Recently, a visitor to our tasting room asked me how much is winemaking a science vs art?  Certainly, science is important because the analyses are helpful, oftentimes essential, in making harvest and wine adjustment decisions.  However, making wine based on lab analyses alone can be like painting by numbers.

The art of winemaking includes the winemaker's ability to create and blend flavor, acid/sugar, alcohol, and textural components that results in a wine that smells, tastes, and feels good.

With so many wines in the market, every wine should satisfy those 3 elements and meet one's style preference and price point.

 

It is the middle of summer and many wineries are busy bottling their wines and gearing up for this fall's harvest.  At Cascadia, we are fermenting a batch of our apple wine to be bottled in August.  In this way, we will have our tanks available for grapes.  

I will be busy in September and October analyzing grapes for other wineries and vineyards. Usually, I test for brix (% sugar), total acidity, and pH.  Invariably, I provide test results to them the day I receive the grapes.  It was a cool spring which may result in some under-ripe grapes for those who typically harvest in mid-October.  It depends on how the canopy is managed including controlling vine growth, removing lateral (unfruitful) shoots, and maintaining an appropriate cluster/vine ratio.

This harvest we will be producing Roussanne wine.  We had depleted our inventory of this wine in June, 2010.  The grapes will be harvested from the same vineyard and I will create the wine in the same style.   A.Y. 

Last month, I attended a Hong Kong Trade Council meeting held at the Waterfront Grill in Seattle to learn about the possibilities of exporting our apple wine.   I stood next to a couple, Albert and Rowena Chow, who are Hong Kong distributors.  As we exchanged introductions, Rowena commented that they had just bought a bottle of our apple wine in Issaquah.  I happened to be carrying a chilled bottle of it and opened it up for tasting.  How coincidental, thought Rowena, to have bought a wine of interest for export and to be standing next to the winemaker that evening!  They have since bought samples that have been sent to Hong Kong and Taiwan to generate interest from importers.   

After finishing the primary fermentation of reds, most wineries will inoculate them with bacteria that converts the malic acid to lactic acid.  This process commences after the yeast has converted the glucose to alcohol; otherwise, the bacteria can consume the glucose and produce acetic acid (vinegar). 

Many winemakers bottle their reds without filtering or by loose filtering whereby bacteria, if present, can reach the bottle.  If malic acid remains, the bacteria can digest it and produce a small amount of carbon dioxide.  A spritzy, red wine is not desirable!  Other reasons for malolactic fermentation include lowering the acidity of the wine and creating a softer texture and complexity from flavors emanating from the process.

In the enzymatic analyses that I conduct for other wineries, I advise that malolactic fermentation is completed when the malic acid level reaches 0.01 grams per 100 mL.

  

The freezing weather during the 2nd week in October brought harvest to an abrupt end with many wineries frantically harvesting the balance of their grapes.  It has been a topsy turvy growing season.  The record high temperatures during the summer were of benefit to some vineyards that have had problems in achieving full ripening.  Others struggled with sunburned grapes.  This happened especially with rows that run north to south and have a vertical shoot canopy whereby the vine shoots are raised upward and the grape clusters dangle below with little or no leaf cover.  The western side of the canopy would get toasted by the afternoon sun.  Post-harvest, wineries will be bringing me samples to test for pH, acidity, sulfur content, alcohol, residual sugar, volatile acidity (degree of spoilage), and malic acid levels.