Technical spoTlighT winemaking
March 2015 Wines&Vines 33
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punch-down device that's set on
a U-shaped steel rail above the
tanks. Ackerman said she's think-
ing of installing a second device,
because at the height of harvest
it's almost time to start the second
round of punch downs when the
first gets finished.
A fully equipped lab provides
Ackerman with real-time analysis,
which is a luxury in the fairly re-
mote Anderson Valley. "This is re-
ally nice; a lot of people don't have
this out here," she said.
Once dry, the Pinot Noir must
is pressed with a Bucher Vaslin JLB
basket press, which is a hand-me-
down from the Ferrari-Carano red
wine winery. "You can press about
4 to 5 tons in there at a time, so it
works out just great for our size
lots," she said.
Ackerman said most of the
Lazy Creek vineyard designate
wines are free-run with a small
portion of press wine added back
during blending. Most of the
press-run wine is designated for
the winery's second label, Lazy
Day, which is priced around $20.
The Lazy Creek Vineyard Pinot
Noirs retail for around $50. "A lot
of our press stuff will go into that,
you know, just some young lots
that aren't quite making the main
blend just yet," she said.
Still, a 100% Anderson Valley
Pinot for less than $30 is not a
tough sell. "People absolutely love
that stuff," she said.
Ackerman only uses French
oak and, depending on the vin-
tage, about 30% to 50% is new
versus neutral. She said she
sources from 12 to 15 different
coopers and didn't want to call
out any few coopers in particular.
In 2011 she said she used a bit
more new oak to help build the
wine and lengthen the mid pal-
ate. "All the oak I use, nothing is
really heavy-handed; it's just
complementary."
The cave at Lazy Creek Vine-
yards is 4,500 square feet and
consists of one main tunnel that
leads from the entrance adjacent
to the crush pad to another en-
trance in a hillside vineyard that's
From this central catwalk, cellar workers use a pneumatic punch-down device set on a steel rail to punch down the caps
between one and three times per day.
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