Mutage is a
wine making
Winemaking or vinification is the production of wine, starting with the selection of the fruit, its fermentation into alcohol, and the bottling of the finished liquid. The history of wine-making stretches over millennia. The science of wine and w ...
technique for making sweet wines.
Typical mechanism
The typical process involves the addition of alcohol to the ''
must'' so that the
fermentation process is prematurely stopped. Most
yeast
Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are estimated to constit ...
s die when the alcohol content in their environment is raised to approximately 13–15%. By stopping the fermentation of sugars, a sweet taste of the
wine
Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...
is achieved. This technique is used to make
port wine
Port wine (also known as vinho do Porto, , or simply port) is a Portuguese wine, Portuguese fortified wine produced in the Douro, Douro Valley of Norte, Portugal, northern Portugal. It is typically a sweetness of wine, sweet red wine, often ...
and other sweet wines with high alcohol content.
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Types of mutage
Two types of mutage are sometimes distinguished. A distinction being made between adding alcohol to the must before fermentation and adding during fermentation.
# ''Mutage sur grain'': Where the mutage takes place during maceration on the skins. This is described as ''mutage on the cap of the marc'' and produces vin de liqueur
# Mutage after the traditional maceration and pressing producing vin doux naturel
Fortified wine is a wine to which a distilled spirit, usually brandy, has been added. In the course of some centuries, winemakers have developed many different styles of fortified wine, including port, sherry, madeira, Marsala, Commandar ...
.
Noted wines referred to as having been made by ''mutage''
Reds
* Banyuls
Banyuls-sur-Mer (; ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. It was first settled by Greeks starting in 400 BCE.
Geography Location
Banyuls-sur-Mer is located in the canton of La Côte Vermeille and in the a ...
* Maury
* Rivesaltes
Rivesaltes (; ca, Ribesaltes, which means the ''high shores'') is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France.
Geography
Rivesaltes is in the canton of La Vallée de l'Agly and in the arrondissement of Perpignan.
...
Whites
* Muscat de Beaumes de Venise
* Muscat de Rivesaltes
* Muscat de Frontignan
Muscat ( ar, مَسْقَط, ) is the capital and most populated city in Oman. It is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the total population of Muscat Governorate was ...
Other techniques
Other techniques for making sweet wines exist such as vendange tardive, the noble rot
Noble rot (french: pourriture noble; german: Edelfäule; it, Muffa nobile; hu, Aszúsodás) is the beneficial form of a grey fungus, ''Botrytis cinerea'', affecting wine grapes. Infestation by ''Botrytis'' requires moist conditions. If the we ...
, various filtration techniques or early heating of the must, and adding sweet musts after fermentation.
See also
* Fortified wine
* Vin de liqueur
* Vin doux naturel
Fortified wine is a wine to which a distilled spirit, usually brandy, has been added. In the course of some centuries, winemakers have developed many different styles of fortified wine, including port, sherry, madeira, Marsala, Commandar ...
References
{{Reflist
Wine terminology
Oenology