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62 WINES&VINES July 2016 WINEMAKING WINE EAST - B E C O PA D - Y E A S T & E N Z Y M E S - C R U S H PA D E Q U I P M E N T - S T E R I L E F I LT R AT I O N - W I N E R Y H O S E - O A K A LT E R N AT I V E S Grape Juice for Winemaking • California • Italy • Chile • South Africa Bulk Wine— CA North Coast • Drums • Totes • Tankers CFP Winemakers Fruit Juice for Winemaking • Year-around availability • 15 varieties Wine Grapes • California • Chile • South Africa Logistic Solutions • Coast to Coast CFP Winemakers, Pittsbugh PA www.cfpwinemakers.com • 412-232-4507 Bird Netting When distilling for the Eaux de Vie, however, Swedish Hill only utilizes cuts of the hearts. As in the first distillation, the heads and tails will not be used. This will provide the cleanest aromatics, with the alcohol finishing at about 130 proof. Distilled water is then added to lower the alcohol to 80 proof for bottling. Wilber stressed that the only way to determine what cuts to make is to base the decision on aromatics and taste. Distilling nu- merous times with the same base wine allows him to have a good idea when the best quality spirits will be produced during the distill- ing process. Aromatic assessment at the still is done by cutting the spirits with equal amounts of dis- tilled water in a series of glasses. The second distillation requires less time. Starting with spirits around 50 proof, distilling begins after 1-1.5 hours and finishes in about half the time as the first. Once the spirits are selected for the Eaux de Vie, they will be held for a mini- mum of a month to make sure ev- erything is stable, and then bottled without any filtration. Wilber uses a GAI 16-spout filler with 375ml bot- tles, which are sealed with T-corks. Raspberry Infusion, the winery's other distilled product, was made by dividing 3,500 pounds of red rasp- berries into two 1-ton grape bins and adding 60 gallons of their 140-proof brandy. A small amount of SO 2 was added, and the mixture was punched down twice daily for about five days. It was then strained in one of Swed- ish Hill's grape presses and went directly through diatomaceous earth filtration. It was filtered again through a pad filter, and the SO 2 was adjusted prior to bottling. It has 18% alcohol by volume. The Raspberry Infusion and the Eaux de Vie consti- tute about 20% of Swedish Hill's distilled spirits. The other 80% is used for the winery's fortified wines, which are usually produced every other year. This year, Wilber expects to produce about 500 cases of sherry in 375ml bottles. Next year he will produce some 400 cases of Port-style red fortified wine in 750ml bottles and 250 cases of white Port-style wine in 375ml bottles. The fortified wines will come from Swedish Hill's inventory, which currently includes 1,400 gallons of sherry and 1,600 gallons of red fortified wine, both aging in oak. New distilled wine will be added to the existing barrels to maintain a continuum of aging wines. Wilber said the sherry bar- rels include wine that was crushed as far back as 2003. Finally, Swedish Hill has a long- term program with about 12 barrels of grape brandy dating back to the late 1990s. The brandy is aging in a combination of old whiskey bar- rels and American oak wine barrels. The winery has not yet decided the fate of this brandy, but it is probably the oldest farm winery-produced RAY POMPILIO Owner, winemaker and distiller Mark Karasz of Rock Stream Vineyards stands next to his condensing unit and 80-gallon Alembic-style copper pot still. He heats the wine with a propane "lobster cooker."