Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/70670
EDIT OR' S LET TER Software, Hardware and a Digital Edition This issue features new technology for the cellar and research results e've pulled together a really solid issue this month. Five articles deal with how to use technology and the latest research results in your cellar or vine- yard. It makes good sense because this is the eighth annual Technology Issue. Three of these reports are in the feature "well," as we call it, and two more are in the columns section nearer the back of the book. Plus, we're running a Technical Review article about an unusual custom crush winery, Walla Walla, Wash.-based Artifex (page 40). You will also find our first major update in some time on barrel rehab services (page 44). Two of the feature articles about technology cover topics that proba- bly every winemaker is aware of, but they may not be using: fermentation control hardware linked to software and micro-oxygenation. W Music major The third tech-oriented article is a re- ally interesting interview with winery technology innovator and proponent Rick Jones (page 36). I didn't know Jones before I read the article by Lau- rie Daniel, but afterward I thought he was a pretty straight-shooting guy. Laurie got to know him while reporting a couple of earlier stories about flash extraction, which is one of Jones' specialties. In this issue she uses a direct Q & A interview to dig deeper into the mind of this alumnus of Vinovation and Oenodev. Jones is one of the rare winemak- ers who started out majoring in mu- sic, so you can expect the interview to take some interesting tangents. Here's a quote: "Some people think it's cheating to correct a less-than-desirable aspect of a wine—a flaw, if you will. We have an almost Calvinist view, that somehow we should suffer if we make less-than-perfect wine, that the winemaker should pay for his sin of coming up short of the ideal. It's really adolescent. Winemakers know that you do everything you can and hope for the best, much like being a parent." Tablet to tank My first take on the main cover headline for this issue was some- thing bland like "Cellar Tech." But I tried again after seeing design and production manager Bridget Williams' great cover design, and a better one hit me: Tablet to Tank. It's got alliteration, and ends with a hard consonant—good things in both poetry and headlines. Thomas Ulrich wrote this month's cover story (page 24). We've all seen electronic fermentation tank controls and have probably 8 Wines & Vines JULY 2012 heard about using tablet computers to track cellar tasks. What's been missing is a seamless way to link the controls and the tablets. Ulrich found a great example of how this is now done at Chateau Montelena in Calistoga, Calif., where the convergence of hard- ware and software is complete. The real take-away for other wineries that are getting top dollar for their wines is the ability of this system to track and store what happens during crush so that the winemakers can use the informa- tion later to see what worked best, and then to improve on their de- cisions during the following harvest. The real take-away is the ability of this system to track and store what happens during crush. Micro-ox It's not a tiny draft animal, but a winemaking tool. Micro-ox out- rages some wine writers but makes winemakers happy. The technology for micro-oxygenation has matured rapidly from jury-rigged setups just a few years ago to equipment that can dose young wines with precise and minute amounts of oxygen. Staff writer Andrew Adams found in his reporting (page 30) that sup- pliers, winemakers and academics don't agree wholeheartedly about the specific benefits of micro-ox. But winemakers are voting with their dollars that it improves their wines. I can't end without plugging our two stalwart winemaking columnists, Tim Patterson and Clark Smith. You might already know that Smith is a winery technology guru by experi- ence but a Renaissance man in spirit. He attended the RAVE sessions at UC Davis recently, and in his Postmod- ern Winemaking column (page 54) he analyzes the importance of Recent Advances in Viticulture and Enology as presented there. Tim Patterson writes the Inquiring Winemaker column (page 48) and makes umpteen small lots of wine in his garage each year. The methods and equipment that commercial winemakers use fas- cinate him. For this column he polled a passel of professionals to see what new techniques and tools they can't live without. Digital edition To wrap this up, I want to remind every subscriber that you now have the digital edition of Wines & Vines as well as the print ver- sion—whether you knew it or not. Either use your mobile device to scan the barcode on page 4 of this issue or go to winesandvines. com/digitaledition and access it there. As you're doing in your win- ery or vineyard, we're constantly upgrading our technology, too.