White wine the death knell of northern viticulture. The vine disappeared from northern Germany and Baden, and the maximum altitude for viticulture descended to 220 metres. Hans-Jürgen Otto noted that: "all the vineyards suffered and decreased in area". In England the vine also disappeared. The less early vineyards preferred to select white varieties of grapes because, even if unripe, white grapes allowed wine that was a little sour to still be consumable, while red grapes do not give enough colour and green tannins make the wine bitter. The interruption of the fermentation by a cold winter led to the discovery of the
White wine a matte finish to the colour of the grape and contains the yeast responsible for fermentation. The grape skin also contains volatile compounds in its deeper layers. These are responsible for the aroma of the grape and for the molecules that become the aroma of wine during fermentation: they are the "aroma precursors". In red grapes the film also contains anthocyanins or coloured matter which is from bright to purplish red. To produce white wine from red grapes it is necessary not to macerate the grapes, nor to press too hard on the harvest to avoid the dissolving of the