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WINEMAKING more natural than the air we breathe? MOx reestablishes winemaking traditions excluded by recent technology, as stain- less steel and inert gas that have permitted modern winemakers to exclude oxygen in ways unavailable to traditional winemak- ers during the previous 6,000 years. Still, it is reasonable for collectors to be suspicious of the prospects for longev- ity of wines subjected to an experimental technique, and for purists to oppose the restructuring of tannins. In time, some will come to understand that oxygen is essen- tial to red wine evolution, and as we age these wines their enhanced longevity be- comes increasingly apparent. For now, the most important benefits of MOx are for health. Conventional tannin management strips excessive astringency with animal proteins from milk, chicken eggs, sturgeonfish and beef tendon—all possible allergens for sensitive individuals. Any winemaker will tell you that the pro- cedure of stripping wine of tannin with fin- ing agents is detrimental to terroir expres- sion and also robs wines of soulfulness by deleting the tannin structure responsible for aromatic integration. All these problems are averted by the re- hand. The process is akin to the conver- sion of cocoa into chocolate (conching), for which I have discovered very little popular resistance! Conventional winemaking is no more traditional than conventional farming. Careful introduction of oxygen is also the most benign method for balancing reduction, eliminating conventional cop- per treatment. Reduction, a tendency for wines to close up and get stinky, is on the rise in our wines because advances in vineyard practices, proper ripeness lev- els, improved cellar techniques and the use of screwcaps all increase tendencies toward reduction. Indigenous yeast: There is surprising fer- Skolnik_Dir10_Jan10.qxd 10/19/09 10:04 AM Page 1 fining of tannins with oxygen by a skilled vor surrounding the desire to skip inocu- lating with packaged yeast cultures in the name of naturalness. The catalogs of yeast companies, with their outrageous claims to enhance aromatics, do sound scary. What consumers don't realize, but all winemak- ers know by experience, is that these cata- log promises are simply bogus. In some wines I inoculate because I pre- fer to avoid sulfites at the crusher. If I allow grapes to sit the required 2-4 days until in- digenous Saccharomyces arise, a host of other yeasts and bacteria produce domi- nant fruity ester characters that overpower the grapes' aromatic expression. Notwith- standing the argument that this microbial picnic constitutes some kind of terroir expression in and of itself, these wines all taste the same to me. For those concerned with health or those who report sensitivities to some wines, com- mercial yeast strains also permit winemak- ers to minimize levels of allergenic amines as well as the carcinogen ethyl carbamate. Glass alternatives: Perhaps the widest schism looming in the natural wine move- ment has to do with packaging. The car- bon footprint around the manufacture and transport of glass bottles outweighs all other wine industry inputs combined. Yet no collector wants to cellar plastic bot- tles, however ecological. Show me a cult producer ready to switch to bag-in-box, however hermetic the seal. As a rule, small artisans gravitate towards heavy bottles, YOUR SUCCESS IS OUR PRIORITY STAINLESS STEEL COOPERAGE Providing leading wine makers with stainless steel barrels of high quality, durability, and design. SKOLNIK INDUSTRIES, INC. 4900 SOUTH KILBOURN AVENUE CHICAGO IL 60632-4593 PHONE 773.735.0700 FAX 773.735.7257 TOLL FREE 1.800.441.8780 HTTP://WINEDRUM.SKOLNIK.COM EMAIL: SALES@SKOLNIK.COM Wines & Vines MAY 2011 75