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WINEMA k ING can Tartaric, is sufficiently automated that, in Nicholls view, she gets a cellar worker back, in addition to simplifying disposal, which means that the equipment pays for itself in pretty short order. Andrew Wenzl at Abacela said that for white wines, crossflow is "spectacular." They have been using a Koch system pur- chased through Willamette Valley Cross- flow and find it much gentler than their previous DE setup. Hope has been using a crossflow rig, a customized package put together by Winetech, for all of his high- end wines, many of which are sterile fil- tered. Hope said it seems cleaner and sim- pler than anything else as well as capable of handling dirtier wine that might take two runs and more wine movement with pad filters. Not everyone is on board: Klein isn't con- vinced that crossflow is superior to DE, and Hart is content for now to watch some of his better-heeled neighbors invest in cross- flow and see what it does for them. As part of an ongoing effort to keep Brett levels low and at bay, Franciscan has started to routinely filter their supply of topping wine: identify the topping bar- rels, run them through sterile filtration into tank and top from there, eliminating any worry that the topping wine could pollute the barrels it tops. Another handy weapon in bug control for Franciscan is that, as part of Constellation, Franciscan's facilities are home to Constellation's North Coast lab, which services Mondavi, Clos du Bois, Ravenswood, Simi and many other winer- ies. That means any time Myers has her doubts about, say, some bulk wines on of- fer, she can have the Constellation lab test a dozen samples for anything from Brett to pesticide residue just by walking down the hall to "the brainiacs." Timing is everything Tom Coyne admitted that he had acciden- tally cashed in on a wine trend he didn't even know about. In 2010, he bought a few tons of Petit Sirah from a small new Liver- more grower who was selling the rest of the fruit to someone else. Coyne got his grapes but noticed driving to the winery every day that the other guy's grapes were still on the vines. After about a month, he asked the grower what had happened, and found out the other winery had changed its mind, so Coyne bought the grapes, now a little north of 30º Brix, figuring he could make a late harvest style Petit. He did, and he put the 17%-plus wine in 375ml bottles, figuring he could sell it for the next five years in his tasting room. But the wine is being snapped up in a hurry; the demand for sweet red wines (see "Move Over Dry Reds" in the June 2012 issue of Wines & Vines) had found its way to his cellar door. One of the most important changes at any winery is the change in winemakers. Joe Hart has been bumped upstairs as the founding winemaker at Hart, since his son Jim has become the winemaker, in addition to serving as winemaker for Milagro Farm Vineyards in San Diego County. Since he still enjoys making wine at 80, Joe has no intention of leaving Jim alone in the cellar. My main piece of personnel news came from John Falcone. It turned out that the day we talked was also his last day at Ru- sack after 11 years. He's off to become general manager and executive winemaker for Gainey Vineyard, down the road in Santa Barbara. After we hung up, the only thing left on his checklist was to say his good-byes. Gotta update my Rolodex. Tim Patterson is the author of "Home Wine- making for Dummies." He writes about wine and makes his own in Berkeley, Calif. Years of experience as a journalist, combined with a con- trarian streak, make him interested in getting to the bottom of wine stories, casting a critical eye on conventional wisdom in the process. You know how good your Zinfandel is... Promote your wines to leading Zinfandel enthusiasts and extend your winery's relationship in the market. Join Us! We are champions of Zinfandel— America's Heritage Wine Become part of our proud legacy Tipable 1 Ton fermentor/ storage tank INNOVATIONS FO R 2012 Tipable 2 Ton fermentor/ storage tank STACKER New features, two sizes, 300 gal & 240 gal for 2012 SATURN tanks meet FDA & European Food Safety Authority Standards These plastic All these tanks provide an ideal platform for the use of oak adjuncts in the making of Fine Wines APOLLO by zinfandel.org • 530-274-4900 Zinfandel Advocates & Producers is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. ZAP is dedicated to advancing public sales@flextankusa.com Proudly designed and manufactured in the www.flextankusa.com 877 407 3348 knowledge of and appreciation for American Zinfandel and its unique place in our culture and history. USA. Tanks are manufactured in and ship from Vancouver WA 98682 Wines & Vines JULY 2012 53