Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/591609
WINEMAKER INTERVIEW 94 WINES&VINES November 2015 Once at the kegging facility, they filter the wines through a traditional 0.45-micron sterile filter and make final adjust- ments according to our protocol. Free Flow is in the Napa Valley Corporate Park, just a few minutes from the winery. Since kegging volumes are generally much smaller than bottling volumes, we normally ship the wine to Free Flow in stainless steel porta-tanks on a flatbed truck. We do this rather than shipping in a tanker truck in order to minimize oxygen headspace in the vessel. We always gas the headspace heavily with nitrogen or argon for the best protection against oxygen and to keep the wine as fresh as possible. There are pros and cons to kegging a wine vs. bottling it. One of the pros is certainly the cost. To put a wine in keg costs roughly $5.23 a gallon, whereas bottling the same wine can cost up to $8.15 a gallon. The cost differential is a result of the packaging associated with bottling—glass, corks, capsules, labels—all of which are not part of kegging. On the flip side, a con of kegging would be that a customer cannot purchase a bottle to take home with them and share with family and friends who may purchase another JRV wine in the future. One other big advantage of having wine in keg is to accommodate consumers who may not be able to pay a premium price for high-quality wines in a restau- rant, so they have the option to purchase a single glass and enjoy the same wine. Currently our wines being offered in keg are Double Lariat Napa Cabernet, Reata Three County Pinot Noir, Reata Carneros Chardonnay and Silver Spur Napa Sauvignon Blanc. Q After the wines are kegged, do you find any dif- ferences between those wines and bottled wines, either in the chemistry or the sensory qualities? Verdina: We have found that there are only minor differ- ences between kegged wines and wines from a bottle, primarily in aroma. We believe wines in keg are more ex- pressive up front on the nose, and this expression may change depending on the temperature the kegs are poured at. Here in our tasting room, we have found that reds on tap that are poured below 60° F tend to move further away from the bottled wine's profile, so we recommend pouring reds at or above 60° to ensure that the expression and sensory characteristics more closely match that of the same wine in a bottle. If you chilled a bottled wine down to the same temperature as the keg, it would have a more consis- tent profile with the keg. However, each bottle varies in terms of CO 2 levels and micro-oxygenation, so there is more consistency overall with kegs. A native of Chile, winemaker Juan Jose Verdina grew up around farming. His grandparents grew vegetables and other crops, fostering Verdina's love for agriculture. He studied agri- cultural engineering in Santiago, Chile's capital city, and got an internship at the region's largest wine producer, Concha y Toro, piquing his interest in grapes. Verdina was also interested in traveling and thought he could travel the world by working two harvests a year. In 2002 he took an internship at Hahn Estates in Monterey County, Calif., then returned to Chile to finish his studies. When Hahn's then-president, Bill Leigon, offered Verdina a long-term job, he knew it would mean putting those travel plans on hold, but he accepted the job and eventu- ally was promoted to assistant winemaker, working with the Rex Goliath brand. (Rex Goli- ath was sold to Constellation Brands in 2005.) Verdina re- turned to Chile in 2008 as winemaker for Copa Del Rey, a joint venture between Hahn and a Panamanian family in Chile's Rapel Valley. Then it was back to Hahn in 2010 as winemaker for the Cycles Gladiator brand. Leigon, meanwhile, became president of Jamieson Ranch Vineyards in California's Napa Valley in 2013, and he hired Verdina as winemaker the following year. This September, Leigon bought the Jamieson Ranch brand and inventory. Verdina is responsible for wines produced under the Jamie- son Ranch, Reata, Light Horse and Whiplash labels. Q You spoke at the Wines & Vines Packaging Confer- ence about your work with Free Flow Wines to package some of your wines in kegs. What is your procedure? Are your parameters for things like filtra- tion and sulfur dioxide different for kegged wines than for bottled wines? Juan Jose Verdina: Our procedure for kegging does not vary too much from bottled wines. We create all parameters the same, whether we are bottling or kegging the wines (CO 2 , DO, FSO 2 , etc.). We adjust all wines in the Jamieson Ranch Vineyards cellar before we ship to the kegging facility. A CONVERSATION WITH Juan Jose Verdina The Chilean-born winemaker discusses kegging, mobile bottling and closures By Laurie Daniel