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WINEMAKING end of story. But if the post-carbonic skins spend a few days in the general wine bath marked by higher temperatures, rising ethanol, frequent pump overs and the like, they might well release everything they have, extruding by the end more tannin, not less. Microbial biogeography And then there is the question of bugs— not the earwigs, but the multitude of fungi, bacteria, spores and whatnot that hitchhike in from the vineyard with the fruit. Tom Klassen says, correctly, that the most careful sorting in the world won't get rid of all the bugs on the Costs of cleanliness grapes, and that SO2, lysozyme and, in I have a hunch that a good deal of the extreme cases, ozonation of incoming The thorough sorting process at Conn Creek yields appeal of whole-berry "crushing" techgrapes are more powerful weapons what the winery refers to as 'Cabernet caviar.' niques is purely visual: The shiny, uniagainst microbial critters. True enough, form fruit looks like gemstones—or as but it's still true that the War Against they say at Conn Creek, "Cabernet caviar"—as it rolls down the line. MOG significantly reduces the size and diversity of the microbial The parade of identical sleek, black globes makes it much easier to population, and that is not always to the good. confirm that every hint of MOG has been expunged and every subLinda Bisson at the University of California, Davis, put it this way: standard grape extradited. "For me, the key here is who is on the fruit: Excessively clean is only The biggest potential loss from optical sorting, says Harbertson, is needed when there are bad lactics, bad acetics or bad molds on the under-ripe grapes, which don't make good wine on their own but fruit. Some of this is quite vineyard-specific and depends upon what can be quite useful as a crush component. Through rigorous selection, the insect patterns are and vineyard adjacencies. If your microbiota only the high-ripeness/high-sugar grapes are left in the mix, raising is fine, then there is no need to be so obsessive. And yes, the microbes final alcohol levels. Eliminating the less-ripe portion is also likely to do contribute to a sense of place, but many winemakers want to raise the pH and lower the acidity of the must, quite possibly by 'express the vineyard,' as they say, and not have any obvious microbial enough to require adjustment in the cellar. signature; other winemakers are fine with the microbial signature As for any "green" flavors that might be found in low-Brix grapes being part of the vineyard signature." or stray stems and jacks, Harbertson notes that every fruit has within As I was working on this piece right after Thanksgiving, Nick it some traces of green, vegetal flavors. Only artificial fruits are Bokulich and David Mills at Davis made it into The New York Times entirely fruity. He figures that even the highly sorted, super-fruity for their research on "microbial biogeography," the distribution of blockbuster wines have green components, it's just that no one can critters on and around grapevines. Though The Times' article genertaste them through the elevated alcohol. ated more buzz, the hard data from massive sequencing of DNA QUALITY STAINLESS TANKS QST offers its clients……. Professionally fabricated stainless tanks 35 years of tank fabrication experience Performance & reliability guarantees Custom designs & modern features Quick & competitive tank project pricing On site tank repairs & modifications Special application tanks of all sizes "In stock tanks" from 500 to 10,000 gallons 510 Caletti Ave. Windsor, Ca. 95492 Phone 707-837-2721 or Toll-Free 877-598-0672 www.qualitystainless.com Company Website winetanks@aol.com email contact/sales info Custom Fabricated Tanks for the perfect size & fit… or Ready to Ship "Stock Tanks" Either way QST is ready to assist our clients! Call QST today for information or pricing! 30 W in e s & V i ne s F E B R UARY 20 14