Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/66144
WINEMAKING quickly and more efficiently than wine with high solids, but over-clarified juice ferments slowest of all and can simply stick. Exactly why this pattern holds is not entirely clear, though researchers from half a dozen countries have offered suggestions. Nor is there agreement about an optimum level of solids, which leaves the discussion framed by "too much" and "too little," not by hard numbers. Solids may be helpful in supporting yeast multiplication, and they may make nutrients more available to yeast. Fatty acids are themselves a possible source of nutrition. Solids may remove potentially toxic substances through adsorption (stuff sticking to the solids), and in a similar fashion they may serve as magnets for car- bon dioxide, getting it out of the yeast's way. Knowing that solids can help fermen- tation somehow, many winemakers add fresh solids (often yeast-based products) after removing most of the old ones, get- ting a cleaner set of solids. These additions are the one major example of conscious alteration of juice lees content. Popular literature has some mixed findings about the role of solids in malolactic fermentation, with indica- tions that under some conditions solids After wine is pulled directly from the barrel into waiting wine glasses at Creekside Estate Winery in Jordan, Ontario, solids start dropping to the bottom. Wines & Vines AUGUsT 2011 57