Here's the place you can ask questions about your wine plan and get answers from your winemaking team at Crushpad. Stumped on how hot you should let that Pinot fermentation get... what kind of yeast is best for Cabernet... how do I achieve my desired alcohol level...?
From the very general, to the fabulously nerdy... bring them on!
Hemicellulose invertase!
Is there a yeast that is suitable for Cabernet Sauvignon fermentation that is killer positive AND hemicellulase active that you know of?
What are you hoping to do
What are you hoping to do with this yeast and when you say "active" what do you mean?
You are already using enzymes with hemicellulase breaking down the hemicellulose. I assume that any sugars as a result of this activity can be used by the yeast.
Your explanation will obviously be more of a help to me than mine was to you.
Yeah, we are using them
Yeah, we are using them already but just wanted to check responses.
Nothing like a good "stir of the pot!"
Z
I have an article on this
I have an article on this topic even though you are all set.
Fermentation temp? In light
Fermentation temp?
In light of the Pinot Noir wine plan event at CP on Thurs 5/31... what's the scoop on choosing how hot we let fermentations get for Pinot Noir? It seems that people pay more attention to fermentation temperatures with Pinot. No?
Ok, here we go. Temperature
Ok, here we go.
Temperature for Pinot seems to be more of an issue due to the balance required between alcohol, fruit expression, tannin and color extraction. To simplify things, the cooler the ferment, the more fruit forward the wine produced while higher temperature ferments generally produce wines with better color and less fruit presence. Having said that, too high a temp will result in "burning off" of the specific aroma's that make Pinot so attractive as well as "cooking" or "stressing" the yeast and therefore a happy "middle ground" needs to be found. Ideally ferment temps for Pinot range from 90-95 deg F or around 30-32 deg Celsius. This also needs to be balanced against rate of ferment which also effects the duration of ferment. Longer ferments (ie longer time of skin/wine contact) create greater extraction of all the "good" elements of Pinot, but the warmer it gets the quicker the ferment, as you can see, a catch 22 situation. Ideally a high ferment temp is best but a slow ferment rate which can to some extent be controlled by yeast selection and inoculation time, cap management, nutrient addition, amelioration and time of pressing off skins.
In short, experience and hands-on monitoring is everything.
Z
I'd say that fermentation
I'd say that fermentation temp is critical for all varietals for the reasons Mike mentioned. The same principles apply for all reds.
I would say you have the same critical eye towards whites as well. Longer cooler ferments are better for whites. They will retain a livelier fruiter quality in the 50-60F range. Low and slow.
If the temp is too high then it blows off some aroma.
How does extended
How does extended maceration work?
I'm hoping someone can answer my question about extended maceration.
Once the brix drop far enough you're not really getting any more color
or flavors out of the skins. So doesn't extended maceration leave you
open to reduction or other problems? When/why would you use it?
The key benefit of extended
The key benefit of extended maceration is the polymerization of tannin. Essentially softening the tannins in a wine. It can seem counter-intuitive since you are leaving the wine in contact with all of those harsh seeds, but even though the amount of the tannin may go up the tannins change to be more supple. The result is a wine with plenty of tannin that doesn't taste as harsh initially.
This is most commonly used on Bordeaux varieties although it is done on Syrah and Pinot by some winemakers as well. The maceration actually results in color being absorbed back into the skins as well so you see a slight color loss which usually doesn't hurt a big. color saturated Cab, but can be detrimental to a Pinot that may not be as color-rich to start with. You may want to use extended maceration when you are looking for an extracted wine that is not too harsh. Like all things in winemaking, some winemakers swear by it and others don't believe that it improves the wine. As always, the fruit you are using will dictate the relative benefits.
The drawbacks should be considered. This process requires vigilence since the technique requires you to hit a "sweet spot" in the maceration time. The tannin will build initially and make the wine harsher, but this starts to change and the softening happens, this is when you press. If you don't press and wait too long more harsh tannin will build and the wine will be a tannic monster. Tasting frequently is a good idea if you can swing it.
The wine must be in an oxygen free environment or several bad things can happen including acetobacter(vinegar making bacteria), ethyl acetate formation(a nail polish smell), and other scary things best left unsaid. This shouldn't happen with good winemaking practices and the Crushpad team knows what they are doing. Sealing the t-bins or tanks and allowing the CO2 from the inital fermentation to void any oxygen is often done and can be supplemented by dosing the container with CO2/nitrogen or argon.
You brought up reduction and since this method requires a anaerobic environment it can be an issue. I would say that if you had a nice clean fermentation then the reduction issues aren't a major problem, but if you had a major H2S problem during fermentation then this technique becomes a real problem.
Good Luck!
Thank you Rossi. ,Last year,
Thank you Rossi. ,Last year, I wavered back and forth on whether I should run a trial. My production (1 barrel under a carport) is so small, I've been afraid of ruining my whole lot for the year. But, it's hard to run real trials on tiny sample sizes. Who knows, maybe next year?! I create your basic field blend and I've identified primitivo and durif so far. There are other grapes too, but I've never bothered to find out because it's so much work just maintainting the garden while working full time. -Infield Fly-
Hey Guys, Must say that
Hey Guys, Must say that this is a really tough question to answer simply but Rossi has done agood job to compress a very complex issue into a few lines, well done as always!! The issue boils down to what is the phenolic make up of the wine in the first place and will the wine benefit from modification of the phenols in a positive or quite often negative way? From my experience, albeit only a few harvests in the US but many more in Australia and Bordeaux, The initial tannin make up is of primary importance as smaller molecular weight tannins increase during ExtMac and these play an important role in the condensation and polymerisation reactions that occur. Cal fruit on the otherhand tends to have riper, larger weight tannins which have differing if any positive effect of ExtMac. One of the key catalysts for condensation reactions is acetaldehyde which is derived from the oxidation of ethanol. It is therefore important to the "softening" effect that is experienced after considerable time on skins which occurs as well as the polymerisation of phenolics. many of these reactions occur around the smaller phenols, of which the greater amount come from cooler climate growing regions. The down side to ExtMac is that generally colour density decreases due to polymerisation, but the up side is that colour stability is increased and basically what you have post MLF and after sulphur is what you will have throughout the wines barrel ageing period.
To undertake ExtMac is always a risk as there is not guarantee that it will work. The wine increases in tannin concentration as ethanol continues to extract skin and seed tannin from the must. This tannin grows to quite offensive levels and many times I have questioned the process but overall one has to be patient and wait for the tannin levels to reach "super saturation" point at which time, usually the next day or two, the wine has miraculously softened and has an amazing suppleness to it that is absolutely delicious. This is the time at which to press. Further extraction produces an out of balance wine that is hard and agressive.
Hope this helps, or may confuse you totally.
Z
Two extremely well thought
Two extremely well thought out responses. And, your detail insights really do help. Thank you. To be honest, I'm going to hold off. I just keep reading about producers, mostly old world, who do it and wanted to know if I should give it a shot.
But, thank you Rossi and MikeZ for all the time you've obviously put your answers. I know who to ask!
Now about getting lignified stems without overripening fruit...