Traditionally, white wine is made from ‘green’ grapes and red wine is made from ‘red’ grapes. But, did you know that white wines can be made from red wine grapes?

Before delving into how white wine can be produced by pressing red grapes, let us have a quick run-through of how the white and red wines are generally produced. When producing white wines, the grapes are pressed in order to extract the juice. This juice may undergo another process – that of removing particles so that fermentation starts with clear juice.

How does the process change when producing red wine? In this case, the grape juice is joined by grapes’ skins and seeds in order for fermentation to take place. Once this process is ready, the red wine is drained from the tanks. This draining process can be allowed to take place freely or else it can be pressed in order for the wine to be extracted.

If you had to press red grapes without their skin, you would obtain an almost clear juice. It’s indeed the skin that gives the wine its colour. More simply, this means that in order to produce white wine using red grapes, all you have to do is follow the white wine making process, therefore not allowing contact between the grape juice and the skin and seeds.

The technique of producing white wines from red grapes is extremely widespread and you are most likely to have tasted many varieties of such wines. Perhaps the most popular variety which is white in colour but produced from red grapes is Champagne. Yes Champagne! This is produced by mixing Chardonnay (which is white), together with Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier (both red wine grapes).

Do you know that at Maria Rosa Wine Estate we also produce white wine from red grapes? We call it white Sirakużan which tastes completely different from its red counterpart. If you haven’t had the pleasure of tasting it yet, we invite you to do so.

Our white Sirakużan can be purchased directly from our wine estate in Attard. Alternatively, if you would like to taste more than one of our wines, we suggest you book a wine tasting session. Sounds like a good idea? Contact our events manager today to book your wine and olive oil tasting session by calling on 7947 1144 or sending an email on events@briju.com.mt.