A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus Vitis. Grapes are a non-climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters.
Tannins are a class of astringent, polyphenolic biomolecules that bind to and precipitate proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids.
Isinglass is a form of collagen obtained from the dried swim bladders of fish. The English word origin is from the obsolete Dutch huizenblaas – huizen is a kind of sturgeon, and blaas is a bladder, or German Hausenblase, meaning essentially the same. The bladders, once removed from the fish, processed, and dried, are formed into various shapes for use.
Polyphenols are a large family of naturally occurring phenols. They are abundant in plants and structurally diverse. Polyphenols include flavonoids, tannic acid, and ellagitannin, some of which have been used historically as dyes and for tanning garments.
Winemaking or vinification is the production of wine, starting with the selection of the fruit, its fermentation into alcohol, and the bottling of the finished liquid. The history of wine-making stretches over millennia. There is evidence that suggests that the earliest wine production took place in Georgia and Iran around 6000 to 5000 B.C. The science of wine and winemaking is known as oenology. A winemaker may also be called a vintner. The growing of grapes is viticulture and there are many varieties of grapes.
White wine is a wine that is fermented without skin contact. The colour can be straw-yellow, yellow-green, or yellow-gold. It is produced by the alcoholic fermentation of the non-coloured pulp of grapes, which may have a skin of any colour. White wine has existed for at least 4,000 years.
Kilju is the Finnish word for home made alcoholic beverage typically made of sugar, yeast, and water.
Pectinases are a group of enzymes that breaks down pectin, a polysaccharide found in plant cell walls, through hydrolysis, transelimination and deesterification reactions. Commonly referred to as pectic enzymes, they include pectolyase, pectozyme, and polygalacturonase, one of the most studied and widely used commercial pectinases. It is useful because pectin is the jelly-like matrix which helps cement plant cells together and in which other cell wall components, such as cellulose fibrils, are embedded. Therefore, pectinase enzymes are commonly used in processes involving the degradation of plant materials, such as speeding up the extraction of fruit juice from fruit, including apples and sapota. Pectinases have also been used in wine production since the 1960s. The function of pectinase in brewing is twofold, first it helps break down the plant material and so helps the extraction of flavors from the mash. Secondly the presence of pectin in finished wine causes a haze or slight cloudiness. Pectinase is used to break this down and so clear the wine.
Grape juice is obtained from crushing and blending grapes into a liquid. In the wine industry, grape juice that contains 7–23 percent of pulp, skins, stems and seeds is often referred to as must. The sugars in grape juice allow it to be used as a sweetener, and fermented and made into wine, brandy, or vinegar.
The production of wine often includes a process called fining, in which fining agents are added to wine to remove proteins, yeast, and other suspended organic particles, and later filtered out. Fining agents can be either animal, carbon, or clay-based. Animal-based fining agents include gelatin, isinglass, egg white (albumen), and casein.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to wine:
Lychee wine is a full-bodied Chinese dessert wine made of 100% lychee fruit. This wine has a golden colour and rich, sweet taste. It is usually served ice cold, either straight up or on the rocks with food. Lychee wine is believed to pair better with shellfish and Asian cuisine than with heavier meat dishes. This refreshing beverage can also be used as a cocktail mixer paired with other spirits.
The phenolic content in wine refers to the phenolic compounds—natural phenol and polyphenols—in wine, which include a large group of several hundred chemical compounds that affect the taste, color and mouthfeel of wine. These compounds include phenolic acids, stilbenoids, flavonols, dihydroflavonols, anthocyanins, flavanol monomers (catechins) and flavanol polymers (proanthocyanidins). This large group of natural phenols can be broadly separated into two categories, flavonoids and non-flavonoids. Flavonoids include the anthocyanins and tannins which contribute to the color and mouthfeel of the wine. The non-flavonoids include the stilbenoids such as resveratrol and phenolic acids such as benzoic, caffeic and cinnamic acids.
This glossary of winemaking terms lists some of terms and definitions involved in making wine, fruit wine, and mead.
Beer is often made from barley malt, water, hops and yeast and so is often suitable for vegans and vegetarians. Some beer brewers add finings to clarify the beer when racking into a barrel. Finings can include plant-derived products, like Irish moss, or animal-derived products, like isinglass and gelatin.
In winemaking, clarification and stabilization are the processes by which insoluble matter suspended in the wine is removed before bottling. This matter may include dead yeast cells (lees), bacteria, tartrates, proteins, pectins, various tannins and other phenolic compounds, as well as pieces of grape skin, pulp, stems and gums. Clarification and stabilization may involve fining, filtration, centrifugation, flotation, refrigeration, pasteurization, and/or barrel maturation and racking.
The grape reaction product is a phenolic compound explaining the disappearance of caftaric acid from grape must during processing. It is also found in aged red wines. Its enzymatic production by polyphenol oxidase is important in limiting the browning of musts, especially in white wine production. The product can be recreated in model solutions.
Proteins are present in wine. The most common proteins include thaumatin-like proteins and chitinases and have a role in the formation of turbidity (haze) especially visible in white wine. The quantity of haze forming is dependent on the quantity of phenolics in the wine.
Gusmer Enterprises, Inc. was founded in 1918 to provide products to the brewing market. It currently manufactures and sells a wide range of products geared towards the winemaking, brewing, edible oil, and pharmaceutical markets. Gusmer has partnered with several well-known international companies to provide their products to Gusmer's core beverage markets, as well as to expand Gusmer's manufactured products into other industries. Partnership companies include Millipore Sigma, BASF, Chr. Hansen and many others mentioned below. Gusmer's headquarters are located in Mountainside, New Jersey. Other locations include their primary manufacturing plants in Fresno, CA and Waupaca, WI as well as their analytical services group located in Napa, CA and the Gusmer Sonoma Store located in Windsor, CA.
