Atlas Peak: The Start of Fermentation
As the winemaker for Atlas Peak, I wanted to write this blog to share with people how wine is made, and why we do what we do as winemakers. I like to look at the winemaking process in some ways as preserving summer. Think about all those warm, wonderful days of summer, the warm nights, and the time spent outdoors on the patio with friends and family. As we enjoyed summer, the grapes where out there soaking up the sun and ripening so that by the fall, they were filled with sugar and the sweet flavor of blueberry, blackberry, ripe plums and cherries.
These are the tastes and flavors we want to capture in the wine to be enjoyed one night with great company and great food.
So how does this all happen? First we make a decision that the grapes taste great, and are ready for harvest. This is one of the most important decisions that are made in the winemaking process. Pick the grapes at optimum maturity; and the rest of the winemaking process will be much easier.
Next the grapes are handpicked, de-stemmed, and hand sorted in order to get the grapes in the tank with as little stem and leaf pieces as possible.
Then we cold soak the grapes for the next couple of days. This is an opportunity to get a good idea of how much sugar was in the grapes when the grapes were harvested. It also allows me to look at how the field sample compared to the actual tank sample. And finally, it gives me an opportunity to taste what the juice from that vineyard block is going to taste like once it is all together in the tank. Up until that point, your entire decision making is based on a limited amount of berries that you have tasted while walking in the vineyard. This is an educated guess, but it is always good to confirm your decision.
As the winemaker for Atlas Peak, I wanted to write this blog to share with people how wine is made, and why we do what we do as winemakers. I like to look at the winemaking process in some ways as preserving summer. Think about all those warm, wonderful days of summer, the warm nights, and the time spent outdoors on the patio with friends and family. As we enjoyed summer, the grapes where out there soaking up the sun and ripening so that by the fall, they were filled with sugar and the sweet flavor of blueberry, blackberry, ripe plums and cherries.
These are the tastes and flavors we want to capture in the wine to be enjoyed one night with great company and great food.
So how does this all happen? First we make a decision that the grapes taste great, and are ready for harvest. This is one of the most important decisions that are made in the winemaking process. Pick the grapes at optimum maturity; and the rest of the winemaking process will be much easier.
Next the grapes are handpicked, de-stemmed, and hand sorted in order to get the grapes in the tank with as little stem and leaf pieces as possible.
Then we cold soak the grapes for the next couple of days. This is an opportunity to get a good idea of how much sugar was in the grapes when the grapes were harvested. It also allows me to look at how the field sample compared to the actual tank sample. And finally, it gives me an opportunity to taste what the juice from that vineyard block is going to taste like once it is all together in the tank. Up until that point, your entire decision making is based on a limited amount of berries that you have tasted while walking in the vineyard. This is an educated guess, but it is always good to confirm your decision.
For the next couple of days (the cold soak process) we will do a short pump over of the juice in the tank. During that time the juice will change from a light pink to dark red in color. All of the color changes take place as the red color pigment in the skins is extracted into juice. Once the fermentation begins more color will be extracted, it is amazing how much color we are able to extract in the first couple of days.
The next step is fermentation. This is where wine yeast is added to the tank and the fermentation begins. In the simplest explanation, fermentation is the conversion of the grape sugar to alcohol. As the yeast ferment, they produce more yeast cells to keep working on the sugar, alcohol, and carbon dioxide gas that rises up to the top of the tank and literally spills over the top. In this process, heat is also produced. I like to look at it as a yeast party. Those happy yeast, dancing around and generating heat. It is much like when you have a party at your house. Start out with a couple of friends and everything is fine, but as more and more guests arrive and the music plays , guests start dancing, the room begins to get warmer where you will either need to open the windows and doors or turn on the air conditioning. For this very reason every tank in the winery has the thermostat so we can control the temperature of the fermentation (party).
Darren Procsal
Winemaker
Atlas Peak
http://www.atlaspeakwines.com/
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment