Postmodern Winemaking

Crossflow Pros and Cons

Submitted by Clark Smith on Mon, 12/15/2008 - 8:50am

We have a mobile cross flow filtration business in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. We use a 2008 Koch machine with hollow fiber cartrdiges which will remove particles to .2 microns. I recently had a winemaker note that he thought the Pinot we filtered took out some of the "greeness" of the tannin profile in his 07 wine. (A vintage known for unripe fruit in some cases.) Is there any science to support this claim, and how does the filtration process affect structure in our Pinots?

Pinot Noir Color

Submitted by Clark Smith on Fri, 11/28/2008 - 7:40pm

Dear Clark:
I met a wino a few weeks ago who spouted a term at a lecture that described the color deficient qualities of Nebbiolo, Pinot noir and Grenache. He said that they were all "monosomething saccharides". Do you know what the term is (and, hey, do you agree with him)?
PS: Great piece on PSs.

-Patrick

Dear Patrick:

Interactive Forum at Vino Exchange

Submitted by pmwine on Mon, 11/17/2008 - 12:00am

I am on the hot seat this week for Pamela Heiligenthal’s forum called Vino Exchange at Enobytes.com.

Petite Sirah Unmasked

Submitted by Clark Smith on Wed, 11/12/2008 - 3:14am

I apologize to those of you bored backwards out of your underpants with the previous technical discussion. Lest you imagine I spend all of my time on such technical matters, please check out my recent posts at Appellation America concerning Petite Sirah.

The confusion at UC Davis concerning tannins

Submitted by Clark Smith on Sun, 11/09/2008 - 6:07pm

Clark,

I recently attended a seminar by UC Davis professor Dr. Andrew Waterhouse who was giving updates of various research projects at the university. Are you aware of the Tannin Assay that has been recently developed? I had posed a question to him about the assay that wasn't answered to my satisfaction so I thought I would direct it to you. (Let me preface by stating that I am just a lowly MW student, so my understanding of the subject is surely more limited than that of a trained winemaker)

What is Reduction?

Submitted by Clark Smith on Mon, 07/21/2008 - 3:33pm

A friend asked me to summarize what's meant by this term. Since winelovers are a lot more familiar with oxidation, I could simply say that to chemists, reduction is its opposite. Reductive strength is just a synonym for anti-oxidative power.

Yeast Inoculation – Threat or Menace?

Submitted by Clark Smith on Sun, 05/04/2008 - 6:13pm

Unfined, Unfiltered

Submitted by Clark Smith on Mon, 02/25/2008 - 3:43am

These revered words, first coined by Martin Ray and later popularized on Robert Mondavi Reserve bottlings, were early buzz words of noninterventionist winemaking as a hallmark of the ultrapremium.

Pinot = Syrah?

Submitted by Clark Smith on Thu, 01/10/2008 - 1:09pm

In Dan Berger's latest Vintage Experiences he relates a conversation with a fellow judge, and East Coast Burgundy junkie, who indicated concern about California Pinot Noir and the current fad to blend these with 24% Syrah to obtain more color at the expense of covering up nuance. I was with him all the way until he stepped off the cliff of absolutism: "Color in Pinot Noir ought to be pale, not black. If you see a black Pinot, something is wrong."

Artisanal or Spoofulated?

Submitted by Clark Smith on Wed, 11/28/2007 - 9:48am

Please check out my posting at Appellation America on the subject of wine manipulation.

Pages