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 for white wine from black grapes as the premature bursting of the berries would cause a coloured must). The practice of shaking or stalking has the advantage of separating the stems from the cluster of grapes and avoids giving the wine a herbaceous taste at pressing. The skin is not macerated and the transparent yellow colour is retained. The winemaker can soak the skins of white grapes and practice maceration if the quality of the grapes is good. Pre-fermentation Maceration is generally performed at a controlled temperature to delay the onset of fermentation. This technique improves the extraction of varietal