Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/840286
8 WINES&VINES July 2017 A member of Wine Communications Group Inc. President & Publisher Chet Klingensmith Chairman Hugh Tietjen Publishing Consultant Ken Koppel Associate Publisher Tina Vierra Publishing Assistant Tiffany Maxwell Special Projects & Events Coordinator Johanna Rupp EDITORIAL Editor Jim Gordon Managing Editor Kate Lavin Senior Editor Andrew Adams Senior Correspondent Paul Franson Contributing Editor Jane Firstenfeld Northwest Correspondent Peter Mitham Grapegrowing Columnist Glenn T. McGourty Contributing Writers Laurie Daniel, Richard Smart, Richard Carey, Chris Stamp, Andrew Reynolds, Craig Root, Ray Pompilio, Andy Starr, Fritz Westover Practical Winery & Vineyard (PWV) Editor Don Neel Wine East Editor Linda Jones McKee DESIGN & PRODUCTION Graphic Designer Rebecca Arnn DATABASE DEVELOPMENT – INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Vice President — Data Management Lynne Skinner Project Manager Liesl Stevenson Database & Web Development James Rust, Peter Scarborough EDITOR'S LETTER THIS ISSUE HAS A LOT OF GOOD READING for you winemakers who are enjoying a month of relative calm before harvest and visualizing your upcoming fermentations. July is Wines & Vines' Technology Issue, so we emphasize several types of digital and mechanical technology that can improve wine quality and winemaking efficiency during the coming vintage. Senior editor Andrew Adams visited the new Riboli Family Winery in Paso Robles, Calif., to report on aspects of the design and construction of the crush pad and cellar, as well as the equipment in which the fast-growing, Los Angeles-based outfit invested. See his Techni- cal Spotlight story on page 30. Next in the technological vein is regular contributor Laurie Daniel's Q&A with Scott McLeod (page 36), formerly winemaker at Coppola's Rubicon/Inglenook in Napa Valley. McLeod has become a service provider for wineries, using the Adams-Harbertson tannin assay as the basis for a business that helps winemakers better understand phe- nolics in their grapes and wines. Two Product Focus articles are in this issue. The first, on page 40, discusses the leading software products for wine- making, while the other is part two of Richard Carey's report on membrane filtration equipment and suppliers (page 48). We know that more and more of you are letting indig- enous yeast handle your fermentations. It's a lot cheaper than buying yeast, for one thing, and the other potential benefits are valuable for wine quality and complexity. However, uninoculated should not mean unmanaged. Yeast researcher Debra Rossouw from South Africa contributes a good, practical overview of how to shepherd the wild yeast along as they do their thing (page 54). In the Wine East section, Denise Gardner from Penn State tackles a problem with which West Coast winemakers are certainly familiar but may not suspect is an issue east of the Rockies. Eastern vineyards are known for producing high-acid fruit, and that usually means low pH. But in recent vintages high acid and high pH have occurred together, related to soil potassium. Gardner studied how—and especially when—to best lower the pH via acid ad- ditions (page 60). Oak is another big topic this month. Beginning on page 44 you'll find two reports on barrels that stem from sessions at the recent Wines & Vines Oak Conference. Winemakers did most of the talking at the event, and in one session a panel of four from Covenant Wines, Jeff Cohn Cellars, Robert Mondavi Winery and Obsidian Ridge Vineyards mostly agreed that subtlety is important when using barrels. A related piece covers a tasting and discussion by winemakers from Fetzer Vineyards, Calluna Vine- yards and Schweiger Vineyards & Winery about the benefits of red barrel fermentation. The article (page 46) shares their practices, successes and frustrations with the time-consuming technique. That's it for July, but I want to remind readers that August will bring not just the beginning of har- vest for some folks, but also the return of the Wines & Vines Packaging Conference on Aug. 16. It's year number four for this popular and growing one-day meet- ing and trade show in Napa Valley. You are invited to register at wvoak.com, then come and learn how to improve your package design and functionality. We hope to see you there! —Jim Gordon From software to hardware, the issue emphasizes technology that can improve wine quality and winemaking efficiency. CONTACT US SUBSCRIPTIONS Email: subs@winesandvines.com Online: winesandvines.com/subscribe Phone: (866) 453-9701 EDITORIAL Email: edit@winesandvines.com MAIL 65 Mitchell Blvd., Suite A San Rafael, CA 94903 CONNECT WITH US facebook.com/WinesandVines twitter.com/WinesandVines youtube.com/WinesandVines1919 Read Up on Technology and Barrels Before Crush