Devatting

Drawing off, or devatting, is the term used to describe the operation of separating the residual parts of the grapes from the liquid, once the red wine has been fermented.

Clearly, this operation does not occur in whites or rosés, as these ferment without maceration of the skins or stems.

During fermentation, when red wine is being made, the musts and grape skins macerate together. After fermentation, the solid parts are separated. However, the wine is still not completely fermented and the process continues in the absence of the skins until it is completed. In December, the smaller sediments, which are tartrates and dead yeast, are removed when the wine is racked.

The problem associated with devatting is to know when to carry it out. This is usually very late in regions where enology is not advanced. In the Rioja, its importance is well-recognised, depending on the degree of ripening; whether early or late.

In general terms, during the making of young wine with whole grapes, the grapes seem to sink and foam appears in the corners of the vat.

With destemmed grapes, which is the classical system used in Rioja bodegas, the moment is decided by a density meter control.

An early devatting attains wine with little colour, a strong fixed acidity and a fruity aroma. A late devatting gives red wine with colour but less fixed acidity and less fruity aromas. A very late devatting means, once again, a loss of colour, insipid taste and very little fixed acidity.

The enologist acts by taking into consideration the quality the climate has given the grape each year. If the ripening process has been correct and generous and the enologist devats early, then despite this, the wine will have acquired colour. But if the harvested grapes are green due to a lack of ripeness, it is necessary to put off devatting so that the wine can acquire colour.

Wineproducers devat by "bleeding" wine which flows freely. Later, by forcing the drawing off of more wine by turning the grapes over. The remaining mass is then removed from inside the vat by men with pitchforks and taken in baskets to the press.

Industrial bodegas extract wine which flows freely. The mass can also be extracted by workers with pitchforks; or by mixing with a little wine it can be removed with the use of a suction pump.