Fermentation in winemaking

Sweetheart, do you know that grapes have a liquid inside of them called juice? When people make wine, they use that juice and let it sit for a while in a special container called a vat. This is where the interesting part called "fermentation" happens.

So, do you know how we bake cupcakes and put them in the oven to cook? Well, it's kind of like that with the grape juice, but instead of heat, we use little helpers called "yeasts". Yeasts are tiny living things that eat the sugar in the grape juice and turn it into alcohol. That's right, they turn the juice into something grown-ups like to drink.

As the yeasts munch on the sugar, they release gas too. This gas makes bubbles in the grape juice and is what makes the wine fizzy. Some people like fizzy wine, while others prefer non-fizzy wine. It's like choosing whether you like your soda to be flat or fizzy.

After a while, when the yeasts have eaten up all the sugar they can find, the fermentation stops. This is when the winemakers drain the juice and put it into barrels to age. Ageing is like letting the wine take a nap, it gets better with time.

So, in summary, fermentation in winemaking is like making cupcakes with yeast. Except instead of heat, we let the yeast eat the sugar in grape juice to make alcohol, and sometimes bubbles if we want fizzy wine. And just like you need a nap after playing all day, wine needs to nap in barrels to get better over time.