What You Need to Know
Co-fermentation is the practice in winemaking of fermenting two or more fruits at the same time when producing a wine. This differs from the more common practice of blending separate wine components into a cuvée after fermentation. While co-fermentation in principle could be practiced for any mixture of grape varieties or other fruits, it is today more common for red wines produced from a mixture of red grape varieties and a smaller proportion of white grape varieties.
Steps
- 1.
Beaujolais Nouveau (France): Co-fermentation of Gamay grapes creates fresh, fruity character
- 2.
Chianti Classico (Italy): Traditional co-fermentation of Sangiovese with small amounts of white grapes
- 3.
Field blend wines (California): Ancient practice of co-fermenting interplanted grape varieties