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Fermentation Atlas

Alcoholic drinks from Beaujolais

Carbonic-maceration red wine (Beaujolais, Rioja, vino novello)macération carbonique

Whole, uncrushed bunches of red grapes are shut in a tank full of carbon dioxide. With no oxygen, the grapes' own enzymes start fermenting inside each berry, making some alcohol and breaking down malic acid. After about a week the wine is run off, the whole grapes are pressed, and yeast finishes the fermentation, giving a light, fruity, low-tannin red. Made in 5 steps over 9 days – 13 days. The longest step, ferment inside the whole berries, takes 5–8 days (Santamaría P. et al. 2022) and runs at 20–30 °C (Santamaría P. et al. 2022). Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which finishes the alcoholic fermentation and Non-Saccharomyces yeasts early in vatting do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step5–8 daysReported[santamaria2022]Ferment inside the whole berries
Temperature20–30 °CReported[santamaria2022][gutierrez2023]Ferment inside the whole berries

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceA small-scale trial at the Institute of Grapevine and Wine Sciences in La Rioja; cellars fill whole tanks the same way.
10 kgWhole Tempranillo grapes, not destemmed or crushed[santamaria2022]
2 LMust with 40 mg/L sulfite · Stands in for the juice of berries broken at filling[santamaria2022]
Wine yeast in the must, or bottled carbon dioxide · Either one fills the tank with CO2 and drives out the air[santamaria2022]
Starterthe grapes' own enzymes first, then wine yeast (spontaneous or inoculated)

Total time across the recorded steps: 9 days – 13 days

Start
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What changes: Starting material: whole bunches of red grapes, not crushed or destemmed

Step 1 of 5
Pick whole bunches
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Yeasts
Oenococcus oeni

Output: whole, unbroken bunches.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Ordinary red wine is made from destemmed, crushed grapes that ferment on their skins. Here the bunches stay whole under carbon dioxide, so the first fermentation happens inside each berry, driven by the grape's own enzymes, before the grapes are pressed and yeast takes over.

Grapes
Whole bunches, not destemmed or crushed
Whole-berry phase
About 5–8 days under carbon dioxide before pressing

Related ferments

Variants

  • Yeast-inoculated tanks (La Rioja)Many La Rioja winemakers without temperature control add yeast to the must in the tank, so its fermentation supplies the carbon dioxide and the vatting runs faster and cleaner.
  • Bottled-gas tanksCarbon dioxide from a gas bottle fills the tank instead; in one trial this was slower to remove the air and let more acetic acid build up in the berries.

Safety

The open, warm vatting favours bacteria. In one La Rioja study, uninoculated carbonic-maceration wines reached volatile acidity above 1.5 g/L, against about 0.5 g/L when yeast was added; adding yeast and timing the run-off keep acetic acid down.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Carbonic maceration was used in La Rioja, Beaujolais and for Italian vino novello before phylloxera and survives mainly in small wineries. The technique has been used in France for more than 80 years.

  1. [santamaria2022] Santamaría P. et al. 2022, Influence of the temperature and the origin of CO2 on the intracellular fermentation of wines made by carbonic maceration, Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 102:6163–6168, doi:10.1002/jsfa.12078paper
  2. [gutierrez2023] Gutiérrez A.R. et al. 2023, Yeasts inoculation effect on bacterial development in carbonic maceration wines elaboration, Foods 12:2755, doi:10.3390/foods12142755paper
  3. [zhang2019] Zhang Y.S. et al. 2019, The effect of carbonic maceration during winemaking on the color, aroma and sensory properties of 'Muscat Hamburg' wine, Molecules 24:3120, doi:10.3390/molecules24173120paper