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WINEMAKER’S NOTES
HARVEST 2007

January 5, 2008
Happy New Year ya'll! And I feel really valid in saying "ya'll" after spending the Holidays with my wife and our family in New Orleans. I look forward to this time of year. It is a great time to look back at the past year, look towards the New Year and plan to make the New Year better both in my personal and professional life. It is the time for the Tabla Rosa (clean slate).

In any event I look forward to an exciting year through and through. We have great white wines which will see release in the Spring/Summer. We have beautiful red wines which are slowly undergoing malo-lactic fermentation. Malo-lactic fermentation, "M/L" to wine geeks is when malic acid is converted to lactic acid by "M/L" bacteria. Malic which means apple (No, not the maker of I-Pods) in German, is an acid that is found in...Yep, you guessed it, apples! The best source for malic acid is Granny Smith apples. Those are the green ones that you can find in any supermarket.

The bacteria that is responsible for "M/L" is as harmless to humans as any bacteria used in cheese and yogurt production. The reason I say this is because I have had people look at me funny when I tell them that we use bacteria in wine. The "M/L" bacteria consumes malic acid and as a by-product produces lactic acid and a small amount of carbon dioxide.
M/L Bacteria + Malic acid -----> Lactic acid + Carbon dioxide

Lactic acid is found in dairy products and provides a smoothness to wines. All of our red wines undergo malo-lactic fermentation. Our rose is non-M/L as is most of our white wines. The only wines that go through "M/L" are our Estate Reserve Chardonnay and our Face Chardonnay which is partial "M/L." The wines that are "non-M/L" still have their malic acid which can provide a brightness and a crispness to a wine. This brightness and crispness is most evident in wines like our Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Gewürztraminer, and Viognier.
Talk with ya'll soon!

Cheers,
Juan Eduardo Micieli-Martinez