WINEMAKING TECHNICAL SPOTLIGHT
54 WINES&VINES February 2018
Scientific pH meter and Astoria-Pacific
rAPID-T analyzer that can run glucose, fruc-
tose, NOPA and malic acid. For more com-
plicated analysis, Vidrine sends samples to
ETS Laboratories.
During the most recent vintage, one of
those more complicated analyses was for
smoke taint compounds. When Wines & Vines
visited the winery in early September, much
of Southern Oregon was blanketed by a thick
layer of smoke from several fires in the area.
Vidrine was not too concerned but admitted
any time there's smoke on the grapes after
véraison, there is some reason to worry. He
said little to no ash accumulated on the
grapes, however. "Most of the time, or most
of the season, it's been hazy but not intensely
smoky," he said.
Donovan, who remembered the smoke-
tainted vintage of 2013 said 2017, said there
has been nothing like that year.
In 2013, the Irvines opted not to release
any of their Pinot Noir because they felt the
wine did not meet their standards for quality.
Dionne Irvine said that absorbing the cost on
that vintage is one example of how the couple
has sought to do everything the best they
could in starting an estate winery. "If it's not
absolutely perfect, we're just not going to do
it," she said.
Red wines ferment in small, open-top tanks and after pressing will age in mostly new,
lightly toasted French oak barrels.
