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WINEMAKING TECHNICAL SPOTLIGHT 66 WINES&VINES January 2016 ment, but she prefers the control and reliability of inoculating. "I think it's the scientist in me," she said. "It's really a gamble, because the good, spontaneous fermentations probably mean an inoculum that you know and like ended up in the wine." For pumpovers and other cellar work, the winery is equipped with a Yamada air pump and both a positive displacement and centrifu- gal Waukesha pumps. All three are from Carlsen & Associates in Healdsburg. Bridenhagen uses pumpovers primarily be- fore and during the initial stages of fermenta- tion. She uses a stainless steel "rocket" from TCW Equipment in Santa Rosa to filter out the free-run juice to spread over the top of the must. Once a cap forms, the fermentation is managed with manual punchdowns. The cellar is equipped with a carbon diox- ide-monitoring system that triggers fans to pull out any excess gas during harvest. The same system, by Refrigeration Technology, also pulls in nighttime air to keep the cellar cool and manages the glycol flow. While all fermentation takes place in small bins, the winery does have three stainless steel tanks by Santa Rosa Stainless Steel. Bridenha- gen makes a direct-press Pinot rosé that is fermented in one of the tanks. Aside from the rosé, the tanks are used for blending, racking and bottling. "You'd be surprised at how many people on a tour would say, 'Where are all the tanks?' and I'd say our barrels and bins are our tanks," Bridenhagen said, before adding with a laugh, "I guess you're not a winery until you have some tanks." Depending on the grapes, Bridenhagen will either press when dry or allow the must to linger on the skins for a bit. Once ready for pressing, the free-run wine is pulled out with a pump and rocket, and the must is dumped with a Cascade bin dumper directly in to the Sutter EPC 25 press from Bucher Vaslin. Larger press for smaller lots Unlike many premium Pinot Noir producers, Bridenhagen did not opt for a basket press and instead went with the membrane unit. The larger press is a bit gentler, and that helps pre- serve aromas. She said the open press design also gives the wine some air, which isn't a bad thing at that point in its life. "You're already taking the free run and putting it to barrel, so you're really only dealing with your press (wine) anyway. I like to air it out; it cleans it up a little." Bridenhagen added that the press also doesn't require a minimum amount of fruit, so she can load it up with just one bin. "You can literally press 1 ton of pomace, which is not very much fruit, but that is in line with fermenting everything separately. You might as well be able to press it all separately if you want to." These stainless steel screened racking wands, or "rockets," are used to pull juice from bins used for fermentation.