Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/867389
WINEMAKING TECHNICAL SPOTLIGHT 60 WINES&VINES September 2017 Chardonnay from Lodi grower Larry Castelanelli harvested at 18° to 19° Brix. Primary fermentation is in stainless steel using a PDM yeast with a goal of 10.5% to 11.5% alcohol. The LVVR base wine has been produced under a custom arrangement at different Lodi wineries for past vintages, crushing about 5 tons per vintage to date. While Donaldson expects tonnage to increase, he will con- tinue crushing and primary fer- mentation at other facilities while he focuses resources on the spar- kling process operations. He moves the base wine to his facility for bottling within five months of primary fermentation. A 260-gallon stainless-steel float- ing-lid tank from Criveller is used for blending and bottling. The base wine is mixed with a Lalvin DV 10 yeast and Clarifiant BK rid- dling aid from Scott Labs, along with sugar and nutrients prior to bottling for the secondary fermen- tation. The wine is sterile filtered through a Critical Process mem- brane filter from John Mulhern Co. of Santa Rosa, Calif. A 12-head Mimi filling ma- chine (a former brand manufac- tured in Italy) that also had an inline corking unit was bought used from California Food Ma- chinery Co. Donaldson converted the corker to a single-head crown capper and uses the machine for bottling and crown capping. A plastic bidule is inserted in each bottle between filling and capping to aid in consolidating lees after riddling. Bidules and crown caps are supplied by UnionPack of American Canyon, Calif. Bottles are supplied by TricorBraun WinePak of Fairfield, Calif. The crown-capped bottles are stored in bins en tirage in the cold storage warehouse at Tuscan Wine Village to go through secondary fermen- tation and aging. Most lots spend six to 12 months en tirage. Bottles are manually loaded into a riddling cage and put through the Roto-Jolly's auto- mated seven-day cycle. Rather than invest in specialized bottle- neck-freezing equipment for dis- g o r g i n g , D o n a l d s o n u s e s a common floor-mounted deep freezer storage box that holds 35 bottles and freezes the neck plugs in six minutes. Donaldson fabri- cated a bottle rack installed in the box to hold bottles neck down. A new Atlas model semi-auto- matic disgorger/dosager manufac- tured by Officine Pesce of Italy and supplied through Criveller pulls crown caps and expels the frozen plugs for up to 150 bottles per hour. A filler tube adds a dosage mix into each bottle that includes base wine, sugar, sulfur and CMC (carboxy- methylcellulose) for cold stability. The bottles are corked with a used Bertolaso corker, and an older model Otto Sick machine applies the wire hoods. Amorim supplies corks, and UnionPack supplies wire hoods. Front and back pressure-sensitive labels printed by MCC Multi-Color Global Label Solutions are applied with the used MEB labeler. A CanelliTech, semi-automatic benchtop Champagne foil capsule applicator manufactured in Italy was bought new. The two-stage unit is used by manually inserting the bottleneck into two openings: The first opening pleats the foil, and the second opening does the final crimping to tighten the foil on the bottle. Donaldson has lab supplies to perform some basic wet chemistry, but he runs analyses and quality- control tests with two commercial labs: Lodi Wine Laboratories and KSL Wine Lab in Ione, Calif. LVVR sparkling wines All four current LVVR sparkling re- leases labeled "Traditional Method" are non-vintage, produced with a final alcohol of 12% and sell for $24 per bottle. The two main releases are a Brut and Blanc de Blanc, but all four wines are produced from the same base wine blend of 90% Chardonnay and 10% Viognier. Donaldson learned to use Viog- nier while making sparkling wine in New Mexico. "Viognier adds depth, fruit and tropical aromas. It rounds out the Lodi Chardonnay profile," he says. The Brut is off- dry with a crisp finish that is geared to go to market earlier. Donaldson is looking for more traditional, drier, Champagne- style wines with good acidity. The LVVR rosé sparkling wine is produced by adding Alicante Bous- chet to the dosage after disgorging to provide color, berry and cherry aromas. A sweeter style Demi-Sec is produced with a dosage of Muscat that can be paired with desserts. "Each one fills a different market niche, and they can be produced based on demand," Donaldson said. About 90% of LVVR's sales are direct through the tasting room and wine club. Some is sold locally through wine retailers and restaurants. Other wines in production, stored en tirage, include a 100% Pinot Noir sourced from Lodi AVA vineyards in the cooler Delta re- gion and two blends with Char- donnay and Pinot Noir—one a 60/40 blend and one a 50/50 blend. The goal for the Pinot Noir and blends is to have two years en tirage to produce vintage-desig- nated reserve sparkling wines. Donaldson is working on a higher end label concept with MCC Label Solutions for these wines that will include a neck band. Custom service growth Donaldson foresees the winery's business growth in custom spar- kling services, with the ability to provide quality méthode champe- noise wine in smaller lots. For clients looking to provide their own base wines, he provides a spec sheet that lists required chemistry parameters such as proper alcohol, pH and free SO 2 levels—and to ensure no addi- tives are present that will hinder a secondary fermentation. He currently works mainly with Lodi wineries, but service is expanding to clients from a wider geo- graphic area. He works with win- eries on small experimental lots for new products and is working with an Amador County winery on a sparkling Barbera. Total 2016 production was about 1,500 cases. The facility has capacity to produce 6,000 cases annually with current equipment, and Donaldson performs most of the labor alone. Reflecting on his startup enterprise, Donaldson said, "l already knew about the winemaking part of it, but I had to jump into being a business owner, and that involves making smart investments with the equip- ment I buy." Ted Rieger, CSW, is a wine journalist based in Sacramento, Calif. He has writ- ten for wine industry media since 1988. The automatic riddling machine is set to a seven-day program. " Viognier adds depth, fruit and tropical aromas. It rounds out the Lodi Chardonnay profile." —Eric Donaldson, LVVR Sparkling Cellars