Trédell

Trédell or treghdell (Coeric pronunciation [ˈtrɛːdəlː] or [trɛːˈdɛlː]) is a traditional alcoholic beverage, a type of fruit wine made from fermented plum juice, produced and consumed in primarily Coedor. The drink is popular and has strong national and ethnic association; treghdell is occasionally known as the national drink of Coedor.

Description
Treghdell is usually brewed in dry or semi-dry styles, but virtually all possible styles exist due to the ubiquity of the drink. It is usually between 8% and 13% ABV, though usually on the less-alcoholic side.

Tre drink is typically a deep purple or reddish purple colour, the the exact hue can vary by the cultivar of plum used, fermentation techniques, age and conditions of storage. Similarly, the taste and mouthfeel vary significantly. Treghdell wines usually have smaller tannic contents than red grape wines but higher than white grape wines, though very tannic plum wines exist, too. Treghdell typically also has relatively high levels of acidity (citric and malic acids, mostly) and little residual sugars,

History
Fruit wines in Coedor have a long history. The first evidence of grape wine appears in late 1450s 4A, soon after Emperor Tus the Terrible finished his First Coeric Campaign and integrated some of the Coeric territories into the Asatic Empire. Since the climate of Coedor is not particularly favourable to most grape cultivars, particularly the ones grown at that time, wine supply was limited to imports.

By the 17th century 4A, first mentions of locally brewed fruit wines appear (previously, Coers brewed only beer and mead); first such drinks seem to have been dry apple ciders and wine from a wide variety of forest berries, such as raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, bilberries and so on. First plum wines seem to have appeared by the 19th century, but the drink remained marginalised and "second-class" as a substitute to the superior imported Arazi wines.

During the 23rd century 4A, plum and other fruit wines had grown to be a sizeable industry in northern Asàel, providing alcohol for domestic consumption and occasionally for export. The prestige of fruit wines, particularly treghdell, grew rapidly in this time period.

By the time Coedor split from Asáel in 2556 4A, plum wine had become a staple in Coeric culture, a national drink associated with the independence movement and the new, fully Coeric nobility and authority of the new state. During the following centuries, the production of treghdell became regulated to insure safety and quality standards.

Production
The production of trédell can be divided in three large sections: cultivation of the wine plum, processing of the wine plum and storage of the finished good.

Cultivation
Trédell begins in orchards, just like wine begins in vineyards. The wine plum is cultivated throughout Coedor and grown in dense orchards, where the trees are planted in a grid pattern, aligning in a way to ensure the largest exposure to sunlight and water to the plants. The wine plum is heavily pruned to control the volume of foliage, branches and as well as to control the size of the crop.

In the end of the summer and the beginning of autumn, the ripe plums are harvested and transported to processing facilities, usually somewhere in vicinity, as the juicy plums are not very fit for long journeys and rough handling.

Processing
The first part of wine plum processing is washing, followed by juicing: the juice is pressed from the plums without removing stems or skins. The juice, together with the crushed skins, stems and flesh of the fruit, as well as the uncrushed stones, called the must, is cooled and stored in a dry, cool place for a few days (cold maceration).

The next step is to remove the stones and heat the must to room temperatures to jump-start primary fermentation, either by adding cultured yeast or by allowing the natural, wild yeasts present on plum skins to multiply and ferment. This process usually takes a week or two, but highly depends on the yeast train, available nutrients and environmental conditions (primarily temperature).

After the primary fermentation the must is pressed to separate all solids from the now alcoholic juice, which is then sometimes allowed to proceed into secondary fermentation (for some styles of trédell); this may be facilitated by adding fresh juice or other source of sugar, usually honey.

After this the wine is siphoned into containers.

Storage
The newly fermented wine is usually stored in wooden barrels for at least several months, usually no less than a year, to allow the wine to mature and the volatile compounds to balance out. After this step, the wine is either transferred to other barrels to be aged even more or bottled for consumption.

Both the barrels and the bottles are stored in cool, dark, dry places to ensure the quality of the finished product doe not deteriorate with time.