Extraction

Extraction is what skins give juice. Smith, McRae, and Bindon: condensed tannins come mainly from grape skins and seeds; red fermentation keeps juice in contact with skins. Anthocyanins (color) extract relatively early; tannins extract more as alcohol rises ¹. Extended maceration after the sugar is gone is a choice for more structure, not a moral improvement. Over-extraction tastes harsh. White wines usually avoid this on purpose.

Punch-downs, pump-overs, cap management, and temperature are the levers. You taste the result as Tannin grip and as color, not as a story about “intensity.”

Pressing ends the contact — or extends it #

Pressing wine separates juice from skins. Press wine (from the press) is typically more phenolic than free-run. Blending them is a structure decision. An AVA names the vineyard geography; it does not set a maceration recipe ².

Acidity changes how the same tannin feels: more acid, more astringent ¹. Extraction without acid balance is a dry, hollow wine.

What to notice #

Look at the cap of skins: wet and worked, or dry and floating. Color of the juice deepening is anthocyanin moving. Taste (in the cellar): seed bitterness versus skin astringency — seeds are a ripeness and extraction warning, not a home-jam instruction. Harsh, drying wine with little fruit is over-extracted, not “age-worthy” by default.

Must is the starting mix. Wine fermentation is yeast on the sugar that also raises the alcohol that pulls tannin. Return to Wine.