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64 WINES&VINES August 2017 WINEMAKING WINE EAST vineyard," Boyette explains. This is all done via email and Skype, almost eliminating their geograph- ical separation. Barruol tries to visit at least once during harvest, but the timing can be complicated by the Finger Lakes and Gigondas harvest conditions. Once the grapes are deliv- ered, the bins are emptied onto a sorting table via a bin dumper, and four to six people seek to eliminate the sub-par fruit. De- Jong Products Inc. (DPI) in Sheridan, Ore., is the supplier for both pieces of equipment. Selected grapes are crushed and destemmed in a small crusher/ destemmer on loan from the Hector Wine Co. Forge includes some whole-cluster grapes in the fermentation, basing their inclusion on the ripeness of the stems as well as the grapes. The process takes place in large (5-8 ton) used oak vats produced by Tonnellerie Taransaud in Co- gnac, France. The fermentation utilizes in- digenous yeast and completes in two to three weeks at below 30° C (86° F). Boyette noted that fermentation begins very quickly unless air temperatures are particularly cool. Regardless of the timing, no fermentation aids or enzymes are used. He employs daily pumpovers and averages several punchdowns per fermentation. For their six vintages, the Pinot Noir aver- aged between 21.5° and 23° Brix. In 2016, TA ranged be- tween 5.5 and 6.5 g/L, slightly lower than in previous years. Upon completion of the fer- mentation, the free run is imme- diately transferred into French Burgundy cooperage at a ratio of about one-third new barrels to two-thirds used. Forge uses sev- eral coopers, with the largest concentration coming from Ton- nellerie Taransaud. The used bar- rels come directly from Barruol's estate, Chateau de Saint Cosme. Boyette has become more aggres- sive in removing the oldest bar- rels from the mix, citing loss of tannin structure and barrel loos- ening/leakage problems as the main factor. The remainder of the must is shoveled out of the vats to be pressed. Forge has two Bucher Vaslin presses, Model 22 and M o d e l 3 2 , i m p o r t e d f r o m France. The press run is "long and slow," according to Boyette. The new wine is settled for a couple days and checked to as- certain complete fermentation. It is then transferred to barrels, with the free run and pressed wines kept separate. No SO 2 is added to the newly coopered wines in order to allow for a fairly quick indigenous ma- lolactic (ML) fermentation. Time required for ML has varied con- Natural Corks Champagne Corks Twinline Corks Bartops VISION Synthetic Corks G-Cap® Screw Caps Sales Representatives: Chris & Liz Stamp info@lakewoodcork.com lakewoodcork.com 4024 State Route 14 Watkins Glen, NY 14891 607-535-9252 607-535-6656 Fax PIONEER INNOVATOR PARTNER The 2015 and 2016 vintages currently are aging at the new Forge Cellars wine- making facility, which will be used for its first harvest in 2017.