Wine and Business: Critical Issues in the Winemaking Process
We are being asked the same question on regular basis:
Which is the most critical period of the
winemaking?
The answer is simple: winemaking is a chain of
critical processes.
“Ceterum censeo”… Great wine can only be made from perfect
grapes. Approaching an otherwise promising vintage we need to wait patiently
for the optimal ripeness of the grapes. This game more than often becomes a
sort of gamble that includes the risk of failure. If - fearing a rainy spell -
we pick too soon the wine will be full of green, immature tannins with all
their concomitant incurable disadvantages. If we wait we may get caught by a
few rainy, foggy days ( time is not measured in weeks at this stage!) that would
ruin the crop. In this case all we can do is to emergency - harvest a
questionable quality of grapes before they got rotten. The prices of great wines
include this risk.
The next challenge is the fermentation. Determining
the length of cold soaking. Choosing the type of yeast for a given varietal. Temperature - controlling the speed of
fermentation. Cap management.
Then it comes the malolactic fermentation of red
wine. Should it be spontaneous or controlled? If latter, controlled by temperature
or enzyme?
At one point we have our wine ready for ageing.
We can use steel tanks with or without micro-oxygenation. We can also use
toasted or non – toasted oak barrels. Toasted oak barrels come in 225 – litre
and 500 – litre sizes which difference would take an striking effect on the
wine.
The evolution of all batches, no matter if in
tanks or barrels, needs to be monitored by tasting and analysing on regular
basis and necessary interventions should be done in time.
In our opinion there are two things which are to be avoided at all costs. Brettanomyces contamination and volatile acidity. Hygiene is the answer. Cleanliness is fundamental to high-standard red wine production.
The million - dollar question is when the wines
should be removed from the barrels. We need to blend different single barrel
batches in order to produce a final version of thousands of bottles. Finalising
the wine is a sensitive process involving a series of tasting by experienced
professionals. Once the wine is bottled there is no way back.
Most important above all: winemaking is a teamwork.
Quality grapes, an excellent, experienced winemaker and state-of-art technology
are not enough. The precise and consistent work of trained professionals in the
winery both in the cellars and on the bottling line is crucial to produce
continuous volumes of high – end wines. The repercussions of a glitch could
take years to come to light and then there is not the slightest chance of
correcting it.
The job of winemaking is more than merely
turning the sugar content of grapes into alcohol…
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