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July 2016 WINES&VINES 33 WINEMAKER INTERVIEW Drainage management for the Wine Industry www.ACOBuildingDrainage.com 877.959.5346 ACO BUILDING DRAINAGE is committed to delivering the ultimate hygienic drainage performance to the wine industry, with stainless steel drainage products that focus on health and safety, cost management and food safety. We put HygieneFirst. Learn more at www.hygienefirst.com. Q What do you do with a problem wine—say, one with Brettanomyces? Meier: The best defense against problem wines in the winery is a good offense. In J. Lohr's case, that means being proactive in our quality control—monitoring and maintaining adequate SO 2 levels, having excellent barrel hygiene, tank and transfer line sanitation and monitoring for microbial is- sues through monthly tasting as well as monitoring volatile acidity and 4-ethylphenol (4-EP) and 4-ethylguaiacol (4-EG) levels. About two years ago, we added a more proactive monitoring of Dekkera/Brettanomyces growth by incorporating the Invisible Sentinel PCR monitoring system—sort of like a pregnancy test kit—where we can get an approximate count of actual cell numbers of these 4-EP- and 4-EG-producing microorgan- isms. Whereas our prior tracking of Brett infection was measurement of the Brett byproduct odor com- pounds indicative of the microor- ganisms' presence (kind of like shutting the barn doors after the cows are already out of the barn), we now "see" cell counts present before the production of byproduct off-odors and can take steps to mini- mize or eliminate cell growth and the 4-EP and 4-EG byproduct. The first step is to check and ensure that we have adequate SO 2 levels in the Brett-positive cell count wine. Second step, if we feel it is warranted, is to rack the wine from barrels and sterile cross-flow filter back to Gamajet-washed, ozone-treated barrels. This usu- ally drops the cell count back to zero, and the wine is monitored a little more closely through the du- ration of its aging time. Q Despite having vineyards in Arroyo Seco, J. Lohr didn't start producing significant amounts of Pinot Noir until a few years ago. When you got into Pinot production, what did you do about fermentation tanks? Meier: Bringing Pinot Noir into the varietal fold at J. Lohr re- quired us to create a winery within our Paso Robles winery to receive, sort and ferment in ways very different from Cabernet Sau- vignon and the other Bordeaux varietals that we grow. Our vine- yards were set up in small blocks of various Pinot Noir clone and rootstock combinations, creating small tonnages of fruit, which required smaller tank sizes ca- pable of handling 3- to 6-ton lots, up to 12 tons. In some cases with less than 3 tons, we ferment in small 1-ton MacroBins. Additionally, we needed to be able to have cold-soak capabilities and then the ability to warm up the tanks for yeast inoculation. Finally, with a delicate variety like Pinot Noir we needed punchdown capa- bilities for fine tuning extraction during cold soak and fermentation. So we built a special area within our Paso Robles winery where we can receive fruit delivered in half-ton MacroBins, destem with a Delta E2 destemmer, sort individual berries (initially with the Vaucher-Beguet sorting system and now the Pellenc sorter) and crush or not crush indi- vidual berries into MacroBins. The bins are then unloaded into the tops of our open-top fermentors—either 6 tons or 12 tons—where cold soak can begin. The beauty of creating this small- lot Pinot Noir winery is that it has allowed us to utilize it for our Vine- yard Series or Cuvée Series fruit, such as our Hilltop Cabernet Sauvi- gnon. Breaking our best vineyard blocks into smaller areas of uniform fruit quality and running it through the sorting and small fermentors has increased the quality of the indi- vidual lots selected and given us many more blending options. A resident of the Santa Cruz Mountains, Laurie Daniel has been a journalist for more than 35 years. She has been writing about wine for publications for more than 21 years and has been a Wines & Vines contributor since 2006. "Bringing Pinot Noir into the varietal fold at J. Lohr required us to create a winery within our Paso Robles winery."