Turning Grapes into Wine

This harvest has been a strange one to say the least. While the whites arrived mostly on time, the reds experienced an unexpected delay. Thanks to hurricanes and unusual cold weather! The Tannat, Petit Verdot, Tinta Cao, and Nebbiolo have been crushed and reside in our open fermenters or “T-bins”.

Instead of whole cluster pressing these varietals, we take the more traditional approach of destemming and then crushing the fruit into T-bins. This has a few applications for making impactful red wines. By removing the stems we immensely reduce the “green” or leafy characteristic that can be off-putting in full bodied reds. As a reminder, all of the major grape compounds such as color, fruit flavors, and tannin are actually found in the skin of the berry, not the pulp itself.   

After the fruit has been destemmed and crushed, we begin primary fermentation. As the fruit ferments, CO2 pushes the berries to the top of the bin forming what is commonly referred to as a “cap”. This cap actually traps the fermentation and if left unchecked, can be problematic often causing undesirable flavors, off aromas, and even prevent fermentation from finishing. To remedy this, we perform a “punch down” 2-3 times per day. Simply put, a punch down refers to using a stainless steel plunger to push the cap down, breaking it up.

As punch downs are performed, the berries are further pressed and broken up. This further pushes color and tannin extraction, improving upon the end product. Throughout fermentation, the bins are tasted and assessed for color, flavors, aromas, and tannin. We specifically look at bitterness and tannin development as a sort of guide for the number of punch downs to perform. A common example would be Tannat which is known for its rough astringency and almost abrasive tannin structure. This typically gets 2 punch downs a day and by the end of fermentation, only one. 

The last of the reds are finishing up fermentation and it’s just a few more days before they barreled down for malolactic fermentation. The last of the Norton is arriving and carbonic maceration is underway. Only a few more weeks of processing before we can begin to relax… if only for a moment.