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80 WINES&VINES February 2016 WINEMAKING WINE EAST apple wine from fruit they pur- chased, pressed and had frozen; they also made two Riesling ice wines from their grapes. They re- peated the netting procedure to protect the grapes from birds and deer. On three nights in January, a total of 8.7 tons of grapes were hand-picked, with the air tem- perature averaging 14° F. Using the same press and techniques as they did with the Cabernet Franc, the grapes yielded 640 gallons of juice with 40.9° Brix, 10.0g/L TA and a pH of 3.26. Breeden took 300 gallons of the juice from the first two nights and placed it out- side in a 300-gallon FlexTank. The remaining 340 gallons were inoculated Feb. 10 using 6 gallons of juice and 1.5 gallons of water, with 200g of Laffort VL-1 and 250g of Go-Ferm protect nu- trient. During the next 3.5 months, 15 more additions of juice were made, maintaining the fermenta- tion between 20° and 30° Brix. The fermentation lasted for 180 days at temperatures between 60° and 70° F. Although the wine did not settle clear, Breeden chose to not add bentonite, deciding in- stead to put the wine through a seven-stage filtration. Using the same equipment as he did with the Cabernet Franc, he used pads of 10, 5.0, 2.0 (twice), 0.8 and 0.45 microns, finishing with the 0.45-micron membrane at bot- tling. A notable difference in the wines was the time elapsed for filtering: While the Cabernet Franc filtration encompassed 141 days, the Riesling took only 13 days to complete the filtration. W h a t e v e r b e c a m e o f t h e 300-gallon FlexTank lot? After the tank was filled, it showed 38.0° Brix, 9.3g/L TA and a pH of 3.41. It was left resting outside, to be used to add to the fermenting tank inside, as part of the Brix-mainte- nance program employed by Breeden. By spring, the juice still had not begun to ferment. On May 9, however, Breeden discovered the Brix level had dropped to 30.8° and, without inoculation, was clearly fermenting. It was racked to a stainless steel tank nine days later, when 65 addi- tional gallons of juice were added. During the next month, as fermen- tation continued, the product was monitored for taste, and it was decided to keep the wild fermen- tation lot separate. Breeden stopped it by chilling on June 13. About 10 weeks later, Breeden began his regular filtration pro- cess, filtering through 10, 5.0, 2.0 and 0.8-micron pads during an eight-day period. Sterile filtration took place Sept. 11, again utilizing the .45-micron pads and .45-mi- cron membrane. Once again, all were Carlson pads, and the mem- brane was by Parker Domnick Hunter. The wine has received outstanding reviews and was re- cently named Best Wine of the 2015 Canberra (Australia) Inter- national Riesling Challenge, a competition featuring 500 Ries- lings from around the world. Breeden produces ice wines with about 2%-3% less alcohol than many others from the Finger Lakes. "We like a more unctuous style, so that's what we do here," he said, referring to stopping the fer- mentation for lower alcohol and richer balance. "The wild-ferment Riesling ice wine is the purest expression of our vineyard," he said. Conclusion All three winemakers agreed that the processing of grapes for ice and iced wines is similar, whether they are frozen in the vineyard or in a freezer. DiFrancesco at Gle- nora defined the difference, in that the naturally frozen grapes can offer a much more complex product. To him, "The artificially frozen grapes are like lemon me- ringue, and the naturally frozen are like crème brulee. They're both good, but if you think you can make the same thing by going to the freezer, you can't." Fulkerson agreed with DiFran- cesco's comments. When asked to compare his ice and iced wines, Fulkerson said, "There's definitely more to the ice wine," but he noted that less complex iced wines were still popular with customers looking for a special dessert wine at a lower cost. Ray Pompilio is a wine writer based in Ithaca, N.Y., where he has close access to the largest concentration of wineries in the state. Grape Juice for Winemaking • California • Italy • Chile • South Africa Bulk Wine— CA North Coast • Drums • Totes • Tankers CFP Winemakers Fruit Juice for Winemaking • Year-around availability • 15 varieties Wine Grapes • California • Chile • South Africa Logistic Solutions • Coast to Coast CFP Winemakers, Pittsbugh PA www.cfpwinemakers.com • 412-232-4507 EASTERN WINE LABS Serving the Analytical needs of East Coast Wineries WWW.EASTERNWINELABS.COM Ph 609-859-4302 Cell 609-668-2854 chemist@easternwinelabs.com AOAC Member EasternWineLab_Mar09.qxp 1/22/09 9:47 AM Page 1