Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/101495
COVER STORY David Lattin St. Helena, Calif. Position: Winemaker Winery: Kuleto Estate Winery Manages: 14,000 cases Education: Bachelor���s degree in microbiology with German minor, Oregon State University; master���s degree in enology (food science), University of California, Davis Career harvests: 29 Greatest influences: Larry Brooks, Tolosa Winery Gilles Nicault Walla Walla, Wash. Position: Director of winemaking and viticulture Winery: Long Shadows Vintners Manages: 12,000 cases Education: Four-year degree in winemaking and viticulture from Universit�� d���Avignon, France Career harvests: 21 Winemaking mentors: Allen Shoup, Peter Fisher, Rick Small G illes Nicault says, ���I have a unique situation in the wine world that has allowed me to work closely with many winemakers from around the world and has diversified my vision of winemaking and viticulture. My first eye-opening experience was at Chateau Revelette in the Coteaux d���Aix en Provence in 1991 with Peter Fisher, and then with Rick Small of Woodward Canyon in Walla Walla, Wash., in 1996. ���Since 2003, I have been working closely at Long Shadows Vintners with incredible winemakers. It has given me a one-of-a-kind experience.��� Nicault likes to look, touch, see, smell and taste during the pump over. ���There are many very important steps in making great wines, but the pump overs are one of the most crucial times of the process. We use open-top fermentors and perform all pump overs manually.��� He likes to ferment in concrete tanks if they are well equipped with temperature control. ���It preserves the fermentation heat for a nice end of maceration.��� He uses concrete eggs for white fermentation and red/white aging because eggs create a flow and keep the lees in suspension in the wine. Nicault runs a winery whose partners include some of the world���s more famed wine consultants. ���Our vintners at Long Shadows are winemaker partners instead of being just straight consultants. But I believe that each winemaker should have a go-to consultant to revaluate the techniques used, the new vintage coming up, the blending of the wines being made in order to always be on the cutting edge.��� He takes a precaution necessary in cold-winter climates. ���If the winter was especially harsh, we might leave more buds to make sure to end up with enough live ones after bud break. ���We readjust when we know the percentage of live and dead buds.��� Finally, Nicault uses 2-inch corks for Long Shadows��� signature reds and 1��-inch corks for whites. He says size doesn���t matter but quality does. ���We do a lot of sensory screening to minimize the percentage of tainted corks. It has been very effective, as our percentage of tainted bottles is extremely low.��� 48 W in e s & V i ne s JANUARY 20 13 D avid Lattin of Kuleto Vineyards says Larry Brooks was his greatest influence as a winemaker. ���Larry and I met at Davis, and he gave me my first job in the business in 1984 at Acacia Winery. He was fearless in experimentation and passionate about creating the most delicious Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays. He took what he was doing seriously, but didn���t take himself so. It was a great time and place to cut my teeth as a winemaker.��� Lattin���s advice centers around the vineyard: Sometimes the sun is too much for exposed bunches, as when the heat spikes after a cool or wet period when growers have had to pull leaves to increase exposure. He says he uses shade cloth or Surround (a white powdered clay) on the afternoon side of the canopy to prevent the burning of fruit. Another way to keep fruit cool, Lattin says, is to ���harvest at night to lower pH.���