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WINEM a KING Winemaker Interview DaN KarLSEN decades of experience, most recently at Chalone Vineyard. Karlsen set about upgrading Talbott's vineyards—Sleepy Hollow, in the Santa Lucia Highlands, and Diamond T, above Carmel Valley—buying new, gentler equipment for the winery and tweaking the style of Talbott's Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to make them riper and more fruit-forward. He began as consult- ing winemaker in 2008 and was named winemaker and general manager in 2009. Karlsen, who spent his teenage years in Sonoma County and worked briefly for the U.S. Forest Service in Oregon, eventu- ally landed in 1981 at Dry Creek Vine- yard, followed by Dehlinger Winery and Domaine Carneros. He spent 10 years at Chalone. He also has his own brand, Chock Rock Vineyard, which specializes in Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Wines & Vines: You filter all the wines W at Talbott. Why do you think filtration is particularly important for Pinot Noir? Dan Karlsen: I believe in sterile-filtering Pinot Noir, because it's notorious for refer- mentation in the bottle, which seriously al- ters the flavors of the wine. I want all of my wines to taste the way I ultimately intended them to taste. There is a lot of talk about the impact of filtering, but in my three-plus decades of winemaking experience, I've come to the conclusion that filtration has a very minimal negative effect on wine flavor, if any, and I think that the unfiltered school of winemaking was largely created by win- ery marketing departments. Filtration is particularly important for Pinot Noir because Pinot has glyco- sides, which are bound glucose molecules unique to Pinot Noir. The pigments in Pinot are very different than those in 40 Wines & Vines sePTeMBeR 201 1 hen Robb Talbott decided to make some changes at Talbott Vineyards in Monterey County, Calif., he turned to Dan Karlsen, a winemaker with three Using filtration at Talbott Vineyards in Monterey County, Calif. By Laurie Daniel Dan Karlsen, winemaker at Talbott Vineyards, says that Pinot Noir's tendency towards refer- mentation led him to adopt filtration, which also prevents Brettanomyces. Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah because of the way they bind glucose—and as a result, Pinot is much more likely to refer- ment in spring, in the bottle, or to develop Brettanomyces. While I understand that there is a segment of the population that appreciates a certain amount of Brettano- myces, I don't at all—and I won't make a wine I personally don't like. Ultimately, when you filter, you get clear wines, and you avoid refermentation and the chance of Brettanomyces. W&V: Why do you prefer crossflow filtration to other filtration methods? Karlsen: Up until the mid-1980s, almost all wine was filtered through asbestos, and once asbestos could no longer be used, pads were essentially developed to mimic what the asbestos achieved. Pads and diato- maceous earth (DE) are still widely used and are relatively inexpensive, but I think diatomaceous earth is seen as somewhat antiquated these days. And while it is rela- tively cheap, diatomaceous earth is danger- ous to handle. Pads can be effective, but not all systems are created equal. We like the Cuno system (now 3M Purification Inc.) and do use it on very small lots of wine, where crossflow doesn't make as much sense. There are also other pad options, like plate-and-frame systems, but I'm not a fan of how much wine you lose to drippage with plate and frame. DE and pads are "nominal" filtration systems, which means they filter for clarity and they remove ap- proximately 99% of organisms. This said, I think they also have the potential to impart more unwanted flavors to wine unless prop- erly handled. For instance, we thoroughly wash all of our new pads to ensure that they don't impart a paper flavor. I like crossflow because it is an "ab- solute" filtration system. No organisms get through, and it adds no flavors. What