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WINEMAKING Brettanomyces. So we keep the concentration of free SO2 low, are vigilant and taste the wine constantly.��� Every quarter, Stone and Leeds run secondary chemistry, too. They culture, identify and estimate microbial populations and evaluate phenolics, polyphenols, tannins and color. ���But wine is not made by the numbers,��� Baugher admits. ���It���s years of experience and being totally engaged���tasting and smelling each wine.��� Keeping it clean T he sanitation program at Ridge Vineyards ensures pumps, tanks and hoses are clean every step of the way. ���We scrub down and sanitize the winery at the beginning of the season,��� winemaker Eric Baugher explains. ���For the pumps, tanks and hoses, it���s a combination of very hot water and caustic soda, citric acid for neutralizing and then rinsing with water.��� For the barrels, team members wash out the lees with hot and cold water. Then they rinse the barrel again with ozonated water and steam-clean it between filling it with the next vintage. (See ���BarrelWashing Protocols��� on page 58.) At the bottling line, staffers ensure sanitation using a com- True to their roots Native yeast are susceptible to stuck or incomplete fermentations. Limited nutrients, toxic substances, pH or temperature extremes and unfavorable ethanol concentration can restrict fermentation. ���In my 18 years at Ridge, I���ve overseen 2,700 spontaneous fermentations,��� Baugher says, ���and I���ve only experienced a half-dozen that were sluggish, for which I���ve always found a natural remedy.��� Baugher recommends warming the fermentation tank or transferring a stuck fermentation to a tank with lees from a wine lot that has already completed fermentation. ���Since we began our conversion to organic farming in 1999,��� Baugher adds, ���we���ve bination of hot water, caustic soda, citric acid and steam. ���After bottling the wine,��� Baugher adds, ���we follow up with micro-plating, gathering four or five samples per day at various intervals and filtering the reds with a pad filter���never a membrane.��� T.U. not had a single stuck fermentation.��� The vineyard team has enriched the soil by sowing cover crops and scattering pomace in the vineyards. ���Our procedures have evolved over time, but we have developed a failsafe system,��� Baugher says. ���It comes at a price: more time, more labor and an investment in infrastructure for fermentation tanks, pumpover gear, holding tanks and barrels.��� But for Draper and Baugher, each vintage returns Ridge Vineyards to its roots. ���Our founders,��� Baugher says, ���read books by winemakers from the 1880s who believed that if you farmed properly, picked to taste and were patient enough for a spontaneous fermentation, you would be rewarded by a vintage with tremendous depth and aging potential, the essence of a great wine.��� ICONE RANGE Low Aroma High Aroma El��gance For more information call 707.252.3408 or visit us at iconebarrel.com SEE US AT UNIFIED, BOOTH #1534 Win es & Vin es JA N UA RY 20 13 67