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Wine Word of the Week: Fining
By Kori ~ September 25th, 2010.
This week’s Wine Word of the Week is fining.
Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine:
Fining is the winemaking process with the aim of clarification and stabilization of a wine whereby a fining agent, one of a range of special materials, is added to coagulate or absorb and precipitate quickly the colloids suspended in it. Fining (collage, or ‘sticking’, in French) is important because, by encouraging these microscopic particles to fall out of the wine, the wine is less likely to become hazy or cloudy.
Layman’s terms from Kori:
Fining takes place during the clarification and stabilization stages of the winemaking process. Fining agents such as egg whites and gelatin are mixed into the wine to bind to undesirable particles. Both the fining agents and undesirable particles are removed during racking.
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