winemaking
WINEMAKING
job done without him having to worry
about stuck or sluggish ferments.
Browne limits his use of sulfur dioxide
and inoculates the wine to provide a layer
of microbial control. He doesn't let his
wines undergo spontaneous (or native)
fermentation, although he's experimented
with the method in the past. "I felt I had
to work the wine more to do it," he said.
"I feel our wines are very complex, and
it's a style we love."
A catwalk to be proud of
The cellar area contains three banks of
tanks made by Quality Stainless Tanks,
some of which are variable capacity. The
tanks are accessible from a catwalk, a
source of some pride for the winemaking
staff, as Kosta Browne has never had one
before moving into the new facility. From
the catwalks, fabricated by Dimensions in
Metal, winery staff will be able to operate
pneumatic punch-down devices from R.S.
Randall and Co. that run along metal
rails above the tanks. The winery also
has a forklift punch-down attachment for
managing fermentations in the vats and
the concrete tanks.
If a wine is running a little hot or starting to smell a bit reductive, the staff will
splash the wine through a sump in an
aerative pump over. "We want our yeast
to be happy here," O'Donnell says.
Reds are drained to portable tanks,
and the must is shoveled into bins that
are dumped into the Bucher Vaslin JBL
basket press. The press can handle 5 to 6
tons with just a 45-minute cycle. Browne
said they lose a little in volume with the
Bucher but love the quick cycle—plus, he
says, the wine tastes better. The winery
S U P P O RT R E S E A R C H
&
W I N E I N D U S T RY N E E D S T H R OUG H T H E
AMERICAN VINEYARD FOUNDATION
Finding
Solutions
Through
Research
For a wealth of useful viticulture and
enology research and information, visit AVF.org,
iv.ucdavis.edu, enologyaccess.org, or ngwi.org.
AMERICAN VINEYARD FOUNDATION
P.O. Box 5779, Napa, CA., 94581 • T: (707) 252-6911 • Email info@avf.org. Visit our
Web site at www.avf.org for information on funding and current research projects
The winery's pneumatic punch-down system.
Win es & Vin es S ept em b er 20 13 49
