Vin blanc
How white wine is made
White wine is made from juice alone. The skins are removed early, so colour and tannin stay low while acidity, aroma and purity take centre stage. Every choice — how quickly to press, how cold to ferment, whether to use oak or lees — shapes the final wine.
From grape to glass
The harvest
White grapes are picked when acidity, sugar and flavour are in balance. Many French growers harvest whites earlier than reds to preserve freshness, often at night or dawn so the fruit arrives cool.
Cool grapes mean slower oxidation and cleaner juice. In warmer regions such as the southern Rhône, early picking is essential to keep whites from becoming heavy or flabby.
Sorting and destemming
Grapes are sorted to remove leaves, unripe berries and rot, then usually destemmed. Some whole-bunch pressing is used for delicate styles, but most white wine is made from clean, stem-free berries.
In Champagne and Chablis, whole-cluster pressing is common because it yields elegant, low-phenolic juice. Elsewhere, destemming gives more control.
Pressing
Unlike red wine, white wine is pressed before fermentation. Gentle pressing separates the juice from skins, seeds and solids. The first, lightest pressings are the most prized; harder pressings can be bitter or tannic.
Champagne presses are famously slow and careful, sometimes taking hours. Fast, hard pressing extracts phenolics that can make a white wine coarse or age poorly.
Settling
Freshly pressed juice is cloudy with grape solids. It is left to settle so the heavy particles fall to the bottom. The clear juice is then racked off, leaving the lees behind.
Some winemakers leave a little sediment for texture — this is common in Muscadet, where lees contact gives the wine its characteristic savoury depth.
Fermentation
Yeasts convert sugar into alcohol. Whites ferment at cooler temperatures than reds — often 12°C to 22°C — to preserve aromatic fruit. It can happen in stainless steel, oak barrel or concrete egg.
Steel tanks keep flavours bright and precise, as in Sancerre. Old oak barrels add texture without obvious wood flavour, as in Meursault. New oak brings vanilla and toast.
Malolactic fermentation
Some whites undergo a second, bacterial fermentation that softens sharp malic acid into creamier lactic acid. It is standard in most Burgundian whites and Champagne, but avoided in crisp styles such as Riesling or Muscadet.
This step adds roundness and stability but reduces freshness. A winemaker's choice here defines whether a white is taut and racy or broad and creamy.
Lees ageing and stirring
Many fine white wines are left on their spent yeast cells, or lees, for months or years. Stirring the lees — bâtonnage — adds body, texture and savoury complexity.
Burgundian producers bâtonnage to build mouthfeel. In Chablis, extended lees ageing gives the wine its signature flinty, saline character.
Blending and bottling
Wines from different tanks, parcels or vintages are blended to create the final cuvée. The wine may be filtered or fined for clarity, then bottled — sometimes with a little sulphur to protect against oxidation.
Blending is where the house style is set. In Champagne, non-vintage cuvées blend multiple years for consistency. In Burgundy, blending is usually by single vineyard.
Why whites stay pale
The pigments that colour red wine live in the grape skins. Because white juice is pressed off the skins before fermentation, almost no colour is extracted. The result is a wine whose appeal lies in clarity, fragrance and acidity rather than structure and tannin. That is why the same Chardonnay grape can become a lean Chablis, a creamy Meursault, or a sparkling Blanc de Blancs — the winemaker's decisions matter more than the grape itself.
Oak, steel and freshness
French white wines range from steel-cold and mineral to barrel-fermented and rich. A Chablis is typically aged in old oak or steel to keep its chalky edge. A Meursault spends time in barrel, gaining texture and hazelnut notes. In Alsace and the Loire, large old casks are common, adding weight without masking the grape's personality.
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