A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in

winemaking Winemaking, wine-making, or vinification is the production of wine, starting with the selection of the fruit, its Ethanol fermentation, fermentation into alcohol, and the bottling of the finished liquid. The history of wine-making stretches over ...

. They are generally employed by wineries or wine companies, where their work includes: *Cooperating with

viticulturist Viticulture (, "vine-growing"), viniculture (, "wine-growing"), or winegrowing is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ...

s *Monitoring the maturity of grapes to ensure their quality and to determine the correct time for harvest *Crushing and pressing grapes *Monitoring the settling of

juice Juice is a drink made from the extraction or Cold-pressed juice, pressing of the natural liquid contained in fruit and vegetables. It can also refer to liquids that are flavored with concentrate or other biological food sources, such as meat ...

and the fermentation of grape material * Filtering the wine to remove remaining solids *Testing the quality of wine by tasting *Placing filtered wine in casks or tanks for storage and maturation *Preparing plans for bottling wine once it has matured *Making sure that quality is maintained when the wine is bottled Today, these duties require an increasing amount of scientific knowledge, since laboratory tests are gradually supplementing or replacing traditional methods. Winemakers can also be referred to as oenologists as they study

oenology Oenology (also enology; ) is the science and study of wine and winemaking. Oenology is distinct from viticulture, which is the science of the growing, cultivation, and harvesting of grapes. The English word oenology derives from the Greek word ' ...

– the science of wine. Vigneron

Vintner

A vintner is a

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...

. In some modern use, particularly in

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...

, the term is also used as a synonym for "winemaker". The term started in

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

, superseding the earlier term ''vinter''. Due to the close political and commercial ties between

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

and England during the 14th and early 15th centuries, vintners were among the more important people in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

with winemakers being four times mayor of the city under the reign of Edward II. The Worshipful Company of Vintners is one of the oldest livery companies in London.

Vigneron

A vigneron is someone who cultivates a

vineyard A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...

for winemaking. The word connotes or emphasizes the critical role that vineyard placement and maintenance has in the production of high-quality wine. The term, French for someone who grows grapes or makes wine, is often used in Australia to describe a winemaker who is also involved as an owner or manager as opposed to a person who is employed only to make wine, who is generally referred to as a winemaker. It is also used when referring to a winemaker from France.

Vincent of Saragossa Vincent of Saragossa (also known as Vincent Martyr, Vincent of Huesca or Vincent the Deacon), the Protomartyr of Spain, was a deacon of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Zaragoza, Church of Saragossa. He is the patron saint of Lisbon, Algarve, a ...

is the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...

of vignerons.

''Négociant''

''Négociant'' is the French term for a

merchant who assembles the produce of smaller growers and winemakers and sells the result under its own name. ''Négociants'' buy everything from

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began approximately 8,0 ...

s to grape

must Must is freshly crushed Juice, fruit juice (usually grape juice) that contains the skins, seeds, and stems of the fruit. The solid portion of the must is called pomace and typically makes up 7–23% of the total weight of the must. Making must ...

to wines in various states of completion. In the case of grapes or must, the ''négociant'' performs virtually all the

. If he buys already fermented wine in barrels or ''en-vrac''—basically in bulk containers, he may age the wine further, blend in other wines or simply bottle and sell it as is. The result is sold under the name of the ''négociant'', not the name of the original grape or wine producer. Some ''négociants'' have a recognizable house style. ''Négociants'', who are also called wine merchants/traders, were the dominant force in the wine trade until the last 25 years for various reasons: * Historically the owners of vineyards and producers of wine had no direct access to buyers. * It was too expensive for growers to purchase the wine presses and bottling lines necessary to produce a finished wine. * Owning only a small portion of a particular high-quality single vineyard (''

lieu-dit ''Lieu-dit'' (; plural: ''lieux-dits'') (literally ''location-said'', "named place") is a French language, French toponymic term for a small geographical area bearing a traditional name. The name usually refers to some characteristic of the plac ...

'') meant that a grower often had insufficient wine from a parcel to vinify on its own. Under French inheritance laws, vineyard holdings were often split until offspring owned no more than a single row of grapes, not enough to fill a

barrel A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden stave (wood), staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers ...

. Since prices for a ''

premier cru Cru is a wine Glossary of wine terms, term used to indicate a high-quality vineyard or group of vineyards. It is a French language, French word which was originally used to refer to both a region and anything grown in it, but is now mostly used t ...

'' are typically higher than for wines from a larger area like a village or region, the grower could make more money selling off the production as the ''premier cru'' rather than blending it into a less specific appellation. Many ''négociants'' are also vineyard owners in their own right. In

Burgundy Burgundy ( ; ; Burgundian: ''Bregogne'') is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. ...

for instance, ''négociants'' such as Bouchard Père et Fils and Faiveley are among the largest owners of vineyards. Well-known ''négociants'' in Burgundy are Maison Louis Jadot, Joseph Drouhin, and Vincent Girardin; in Beaujolais, Georges Duboeuf; in Provence, Mirabeau;mirabeauwine.com
/ref> and in the

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Ròse''; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Rôno'') is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and Southeastern France before dischargi ...

region, Guigal, Jaboulet, Jean-Luc Colombo, Chapoutier, and Famille Perrin''.

References

External links

* {{portal bar, Drink Wine terminology Viticulture

Vintner

Vigneron

''Négociant''

See also

References

External links