Vinification refers to the process of making wine and includes all the work involved, from working the vines in the vineyard to bottling the finished wine. In a narrower sense, however, vinification is often only used for the actual wine production from the mashing process onwards.
The sequence of the individual steps in the production of red wine is different to that of white wine production. For red wine, the must is not enriched with additional sugar and fermented, as is the case with white wine. This is necessary because the grape juice of red wine grapes is just as clear as the juice of white wine grapes. The color in red wine, however, enters the wine via the dyes in the grape skins. And it is precisely these colorants that are released from the red fruit skins by the alcohol produced during the fermentation process of the mash. As a result, red wine is only pressed after fermentation.
The vinification of white wine comprises the steps of crushing, pressing, enrichment, sulphurization, fermentation, racking, maturation and storage. As red wine is only pressed after fermentation is complete, the sequence of steps is different, although their functions are similar to those of white wine production. For red wine, the mashing process is carried out first. This is followed by fermentation and then the pressing process, also known as vinification. This is followed by ageing and refining until the wine is complete.