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WINEMAKING Extraction in a flash Developed by European fruit processor Aurore and adapted to winemaking by French research powerhouse INRA in 1993, the process combines thermovinifi- cation with flash evaporation. Grape must is heated to 160o -180o F and pumped into a vacuum chamber that explodes the skins (détente means release), drawing off va- por and fully extracting skin color, tannin and flavor while the evaporation cools the must back to ambient temperature. Must can then be pressed immediately and fermented as juice ("liquid phase") or fermented on skins and seeds as with tra- ditional reds. Liquid-phase reds are easily barrel fermented, obtaining the same en- hancements to body and complexity as we are accustomed to seeing in Chardonnays. Other variables include prior dejuicing, dwell time at high temperature (controlled by speed of throughput) and co-fermenta- tion with unflashed must. For those who want to get just a little bit pregnant, "demi-flash" uses lower temper- atures and less evaporative cooling. Less is more, however, because the optimum activity temperature range for browning enzymes is 110o mation of the oxidized aroma hydroxyl- QualityStainless_Apr05 -120o 3/9/05 F, and for the for- methyl furfural it is 140oF, so the way to dodge these reactions is to speed through the moderately hot temperatures. Most important, strip water (flash water) can be recombined or discarded. This is the recondensed steam that the vacuum draws "It's a gift from the gods—a real game- changer for growers." —Steve McIntyre, Monterey Wine Co. off the hot must to cool it, comprising 6%- 12% of the volume. Any highly volatile odors are stripped out by the steam. Except with aromatic varieties, this generally does not include much in the way of fruitiness. 11:12 AM Love to watch them strip Gnekow and Jones treated me to a range of strip water samples from the 2010 vin- tage. This was perhaps the most eye-open- ing tasting of my 38-year career in wine, for it revealed hidden terroir components. In small wooded vineyards such as the Santa Cruz Mountains, I have often sensed Page 1 Quality - Value - Experience Quality Stainless Tanks • Professionally crafted • Perfomance guaranteed • Custom designs & features • Quick & competitive pricing • Repairs & modifications • Special application tanks • Stainless winery equipment • Tanks in stock for immediate shipping from 500 to 10,000 gallon capacity Quality Stainless Tanks 510 Caletti Avenue • Windsor, CA 95492 Phone: 707.837.2721 • Fax: 707.837.2733 Toll-Free: 877.598.0672 www.qualitystainless.com winetanks@aol.com Wines & Vines FeBRUARY 2011 71 Fabricated Stainless Cooperage Custom aromas of local plants, and this is a topic of open debate online. Speculate no more: It's happening. "We call it air-oir," Gnekow says. "Eucalyptus, smoke taint, tarweed—we see it all." The amaretto tones from a vineyard adjacent to an almond orchard were unmistakable. The bad news is that a lot of what's happening is not so good. In one Pinot Noir vineyard located along Highway 12 in Carneros, the diesel exhaust was over- whelming, leading me to speculate about the boutique Cabernet vineyards lining Highway 29, which drink up the fumes from millions of Napa tourists every year. "One vineyard behind a truck stop smelled of cooking grease," says Gnekow. "In anoth- er, next to a cow pasture, pure manure." The biggest reason McIntyre loves flash? Pyrazine content is lowered to zero. Concen- trated bell pepper appears in the strip water. If total removal seems extreme, winemakers have the option to add back as much as de- sired. "But they never do," Gnekow says. What else is new? Once you get a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail, and Monterey Wine Co. has found plenty of other uses for its new darling. In the cold, rainy vintage of 2010,