Winemaking

winemaking, the practical art of producing wine. In its most general sense, it encompasses all operations in both vineyard and cellar but for the purposes of this article, winemaking excludes vine-growing, or viticulture.

Winemaking, while a sophisticated practical art for several millennia, became an applied science only towards the end of the 19th century after Louis pasteur’s discovery of the existence and activities of bacteria and yeast. Since then, knowledge of the detailed chemical and biochemical reactions involved in their metabolic processes has steadily increased, as has the sophistication of the containers and equipment used in the professional cellar.