Recently I was told that there are two thousand decisions that have been made before someone drinks the wine from a bottle. That’s a lot of decisions. When I mentioned this to winemakers on a recent trip to wineries in Wisconsin, I received knowing nods as well is questionable looks. Decisions have to be made in the vineyard as well as in the winery. When do you spray grapes in the vineyard and with what product? Do you irrigate the vineyard assuming that it is legal to do so? What grape variety should be planted in the vineyard and then on what rootstock? There are thousands of grape varieties to choose from each available on different rootstocks. I’m not certain how many decisions is involved in just choosing the grape variety. What kind of trellis system are you going to use? When should you harvest the grapes? And the questions go on.

In the winery, the winemaker is faced with many decisions. Should the grapes be cold soaked, sorted, de-stemmed, crushed and when should these be done? What chemicals should be added to the grapes and what yeast should be used of the hundreds available? Should you age the wine in stainless steel tanks or oak? If oak, what kind of oak? Where was the oak harvested; where were the barrels made how much toast was applied? How long should the wine be aged? What type of bottle and enclosure will you use? And the questions go on.

Perhaps with many products there are hundreds or thousands of decisions that need to be made before the product reaches your hands. I’ve only scratched the surface of wine decisions though.