Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/70670
WINEMA k ING water stress, Brix variability within clus- ters, berry diameter and microbial diver- sity. Smart supplied further evidence that Brix is unrelated to maturity, my never- ending rant. In addition, by employ- ing his trademark technique of actually looking at roots, he showed that the ini- tial condition of the plant material when planted is as important as soil conditions in determining vigor and root penetra- tion of mature vines. In relation to Mat- thews' work on pre-veraison conditions of water availability, Smart advocated for pre-dawn leaf water potential over solar noon determinations since it is well correlated and easier to do. Scientists including David Block studied whether filtration can affect red wine's flavor and aroma, stripping the wine of its true character. Adding to the benefits of living soil I have discussed in these pages, Smart's re- search assistant Michael Wolfe showed the benefits for carbon and nitrate sequestra- tion of no-till farming as well as increases in upper strata root proliferation. Message in a bottle I have long been advocating measures of wine reductive strength as the most important thing a winery can measure. Andy Wa- terhouse has been playing around with everybody's favorite new toy, Andrew Waterhouse sphere for closures rated at high and low the Nomasense O2 detection dot by synthetic closure manufacturer No- macorc. This gizmo allows in-bottle dissolved oxygen (DO) or headspace oxygen to be read non-destructively by optical measurement of a fluorescent dot through the glass of the wine bottle, en- abling observation of the rates of both oxygen transmission through the closure and its reactivity with wine. To look at the latter, Waterhouse aged bottled wines in air, 4% oxygen and a pure N2 atmo- oxygen transmission rate (OTR). The subject wines were Chardonnays aged four months in wood vs. stainless, with and without lees. Waterhouse observed that the wines took cline, which theoretically should be 4 ppm per ppm of DO, were actually much lower, indicating other mechanisms for oxygen consumption. This effect was least for the lees wines, which also had lower levels of about 200 days to consume the 4 ppm DO picked up at bottling. Lees contact did not make an observable difference. SO2 de- the weak SO2 binders pyruvate and keto- but are read as FSO2. Waterhouse concluded that better methods for FSO2 are needed, a direction I advocated in my discussion of the new FOSS analyzer.4 glucoronic acid, which sequester SO2 WineTasting FAMILY WINEMAKERS of CALIFORNIA presents its 22nd ANNUAL 1-3 Trade Only; 3-6 Public MONDAY SEPTEMBER 9 Fort Mason Center San Francisco Festival Pavilion Most comprehensive tasting of California wines. Showcase for small, family-owned wineries. 275+ WINERIES No charge to pre-registered trade. www.familywinemakers.org TAKE-AWAY WINE SALES ® ® info, trade registration form or tickets. Contact us at: (415) 705-0646 or tasting@familywinemakers.org Visit www.familywinemakers.org for 4.75" x 7.5" (1/2 island color) WINES & VINES Wines & Vines JULY 2012 55 SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 10 2-6 Trade Only To filter or not to filter? It has been a long time since we in the California wine industry have been privi- leged to have at the helm of our esteemed academic partner an individual who com- bines the academic credentials, broad