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January 2016 WINES&VINES 39 cheaper than refrigeration. Finally, the wine- maker recently put a four-year-old bottle in the freezer; it emerged free of tartrate crystals. Rich Gilpin is the owner and winemaker at Lavender Ridge in El Dorado County, Calif. Specializing in Rhône varietals since 2001, Gilpin's operation produces a combined 12,000 cases per year for his Lavender Ridge and Cop- permine brands, as well as some custom crush clients. While Gilpin uses both Claristar and refrig- eration for tartrate stabilization, he claims to like Claristar because "it leaves wine chemistry alone. With refrigeration you lose some acidity, and pH goes up a bit." Operationally, Gilpin noted the instant re- sults and that you "can add Claristar to a single barrel, you can't do that with chilling," provid- ing the only way to stabilize small lots. Laven- der Ridge has some 200-gallon concrete fermentors. Claristar allows him to retain the benefits of concrete by avoiding contact with stainless steel. He also has experienced that cooling wine to 28° F in July and August can be challenging. (Sometimes the chiller doesn't want to do it.) Gilpin said that Scott Labs performs the chemical analysis to make sure it works, taking the learning curve out of the equation and providing a high comfort level. Scott Labs pro- vides precise dosage levels and will warn if their product isn't suitable for use with a cer- tain wine. He adds that the wine needs to be protein stable—proteins will eat up Claristar— and may need additional heat stability work post-treatment. Gilpin has treated 20 wine lots with Claristar in the past four to five years, reporting, "They are all good." Jeff Kandarian is the winemaker for John Anthony Family of Wines a 160,000-case op- eration producing wines under the John An- thony FARM Napa Valley and JaM brands. He has been a winemaker for 16 years. Kandarian uses CMC (Celstab) on his white wines at 1ml per liter, which is both the stan- dard and the TTB maximum. He has experi- enced no sensory effects, pH changes, dissolved oxygen pickup, nor color loss in reds. He sees only advantages when compared with refrig- eration. "You just don't compromise quality like with chilling, and the wine isn't going through the temperature Richter scale." He Divergan F – PVPP The Revolutionaries Behind Wine's Visionaries Malolactic Bacteria, Non-Saccharomyces Yeasts Fermentation Nutrients Membrane Cartridge Filters, Laboratory Consumables OenoFoss - FTIR Analytical Instrumentation Filter Sheets, Lenticular Cartridges, Cellulose Pre-Coat Fibers Cross Flow Filters, RO Systems Liquid and Granular Enological Enzymes Oak-Mor ® / Oak Avantage ® Chips and Granular Oak CO 2 Analytical Instrumentation At Gusmer, we know the wine you create is just as unique as you are. Portable Ozone Systems H 2 S Preventing Saccharomyces Yeasts Lysozyme For over 90 years, Gusmer has oered a full range of innovative enological tools that enable your creative expression through unique and interesting wines. Equipment, analytical instruments and processing aids brought to you from leading suppliers in the wine industry, all backed by strong Gusmer technical support. The options for expression have never been greater and the tools have never been better – so go ahead, be unique, express yourself. For more information, contact Gusmer today. West Coast : 81 M Street Fresno, CA 93721 Tel: 559.485.2692 Midwest : 1401 Ware Street Waupaca, WI 54981 Tel: 715.258.5525 The Wine Lab TM : 640-D Airpark Road Napa, CA 94558 Tel: 707.224.7903 East Coast : 1165 Globe Avenue Mountainside, NJ 07092 Tel: 908.301.1811 Gusmer Sonoma Store : 9025 Old Redwood Hwy, Ste C Windor, CA 95492 Tel: 707.836.1056 NEW www.gusmerwine.com sales@gusmerenterprises.com French Oak WINEMAKING Regarding adoption of new technology and methods, I have often said that winemakers want to "be the first to be second."