When we look at the winemaking process used in a wine, we often see the term “Cold Soak/Cold Maceration”. So, what is cold maceration? How is it different from normal maceration? And what effect does it have on the resulting wine?
What is cold maceration?
What is “cold maceration”?
Before we look at what cold maceration is, let’s look at what maceration is. Maceration is the process by which grape juice or wine comes into contact with solids such as skins, stalks and seeds to extract more phenolics (such as tannins, pigments and flavors) and thus give the wine a deeper color and more intense flavor. This step is widely used in the production of red wines.
The effect of extraction is affected by the area of contact between the solids, such as skins, seeds and stalks, and the liquid, the composition of the liquid, and the temperature and length of the maceration. Some easy-drinking styles of red wines usually have a short fermentation time, but many winemakers allow the skins, stems, and other solids to remain macerated in the freshly made liquid for some time after fermentation to extract more tannins, pigments, and flavors. And some winemakers choose to let the skins and must macerate at a low temperature before alcoholic fermentation begins, which is what we call cold maceration. The rationale for using cold maceration is that the different compounds in the skins have their own extraction temperatures and environments, and allowing the must to come into contact with the skins at low temperatures, before alcoholic fermentation begins, is better for extracting some of the water-soluble compounds that bring more anthocyanins (Anthocyanins, a water-soluble natural pigment found in the grape skins that gives the wine its color) and aroma and flavor compounds. ) as well as aroma and flavor compounds, improving the overall texture of the wine. The temperature of cold maceration is usually between 4-15°C and the length of maceration is as little as 5 hours and as much as 10 days, with the winemaker adjusting accordingly to the style of wine to be achieved. After breaking the skins of the red grapes, the winemaker places the juice, skins and stems together in fermenters or storage vessels and cools them down, sometimes adding enzymes to aid extraction. Although cold temperatures can inhibit the development of yeasts and microorganisms to some extent, some winemakers add sulfur dioxide to the grapes at the time of skin break, and later use inert gas to fill sealed storage vessels during cold maceration or to prevent oxidation by covering with dry ice. ace,MAC,Winery,