Winemaking is the whole process of getting wine from grapes, which starts with the selection of grapes and ends with the bottling of wine. The science of winemaking և grapes is called oenology. A person who is engaged in winemaking is called a winemaker.
There is primary և secondary winemaking.
The main process of primary winemaking is alcohol fermentation, when pure yeast culture (2-3%) is added to the hungry, the fermentation can also proceed with the natural yeast contained in grapes. Fermentation of grape hungry sugar produces ethyl alcohol, carbon dioxide, as well as secondary fermentation materials. For making dry wines, sweet is subjected to full fermentation, and for semi-sweet, strong և dessert wines, partial fermentation.
One of the most important conditions for the care of the wine after the fermentation is to keep the bowl full of wine. White table wine is made from white, pink, like red grapes, processed in a “white” way.
In the factory, the grapes are crushed by crushing-removing machines and turn into ashes. The latter is supplied to the flowers to disconnect the gravity from the crumbly crumb, then the clod is passed continuously with regular-action presses to disconnect the crumbly grapes from the crumb completely. Hunger is simplified by settling or decantation for 18-24 hours, simultaneously treated with bentonite and sulfur dioxide. Pure sugar culture is added to the exposed hunger. It is used only for gravity, strong wines, for pressed hunger, to get good table wines. When the fermentation, the release of carbon dioxide, is over, the wine is separated from the sediment, it turns out, it is filled by the containers. Table red wines are made from red or white grapes, the pigments of which are found in the skin cells of the fruit; the flesh of the fruit does not contain pigments. Hunger is fermented at the same time as the skin of the fetus. Due to the high temperature created during the fermentation process, the skin cells are destroyed, the dyes are starved and dissolved. It is facilitated by the alcohol formed during the fermentation process. After coloring, the sweet is separated from the solid materials. Red wine is also made by heat treatment of grapes. Sparkling wines (hard, dessert) are made from special grapes of high sugar content. The taste and aroma of these wines are conditioned by the grape variety and the technological peculiarity of making the wine. Semi-sweet wine can be obtained in two ways, by stopping the fermentation of high-sugar hunger after a certain period of time ․ By adding fermented աքար sugar-free wine to the usual unleavened bread or by mixing it with the concentrated wine grapes to blend. In the primary wineries they get white, dry, semi-dry, semi-sweet, strong և dessert wines, vacuum juice, grape juice. Basement warehouses or elevated buildings with normal air conditioning are more effective for the aging and storage of secondary winemaking wines. Wines are stored in oak barrels and pots, as well as in gilded containers.
Maturation is the processing carried out to obtain certain և stable types of wines, which is carried out in barrels, butters, airtight containers with the participation of oxygen in the air. Wines are aged in oxygen-free conditions in bottles. They get different wines by aging, it lasts from 1.5 to 3, for some wines – 4 years. Among the care and processing of wines are beheading, cross-breeding, simplification, blending, cooling, pasteurization (disinfection), etc. Stirring is done to make up for the lack of evaporated wine, to prevent vinegar, for which they use the same type of wine. Transplantation is the separation of the transparent part of the wine from the sediment – sugar (first conversion), adhesives, etc. First, the main exchange takes place after the fermentation is over, in the presence of air. Subsequent exchanges are made as needed. Due to the exchange, the wine is enriched with oxygen from the air, the quality, taste, bouquet and aroma improve. Wine is simplified by filtration and gluing. Due to the redox processes in the wine, some of its ingredients (dyes, proteins, tannins, pectins) become dependent, cause turbidity, and then settle. Wine’s bacteria sit. Filtered with diatomite, asbestos, membrane և other filters. Gluing is the processing of wine with adhesives (fish glue, gelatin, casein, egg white, milk, bentonite), which absorb the turbid particles, forming flakes, and settle, simplifying the wine. Excess iron from wine is removed with yellow blood salt and phytin. Gluing at the same time improves the taste and smell of wine, makes it harmonious.
Armenia is considered to be one of the oldest viticultural lands, where winemaking had developed significantly since the Urartian period (IX-VI centuries BC). During the excavations of Teishebain fortress, a wine warehouse was discovered, about 480 jars, with a total capacity of 37,000 dachs. More than 200 jars of about 1000 liters were found in about 10 warehouses excavated in Toprak-Kale of Haykaberd, Manazkert, Karmir Blur and Erebuni. ⁹ They were mainly in a covered vineyard, where the grapes were crushed with bare and clean feet. Most of the wine was stored in jars or barrels in the cellars next to the threshing floor, where it was further fermented, matured, and the aged wine was aged. Fermented sweet is called macar. The rest of the grapes (chanch, skin և stone) accumulated on the bottom of the grape was poured into separate containers, from which vodka was later distilled. In the first years of the establishment of Soviet rule in Armenia, the regions of industrial winemaking were the regions of Etchmiadzin, Ashtarak, Artashat and Ararat. Currently, winemaking has industrial significance in 14 regions of the republic.
In 2010-2011, during excavations in a cave near the village of Areni, archaeologists discovered clay vessels for crushing, fermenting and storing grapes, grape stones and cups, which means that they were engaged in winemaking in Armenia more than 6000 years ago.