Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/1019591
TECHNICAL SPOTLIGHT WINEMAKING September 2018 WINES&VINES 41 All transfer lines are chased or pushed with nitrogen gas rather than water, to avoid diluting juice or wine and to conserve water. The tanks are sized to handle the grapes by the vineyard block or in larger lots as necessary, but what stands out about the facility is the degree of automation. All the controls can be locked in, and data on ferments is stored in the cloud via TankNet. The in-house lab uses Vintrace, which tracks data during tastings for detailed analysis down the road. The result is a facility operating with a regu- lar staff of just three people in addition to Beightol and Michaud. During harvest, winery staffing doubles, while an additional 15 people work in the vineyard. The effects come together most clearly during fermentation, which TankNet allows Michaud to manage remotely from her mobile d e v i c e . T h e w i n e r y ' s f o u r 2,500-gallon open-top fermenters each have a centrifugal pump bolted onto them that can be trig- gered from her phone. "I can see my tank pump-throughs, I can see my tank temperatures, I can see my cap temperature and my juice temperature, and I can see that the delta is too high and my cap is too high, and I say 'spin that tank,' and this all starts," she said. Pumpovers can also be sched- uled for certain set points, reduc- ing labor demands and allowing shorter pumpovers at regular intervals to create more inte- grated wines. "I think our strategy is going to be more pumpovers for short amounts of time because we're not using manpower to do it," she said. "It's (a) more customized extraction based on organoleptic tasting and seeing where we are, paired with numbers that we're seeing in the lab." W h e n f e r m e n t a t i o n c o m- pletes, the wine is put into barrels split 67% to French and the rest to American oak. Taransaud is the benchmark, and this year Mi- chaud is trialing Seguin Moreau low-aroma Icône barrels. Her larger lots go into American oak Double Canyon winemaker Kate Michaud is focused on achieving bound anthocyanins as the foundation of age-worthy Cabernet Sauvignon. PETER MITHAM Your success is our prioritY 5739 NATURAL BRIDGE AVE. ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI 63120-1696 TELEPHONE (314) 381-2828 FAX (314) 381-5908 1-888-WE-R-RACKS (1-888-937-7225) www.titanrack.com email: komoran@titanrack.com TITAN-RACK A DIVISION OF TITAN TUBE FABRICATORS, INC. Double Bar Four Barrel Rack Double Bar Two Barrel Rack Half Rack Removable Center Rack • Central Location SAVES MONEY in Freight • Move more Barrels, cut handling time • Utilize air space, save floor space • Prevent product damage • Powder coat paint Over 30 years of experience in solving material handling needs Why Pay Freight From California? Let Our Central Location, ST. LOUIS, Save You BIG Money Portable Steel Barrel Racks From St. Louis TitanRack_Nov09.qxd 9/29/09 10:50 AM Page 1