamooka is one of Australia’s most famous opal fields, having produced some of the most beautiful pieces of opal. The opal fields in and around Andamooka produce top gem, crystal, light opal and some dark opal.

Opal usually occurs in both sedimentary and volcanic rocks. There are various methods of opal mining.

Methods of opal mining

Sink a shaft:

The simplest form of opal mining is by shaft sinking with a pick and shovel. A shaft is sunk straight down until some promising “opal dirt” is discovered. Length of the shaft could be as short as three metres or as long as 20 metres. A handpick or screwdriver is used to extract any opal found, due to the frailty of the stone.

Open cut mining:

Open cut method is done by the use of heavy machinery to remove large amounts of opal dirt from closer to the surface for inspection. This method is more expensive and is mostly used to search for boulder opal in Central Queensland.

Noodling:

Many locals search through heaps of discarded mullock for pieces of precious opal. An abandoned open-cut mine is another good place for a noodler, using a rake and sieve for tools. Some have taken to large scale machine noodling by allowing large amounts of opal dirt travel on a conveyer belt under ultra-violet light, which detects the precious opal.

Puddling and Rumbling:

A Puddler is a large mesh-lined drum attached to a motor. This device rotates and turns the clay into sludge as water is pumped into the drum. The sludge escapes through the mesh. A related technique is dry rumbling.