OKAY-dokey!

Like a mad chemist, Vinomaker has been busy reading up on and researching new selections of commercial yeasts that he may want to try on a Vinoland fermentation.  And this is one he came up with - Lalvin's ICV OKAY.  Cool name, if nothing else, but this specific selection of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, promises rapid alcoholic fermentation and low SO2, H2S and acetaldehyde production in wines.  Vinomaker is planning to use this yeast on one batch of Vinoland's Syrah: he loves experimenting with different fermentations.

Okey-dokey then, we'll just have to wait and see how well this particular domesticated organism performs.  Ferment on, little yeasties.

Grapey-miscellany and stuff, etc.

Two days of doing stuff.  But nothing particularly riveting.  A bit like all of 2020, to be honest.  Sigh.
Yesterday morning, to give Vinomaker a hand, I spent some time rehydrating yeasts for the Pinot grigio and Orange muscat alcoholic fermentations.  (Photo is of Cross Evolution.)  Like a mad professor, Vinomaker is always experimenting with different yeasts, especially for the white wine grapes.  It is rather interesting, and something one wouldn't necessarily have the freedom to do on a commercial scale.  The varied yeast strains really do produce distinct wines.  There were five batches in all and consequently the kitchen smelled like yeast for hours.
I also performed the first Syrah sugar sample of the season - 22.8 °Brix, not bad.  The seeds are almost completely brown and the berries have good flavour.  I ate quite a bit of the stuff as I walked through the vineyard sampling.  Sun warmed grapes are the best snack.
This morning I watched a couple of webinars, one was eminently better than the other.  Today's guest on Behind the Wines was Wink Lorch. Wink (what a simply brilliant name) who is English, is an expert and author of books on the wines and vineyards of Jura and Savoie.  I can't remember the last time I had a wine from either French Alpine region, but it was probably in the Wines of the World class I took in 2012.  The lively discussion on the history, pedigree and DNA of such grape varieties as Savagnin and Mondeuse was great grapey-geek stuff.
I...need...to...get...a...job!

A yeast feast.

Vinoland's first red fermentation of 2016 is under way.  The Vichyssyrah fruit showed up on Friday, was inoculated on Saturday and this evening the must is already merrily foaming along.  However, I don't expect too much foam with this fermentation due to the characteristics of the particular yeast that Vinomaker selected for this Syrah.
Coming in at 24°Brix the Vichy grapes were crushed and destemmed before being introduced to their partner-in-fermentation, Lalvin ICV-D254 (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). Lallemand's ICV-D254, a Rhône specialist, is a low foaming yeast selected to ferment in low nitrogen musts and contributes aromas of ripe fruit, cedar, spice and licorice. Sounds lovely, I can't wait to taste it - in two years time.

The last word.

Besides being a fairly high scoring play in a game of Scrabble, the word zymurgy also has the distinction of being the final alphabetical entry in a volume of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) that I own.  Zymurgy literally is the last word in my dictionary and it can be found on page 1666 (it is, after all, the concise OED containing a mere 240,000 words).  I only discovered this new (to me) word because, having no other particularly pressing engagement at the time, I allowed myself a moment to muse, "I wonder what is the last word in this dictionary."  And what exactly is the definition of zymurgy one might ask? The OED's definition is this: the study or practice of fermentation in brewing, winemaking or distilling.  Did not know that, but now I do.
This Scrabble game has been a dramatization: do not try this at home.

Through the bunghole.

A frothing, bubbling Chardonnay fermentation today at TWWIAGE left no doubt whatsoever that harvest 2015 is well and truly underway. The first grapes, Sauvignon blanc, came in exactly two weeks ago, and now Chardonnay grapes are arriving almost on a daily basis.  No estimate as to when the first red wine grapes will arrive, but all signs point to 2015 continuing to be an early vintage.
The last time I photographed fermenting Chardonnay at TWWIAGE was back in 2011, October 7th to be exact, so it would seem that harvest is very early this year.  However, the Chardonnay goes through a long, cool fermentation and probably won't be finished until mid-September, so, taking that into consideration, harvest is still only about 2 weeks early.
I just love the sights and smells of fermentation.

Double, double toil and...

...trouble.  A stuck fermentation spells big trouble for a winemaker, as unfermented  °Brix can be a source of food for unwanted wine microbes which can spoil a whole lot of wine.  Stuck fermentations can occur for many reasons; an incorrect initial yeast selection; competition from other microbes (pediococcus, lactobacillus etc.); high fermentation temperatures. The best way to deal with a stuck fermentation is by avoiding this undesirable turn of events in the first place because restarting one involves a lot of work. 
Down in the bowels of TWWIAGE is a bubbling cauldron of 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon.  A lot of fiddly steps are being followed by the production team to get this particular fermentation going again, but restarting a stuck fermentation essentially involves a new yeast selection and a lot of granulated sugar...and perhaps throwing in the odd "eye of newt" and "toe of frog" for good measure.  The colour in the above photograph is off a little, in reality the fist-sized bubbles are a wonderful blue-purple.  Bubble on little yeasties!

MLF.

Whilst I have been busy of late with activities that have frequently taken me away from Vinoland, Vinomaker has been hard at work down in Vinoland's cellar.  He has been filling his spare time with the fining and cold-stabilisation of the white wines he made last autumn and he has also been testing the red wines to see if they have completed malolactic fermentation (MLF).  MLF is over when all of the malic acid in the wine has been converted to lactic acid with the aid of malolactic bacteria.
The easiest way to assess whether or not MLF is complete is to perform a paper chromatography (PC) test.  PC is a relatively simple test which is done by placing tiny drops of wine, (and control samples of tartaric, malic and lactic acids), onto chromotography paper which is then placed in an eluting solution. The solute, which is rather smelly, wicks up through the paper separating out the acids from the wine samples by virtue of their differing molecular weights.  Each acid will move a characteristic distance up the chromatography paper thus making it fairly easy to identify the presence one of the aforementioned acids.
One could, of course, send samples of wine to a laboratory which specialises in these types of things for an enzymatic assay.  But where's the fun in that?  This is winemaking and having physical evidence of a small natural wonder, albeit in the form of a tie-dyed piece of blotting paper,  is one of the more entertaining aspects of turning grape juice into wine.

Fermentation Frenzy: Part 2.

That's it, harvest 2012 is at an end - we picked our Cabernet Sauvignon today.  And not a moment too soon, I might add, as Vinoland is running out of places in which to ferment grapes. Photographed is just one of the rooms that Vinomaker has set aside for fermentations, in the off-season this room doubles as storage for winemaking equipment.
A great growing season has resulted in slightly larger yields than expected.  In addition to the bigger crop the fruit is of fantastic quality, so there is a lot to ferment.
Go little yeasties, do your stuff!

Fermentation Frenzy: Part 1.

There are a lot of fermentations ongoing right now in Vinoland, including a 30 gallon batch of Chardonnay that was gifted to Vinomaker by a commercial winemaker friend.
It's not a secret in these parts that Vinomaker just loves Chardonnay.  I don't understand his fascination with this particular grape variety, but then wouldn't the world be an extremely boring place if we all had the same taste in wine? Vinomaker's yeast of choice to ferment the Chardonnay, is a Saccharomyces cerevisiae hybrid yeast from a unique breeding programme of the Institute for Wine Biotechnology at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa - Cross Evolution. Known to increase the mouthfeel component of white and rosé wines, Cross Evolution also enhances varietal characteristics and in Chardonnay tends to accentuate fresh fruit and floral aromas. Sounds good so far.  I have seen this yeast in action at TWWIAGE and it really gives quite a dramatic performance, working itself up into a veritable, bubbling frenzy.  But just look at the bubbles in the photograph, they are very small and uniform - most different from the other yeasts that Vinomaker has awakened from their freeze-dried slumber - appearing rather docile and really do not resemble the frothing, fermentation-fiend it is about to become.

Wine evolution.

This Chardonnay must had it's vital statistics taken; it was tested for Brix, pH and nitrogen (YAN) levels and, after being inoculated with a commercial yeast, it is now enthusiastically frothing through fermentation. The barrels on the other side of the aisle with a different yeast selection are, by comparison, staidly going about their business.

The Cross Evolution (CE) yeast being used, in this particular fermentation, is a hybrid yeast from a breeding programme at the Institute for Wine Biotechnology at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. Here in the US, at the winery where I am gainfully employed, CE is selected for it's ability to increase mouthfeel/texture and enhance varietal characteristics in Chardonnay. But, perhaps more importantly, CE is chosen because it is tolerant of high potential alcohol (up to 15%, important for Napa wine) and can withstand fermentation temperatures as low as 58°F (important for a non-ML Chardonnay).

Vinomaker, unlike me, is quite a Chardonnay fan and was drooling, just as much as this bubbling barrel, at the thought of the finished 2011 wine.

True Wine Lover 4.

"They have no wine". John 2:1

In keeping with the Advent season I thought I would pay homage to perhaps the greatest winemaker of all time.  No offence Vinomaker!

Most people have heard the story of how Jesus turned water into wine at the wedding in Cana.  His mother was mortified that the guests had run out of vino, (much as my mother would encourage me to nip down to the cellar and open another case, or two), and urged her Son to do something about it. Voila!  JC's tenth miracle.

What I hadn't heard of, until fairly recently, was that there are people out there that insist biblical wine was non-alcoholic and mis-translate the Greek word oinos as...grape juice.  As if the ancient Palestinians had forgotten the art of wine making passed on by the Greeks!  At least the naysayers, with their heads in the sand, would like us all to think so.  All those amphorae, regularly unearthed in archaeological digs, must have contained Evian water.

Now Vinogirl likes a bit of chemistry and marvels at the little miracle that happens almost as soon as grape juice introduces itself to the native yeast on the grape skin.  Fermentation, and it's byproducts, numero uno being alcohol, (CO2, SO2, H2S etc.), is going to happen with the intervention of a winemaker or not.  These ancient people did not have the means to arrest fermentation, by using copious additions of potassium sorbate, or the technology to remove yeast, sterile filtration, or alcohol, reverse osmosis, so it is without a doubt that biblical wine got people tipsy.

Thank God I am Catholic!!!  We imbibe.  Take no notice of religious fundamentalists, science is good.

So please, "use a little wine for thy stomach's sake." Timothy 5:23.  And people, wine happens!

The rain it raineth.

It's been pretty quiet here the past week. Our little Cab vineyard doesn't look like it was adversely affected by Friday night's rain. I shouldn't complain, we haven't had any real rain since February, but the timing, so close to harvest, could've been problematic. Fortunately, the past 2 days have been rather breezy so the clusters should have dried out nicely. The Syrah we picked last week is almost dry, (it was a quick fermentation), and the Viognier, that has been undergoing a slow, cold fermentation, is at -2.5 Brix. That doesn't necessarily mean it's dry, but we racked it off the lees today and hit it with 33 ppm SO2 to inhibit MLF. Tomorrow Vinomaker is anticipating the arrival of a lot more Syrah. The crusher/destemmer is at the ready, Vinodogs will be on duty, and I'll be out of harms way...selling wine.

We've got gas!

Carbon dioxide that is...which is a good thing. During primary fermentation the sugar in the grape must is converted, mostly to ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide (CO²). What does this mean? Well, for one thing the CO² creates an extremely inhospitable environment for nasty microbes that may want to populate the surface of the fermentation...for Vinogirl and Vinomaker, it means the above Syrah will taste really good in a glass on the deck.

One of these things is not like the other...

Whilst Vinomaker is downstairs feverishly marrying yeast to must, (well, maybe he's not that excited), I am reflecting on the attributes of different strains of yeast.  I slipped a 'red herring' into the above photo (thanks Thud).  To say, "yeast is yeast" and it all makes alcohol, is akin to saying that a dog is a dog and one can hunt as well as another.  Whilst you can make wine with bread yeast, you'll end up hunting with a Chihuahua. Different yeasts have different characteristics.  There are thousands of strains that have been identified and they all behave differently.  Some are only capable of fermenting up to 7 or 8 % alcohol.  Others will ferment to higher levels, but will also produce foul tasting compounds in the process, etc., etc.  One thing is for sure, once the must is charged with yeast, there's no turning back.
Release the hounds.