Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/696561
TECHNICAL SPOTLIGHT WINEMAKING July 2016 WINES&VINES 27 The bins hold about 1.5 tons of grapes and have forklift channels to move and dump them. Leighton said the bins are excellent small-lot fermentors and also help him with grape lots that won't fit into the winery's 7-ton oak fermentation tanks or 8.5-ton con- crete tanks. During harvest, he will heat the main work area in the winery to 75° F to keep the small-lot fermentations bubbling. He said he can fit nearly 150 of the bins in the winery, laying them out in rows two bins wide and 15 bins long. Manual punchdowns on so many bins used to be an arduous chore, so Leighton developed a pneumatic punch-down device with J&M Specialty Welding that produces agricultural equipment. The device is rolled around the cellar and has two punchdown arms on a swivel to make punchdowns quick and easy. "For that many bins it used to take five guys and one extra person to do the Brix at the height of harvest, and it would take them 2.5 hours to get all the punch- downs and Brix," he said. "With this new machine it takes three people 1.5 hours, and it improves safety." Leighton said the heavy lifting and hard work of winemaking has often meant most cellar workers have been men. In addition to making safety a priority, Leighton wanted anyone to be able to perform most cellar jobs. Fermentations in the larger tanks are also managed with large, pneumatic punch-down devices that were also built by J&M. "It's a pretty male-dominated world on the cellar floor, and a lot of that has to do with lots of fairly vigorous, high-labor jobs. I really wanted to cut that labor down so anyone could do any job at any time." None of the wine is inoculated to start fermentation. During the inaugural vintage it took a little bit longer to start, but once the first few lots began to ferment in earnest, everything took off in the winery. Because no yeast or bacteria are added to the wine, the wine is made in a reductive man- ner to impair the growth of Acetobacter and other spoilage organisms. Grapes and ferment- ing wine are blanketed with dry ice, and Leigh- ton will also sparge the headspace of tanks and bins with carbon dioxide. Since he is trying to be as reductive as possible, Leighton said he's noticed color has also improved—as have wine aromas. "You get a lot more secondary aromas other than just fruit." The winery's lab is equipped with an alco- lyzer and densimeter by Anton Paar as well as an Enolyzer by Unitech Scientific. The Eno- lyzer machine can run enzymatic tests for glucose and fructose, nitrogen, lactic and citric acids as well as free and total sulfur dioxide and phenolics. In addition to analyti- cal equipment, the lab also serves as a garage for a bright pink electric car that Smith's young daughter likes to drive around the cel- lar when visiting with her father. The large fermentation tanks include 16 oak vats by Tonnellerie Boutes and nine con- CHARLES SMITH WINES Originally used by alfalfa seed farmers, these stain- less steel bins are now a popular choice as small open-top wine fermentors. StaVın Inc, P.O.Box 1693, Sausalito,CA 94966 (415) 331-7849 f (415) 331-0516 stavin.com Is a barrel the only way to age a fne wine? Barrel makers would like you to believe that. They'd also prefer you not know that we've fne-tuned the art of oak infusion so deftly that in many blind tastings, experts chose our favors over wines aged in French oak barrels. Surprising, but true. If you make a special wine and are willing to think outside the barrel, now would be a good time to give us a call. ® © 2016 StaVin Inc.