Weekly wine defined: Grape bunch
July 23rd, 2012 by brynn grimleyMary writes:
It’s time to go over the basics: The anatomy of a grape bunch.
A bunch of grapes contains a stem, grapes and the seeds or pips.
The stems are usually removed before fermentation in a contraption called a destemmer.
The skin is the most important part of the grape. In the wine, all the flavors, color and aromas are extracted from the skins.
The pulp contains sugar and water. The sugar is the important component in the grape that the yeast loves to cuddle up to, resulting in the production of alcohol.
Inside the pulp, are the pips. Pips have tannin. Crushing grapes sometimes release the tannins in the pips. This rarely happened in the days when the foot was used to crush.
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