Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/62409
WINEMAKING "We use all the tools when needed to make the best wines possible. We just prefer not to use them. The more you add, the more similar your wines are." —David Akiyoshi, Lange Twins yeast strains...except when they don't: Saintsbury's Brown Ranch Chardonnay is barrel-fermented wild, and Lange Twins does both some Pinot Noir and some Chardonnay with native fermenta- tions. Kirk Venge does natural alcoholic fermentations as stan- dard practice, but he encourages them with nutrient additions; his malolactic ferments are generally wild, too, except for problem lots and for his Zinfandels, for which a cultured malolactic starter helps keep VA levels down. Jerome Chery pays good money for malolactic bacteria to protection; Steve Pessagno typically uses only a fraction of the standard ML bacterial starter and sees his MLs complete in May or June, without sulfur. Saintsbury uses enzymes in some red fer- mentations; Pessagno uses pectinase enzymes for extraction but not color enzymes; Venge uses enzymes on some early season reds and on lots for which he wants to hasten extrac- get that step done ASAP in order to allow for SO2 Skolnik_Dir10_Jan10.qxd 10/19/09 10:04 AM Page 1 tion and press early. David Akiyoshi at Lange Twins doesn't use enzymes, period, and hasn't found a need for malolactic nutrients, either. Akiyoshi articulated most clearly what he called an "old school" orientation toward winemaking, in which fermentations are man- aged to achieve certain goals without heavy reliance on additives as a "crutch." "We use all the tools when needed to make the best wines possible," he says. "We just prefer not to use them. The more you add, the more similar your wines are." And speaking of using tools when you need them, nearly ev- eryone I talked to—suppliers and winemaker alike—mentioned that in this year of problematic harvests all up and down the West Coast, the oak-chip-and-enzyme business would be thriv- ing. This year's strange fruit, for example, motivated Kirk Venge to try oak chip additions to fermentations for the first time, in hopes of combating green flavors and botrytis influ- ence. "If you do things the same way all the time," he says, "you lose the chance to make something great or learn some- thing important." Just as there is no one recipe for "natural" winemaking, there is no single protocol for the use of wine additives. Believe it or not, my random survey suggested that most winemakers actually think before they open the bags, run trials and do most things for a good reason. Tim Patterson is the author of "Home Winemaking for Dummies." He writes about wine and makes his own in Berkeley, Calif. Years of ex- perience as a journalist, combined with a contrarian streak, make him interested in getting to the bottom of wine stories, casting a critical eye on conventional wisdom in the process. BA R A RCHITECTS 543 Howard Street San Francisco, California 415 293 5700 www.bararch.com STAINLESS STEEL COOPERAGE Providing leading wine makers with stainless steel barrels of high quality, durability, and design. SKOLNIK INDUSTRIES, INC. 4900 SOUTH KILBOURN AVENUE CHICAGO IL 60632-4593 PHONE 773.735.0700 FAX 773.735.7257 TOLL FREE 1.800.441.8780 HTTP://WINEDRUM.SKOLNIK.COM EMAIL: SALES@SKOLNIK.COM QSEE US AT UNIFIED, BOOTH #543 136 Wines & Vines JAnUARY 2012 Wineries Clubhouses Resorts Custom Homes Trinchero Winery: 2011 North Bay Business Journal Top Winery Winner QSEE US AT UNIFIED, BOOTH #926 Photo: Douglas Sterling