15/05/2020
Fruit wine comprises of two main ingredients—water and ethanol, the latter being the primary product of alcoholic fermentation, essential for both flavour and stability of wine. Fermentation is an anaerobic process carried out by yeast in which yeast changes the relatively high level of sugars existing in fruits and additional sugars that are present in the ‘must’ into ethanol and carbon dioxide. Ethanol production is controlled by three main factors: sugar content, fermentation temperature and yeast strain. Specific types of yeast are used in wine production that can mutually tolerate and yield high alcohol levels (in some cases up to 14%, or even higher).
