How to Make Wine from Start to Finish
Winemaking is an art that blends tradition, science, and craftsmanship. At Sept Winery, we embrace natural and organic methods, ensuring each bottle reflects the honesty of our terroir. Whether you’re a winemaking enthusiast or simply curious about the process, here’s a step-by-step guide on how wine is made—from grape to glass.
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Step 1: Vineyard Preparation & Harvesting
Choosing the Right Grapes
Great wine starts in the vineyard. The grape variety, soil, climate, and farming practices all influence the final wine. At Sept Winery, we cultivate and outsource organic grapes, focusing on indigenous varieties, like Obeideh and Merweh. Choosing the right grapes required a thorough research, building the right partnerships with farmers across the country who follow the same farming principles and values as us.
Harvesting
The second most important step to reap the best of the grapes is harvesting. Timing is everything. Grapes are hand-harvested when optimal maturity is reached; it’s usually the winemaker’s call on the exact day of harvest after several tastings that occur close to harvest time. The right maturity is a balance of acidity, sugar, and tannins. Harvesting is usually done in the early morning to preserve freshness.
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Step 2: Crushing & Pressing
Crushing (For Red & Skin-Contact Wines)
For red wines, whole grapes (including skins and seeds) are crushed to release juice while keeping skins for fermentation. The skins contribute to color, tannins, and flavor.
Pressing (For White Wines)
White wine grapes are immediately pressed after harvest to separate juice from skins and seeds. This results in a cleaner juice with minimal tannins.
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Step 3: Fermentation – Transforming Juice into Wine
This is where the magic happens! Yeast converts grape sugars into alcohol, creating wine.
Natural Fermentation
At Sept Winery, we use indigenous (wild) yeasts found on grape skins and in the winery’s environment. This allows for a spontaneous, terroir-driven fermentation without additives.
Fermentation Vessels
Stainless Steel: Preserves freshness and purity.
Oak Barrels: Adds complexity and softens tannins.
Clay Amphorae: An ancient method that enhances texture and minerality.
At Sept Winery, we use stainless steel barrels only, in line with our mission to convey the honest expression of terroir, with no intervention in aromas. Fermentation can take anywhere from a few days to several weeks, depending on temperature and yeast activity.
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Step 4: Maceration & Extraction (For Red & Skin-Contact Wines)
For red wines, the juice remains in contact with the grape skins for weeks, extracting deep color, flavor, and tannins. This process is also key for orange wines (skin-contact whites).
Techniques include:
Punching Down (Pigeage): Gently pushing skins down to enhance extraction.
Pump-Overs: Circulating juice over skins for balanced tannins.
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Step 5: Pressing & Aging
After fermentation, red wines are pressed to separate the liquid from the skins and seeds. Then, the wine is transferred into aging vessels.
Aging Choices:
Neutral Oak Barrels: Adds depth without overpowering fruit flavors.
Clay Amphorae: Promotes natural micro-oxygenation.
Stainless Steel: Keeps wine crisp and fresh.
Aging can range from a few months to several years, depending on the style.
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Step 6: Clarification & Bottling
Wines naturally settle over time, but they can also be clarified using racking (transferring wine to new containers, leaving sediment behind). At Sept Winery, we avoid unnecessary filtration to maintain wine purity.
Minimal Intervention
Instead of additives, we rely on natural settling, gravity, and time to clarify wines before bottling. We mostly rely on winter temperatures inside our cellar, which reach minus 4 degrees, contributing significantly to the natural stabilization of wines.
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Step 7: Bottling & Aging in Bottle
Once ready, the wine is bottled, often with sulfites. At Sept, we use very little sulfites, to preserve the wine’s natural character. Some wines benefit from bottle aging, where flavors evolve and integrate further.
Final Step: Enjoying the Wine!
From vineyard to bottle, every step of winemaking is a labor of love. The best way to appreciate the process? Open a bottle, taste the terroir, and enjoy the story behind each sip.
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