Good quality wine can only be made from quality grapes. The process of wine making is about converting fruit's sugar into alcohol. Whilst it may sound simple, it is a complex and delicate process which is more an art than technology. It involves physical processes as well as chemical and biological reactions.

Whilst larger and more automated equipment have been developed over the years, many smaller wineries still use traditional equipment for making wine. Irrespective of whether traditional or modern equipment are used, careful monitoring and control of the wine making processes is absolutely crucial. Therefore, professional wine makers carry out analyses from the stage where the grapes are beginning to ripen on the vine until the time when the wine is ready to be bottled.

Apart from sugar, the presence of acid in fruit is important. Grapes have an ideal balance of sugar and acid for making wine. They contain from 10% to 20% sugar and from 5 - 10 g/l of tartic and malic acids.

Quality grapes are grown in cool climates, such as the Yarra Valley, where the fruit undergoes a long ripening period. These grapes posses greater flavour and aroma intensity compared to fruit grown under conditions where the ripening period is of shorter duration.

The process of wine making varies depending on the type of fruit and style of wine. It normally begins with crushing of the fruit. It is important to maximize the colour, flavour, mouthfeel and juice extraction at this stage of wine making.

The next stage of the wine making involves fermentation which involves adding yeast to the juice to convert sugar present in the fruit to alcohol. For red wines, it is important to ensure maximum contact between the juice and the skin during fermentation in order to extract maximum tannins from the skin. The control of temperature is also important to achieve complete fermentation and to make sure varietal character, complex flavour and aromas are not lost. Fermentation may last 3 days to 4 weeks.

For grapes fermented with their skin, the next stage involves separating skins from the fermenting juice, known as pressing. Many small wine makers still use traditional 'basket' press to ensure this stage of the wine making is carried out gently to avoid bitterness of wine often caused by crushing grape seeds.

In the press, first the free-run wine is separated and then the rest of the skin is pressed to extract the remaining wine. The pressed wine is usually blended with free-run wine before undergoing further fermentation. For making dry table wines, fermentation must proceed until the wine's sugar content reduces to 1-2 g/l.

For red wines, additional fermentation process know as malo-lactic fermentation is often required. During this fermentation malic acid (which is present in greater amounts in unripe grapes) is converted to lactic acid. This process results in the wine becoming less acidic and more mellow to the taste. Wine makers use an inoculation culture to initiate this process.

Once the malo-lactic fermentation is completed, the suspended particles in wine normally settle producing reasonably clear wine. However, sometimes it is necessary to have the wine clarified by a so-called fining agent before it can be transferred to oak barrels (that is if oak maturation is selected).

Oak maturation is used for quality red and some white table wines. The French oaks are regarded as the best and hence used for premium wines. Oak maturation significantly increases the cost of producing wine. Wine is normally stored in oak barrels for more than a year.

After completion of oak maturation, the wine is filtered to remove any residual solid suspensions before bottling. It should be noted that if the wine is to be cellared for several years (as it is expected with premium wines), it is essential that a high quality cork is used. Good quality corks are quite expensive.

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