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WINEMAKING out of the wine at bottling, Hedley says by far the best approach is to carefully con- serve what's left over from fermentation. Riesling is probably the variety whose drinking the wine under five years from harvest," he says, "just give it a little splash for air and it'll open up just fine." I also found some winemakers who routinely measure carbon dioxide levels, though taste is still in charge. Andrew Hed- ley at the Framingham Wine Co. in Mar- lborough, New Zealand, says, "We have sort of calibrated ourselves against the numbers over the years; however, the effect/ feel in the mouth and maybe on the nose is more important than the numbers." He has developed target ranges for different wine styles: fairly elevated (1,300-1,600 mg/L) for their "Germanic" Rieslings; closer to 1,000 mg/L for drier Riesling; under 850 mg/L for their richer, weightier, Alsatian- style Pinot Gris and Gewürztraminer; and Sauvignon Blanc somewhere in the middle with 1,100-1,400 mg/L. While these tar- gets can be reached by sparging CO2 in or dry all-stainless wines. Breeden's concern isn't getting the CO2 level up high enough for the signature Riesling verve; it's getting it down a notch. "Even with all the pro- cessing the wine goes through—Bentonite, several forms of filtration, sterile filtration, bottling at over 60ºF—we don't remove enough CO2 "—by which he means getting "Feel in the mouth and on the nose is more important than the numbers." —Andrew Hedley, Framingham Wine Co. CO2 content gets the most attention world- wide, and certainly in New York's Finger Lakes. Sheldrake Point's Dave Breeden is among the carbon-conscious winemakers in the region, especially for dry and off- it down to around 1,000 mg/L, measured by his trusty Carbodoseur. "If I wanted sparkling wine," he says, "I'd make spar- kling wine. I don't like my wine to move around in the glass." He usually needs to sparge with nitrogen before bottling. David Whiting at Red Newt Cellars, SignatureMobileBottlers_Dir10.qxp 11/30/09 4:09 PM Page 1 20 miles down the road, hasn't yet gotten very far into the carbon dioxide measure- ment and management business, but he thinks he should. From conversations with Breeden and Peter Bell at Fox Run—and for that matter, from looking at the little ring of bubbles on some young German Rieslings—something he doesn't want—he has gotten to a point he describes as "on the cusp of managing it more accurately." Breeden, however, has a cautionary tale: Last year he brought one particular wine down from the 1,400 mg/L or so that's standard in his cellar to the 1,000 mg/L he prefers for bottling, "and the wine was hor- rible, completely stripped. I had to put some CO2 back and do some blending. Some- times, I'm still in the dark about this stuff." Hey, nobody said winemaking (even mostly non-interventionist winemaking) was easy. Bruce Zoecklein says all these concerns are cyclical; carbon dioxide was "a big deal maybe a dozen years ago, then it dropped off the radar, especially for small producers." Maybe it's due for a comeback. Tim Patterson is the author of "Home Wine- making for Dummies." He writes about wine and makes his own in Berkeley, Calif. Years of experi- ence as a journalist, combined with a contrarian streak, make him interested in getting to the bot- tom of wine stories, casting a critical eye on con- ventional wisdom in the process. Designed For the Most Discriminating Winemakers • Our Bottling Lines are Maintained to the Highest Standards • Pricing & Flexibility Options – Unmatched • Smooth & Efficient Production • 10 Trucks Proudly Serving CA – OR – WA • Clean & Sanitary – Lowest Oxygen Pickup • Our Staff is Friendly & Accomadating Customer Service is Our Highest Priority www.signaturebottlers.com to see our video brochure Email: david@signaturebottlers.com 888.268.8548 toll free 70 Wines & Vines MAY 201 1