bernie's corner
  
Wines awards

 

WINEMAKER’S NOTES
HARVEST 2007

October 5, 2007
Well, I probably sound like a broken record when I say this, but it has been yet another beautiful week here on the farm. The vineyard looks awesome and all of the blocks are ripening nicely. While the weather has been great for the vineyard, Willy has been hard at work keeping all of the pastures watered.

We will begin picking Viognier shortly and I am expecting great flavors and at least 22.5-23 Brix! The Viognier will be hand picked. Once again this is to assure that we get the best clusters and that they are handled gently. People have been asking, “What happens to the fruit once it is picked?” Well, the rose’ and white wine grapes are destemmed and then transferred to the press.
Once the grapes are in the press a bag inflates and gently applies pressure to the berries. When this pressure is applied the juices are released from the berries. Once the juices are released they are collected and pumped into stainless steel tanks.

The juices are allowed to settle because there is always pulp that we call ‘lees’ that makes it into the tank. After about 48-hours the naturally clarified juice is pumped into another tank and yeast is added. Once the yeast is added fermentation ensues.

FERMENTATION:
Yeast + Sugar Ë alcohol + CO2 + heat

It takes about 10-14 days for the yeast to consume all of the sugar. I like to ferment all of our white wines at cooler temperatures (≈52 °F). We consider the wine “dry” when the yeast has consumed all of the sugar. We are constantly monitoring the fermentation to see that the yeast is doing its job in a timely manner.

In addition to monitoring the rate of fermentation we are monitoring temperature. Heat is one of the by-products of fermentation. The stainless steel tanks that we use all have temperature control. This allows us to control the fermentation temperature.

Lastly, there will be a bottle of Viognier juice in the tasting room this weekend. It will be a crazy weekend in the tasting room. However, if you get a chance give it a try.

Drink what you like; like what you drink!!!
Juan Eduardo Micieli-Martinez – Winemaker