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WINEMAKER INTERVIEW July 2016 WINES&VINES 31 the bottle, but we generally had positive results. It was a bit risky, but it was a good experiment in an extreme opposite approach to filtration, compared to my early years at J. Lohr. We also began to take a seri- ous look at cross flow for polish filtration. We trialed all of the major supplier cross flows (0.2 micron) over the period of a year and did blind tastings of bottled wines produced without filtra- tion or membranes versus wines that were cross flowed with or without membranes. I thought that I would prefer the wines that were unfiltered or at least without membrane sterile filtra- tion, but found quite the oppo- site. The wines that were cross flowed and membrane filtered were "cleaner," purer in all char- acteristics and complex with no decline in wine density—a real eye-opener for me! Ultimately, we decided on a Pall cross flow and have been using it on all of the wines we produce—whites and reds in all of our J. Lohr tiers, from $10 per bottle to $65 per bottle. Q You also use a membrane filter at bottling. Why? Meier: We have been users of 0.45-micron membrane filtration at bottling since I started at J. Lohr. We use pre-filters (0.45 micron nomi- nal—originally Millipore, now 3M/ CUNO) and final filters (0.45-micron absolute—now 3M/CUNO) for all of our bottling. I had a period of time in the early 2000s that we experi- mented with looser pore size mem- branes such as 0.65 to 1.0 micron and even no sterile filtration on some of our J. Lohr Vineyard Series wines. After three years of trials and numer- ous tastings where we couldn't dis- cern a difference in blind triangle tests, we opted to return to our ster- ile filtration at bottling. These filters and their 0.45-micron membrane pore sizes are small enough to reject yeast and bacteria and ensure the winemaking staff a good night's sleep without the worries of a Brett- anomyces bloom, refermentation in bottle or other microbial problems. FERMENTING RHÔNE-STYLE WHITES IN PLASTIC CUBES J eff Meier, director of winemaking at J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines, started experimenting with 264-gallon plastic Flex- cubes for some fermentations in 2013—specifically for white Rhône varieties grown in the Adelaida District of western Paso Robles. "We felt that the Roussanne, Viognier and Grenache Blanc might require some different fermentation and aging options," Meier said. Flexcubes are available in different levels of oxygen perme- ability from ultra-low (about 0.25 mg per liter per month) to high (about 1.5 mg). Typical oxygen ingress in a barrel is 1 mg per liter per month, Meier told Wines & Vines. "We opted for the ultra-low and low-permeability Flexcubes to minimize oxygen pickup during the aging process. We ferment- ed a portion of each of the varietals in the Flexcubes and then topped and aged the wines for approximately six months. When it came time for blending our Viognier and RVG (Roussanne, Viognier and Grenache Blanc blend), all of the wine fermented in Flexcubes proved to be an important fruit component for each wine," Meier explained. "The varietals retained a higher level of fruit intensity while still having rich palate texture. They are also nice bulk wine storage containers." For more information contact your sales representative or email us at info@seguinmoreau.com Quick & efficient. For final production stages. Two weeks contact (or less). F i n i s h e r