Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/975273
TECHNICAL SPOTLIGHT WINEMAKING May 2018 WINES&VINES 59 tons of grapes in the winery parking lot and trying to work through that with a hand crew processing at around 1.5 tons per hour. "I had the assistant winemakers actually smell every cluster because that is the only way to detect pre-destemmer the impact or the presence of rot," he said. An investment in flexible processing After that experience, Hoefliger said, he in- vested in a Pellenc destemmer with optical sorter and has never regretted it. "Being a small winery that, if I do my job right, makes high- end wines, I have to have the luxury of picking faster, and since then we've never had a prob- lem," he said. "We have to be able to respect the integrity of the fruit, and we have to be able to harvest it faster, and it worked really, really well." On the crush pad at Tolosa, grapes are emp- tied from the FYBs onto conveyors leading to the Pellenc Selectiv' Process Winery that de- stems and sorts the berries, which are collected into stainless steel bins. Sometimes referred to as "gravy boats," the bins have a fluted side that directs the flow of berries into open-top tanks. The process is gentler on the Pinot berries and also works well for the variety of tanks at the winery. All of the tanks were built by Que- bec-based La Garde. The square-sided tanks range in size from 3 tons to 10 tons so wine lots can be as small or as large as needed. All of the tanks are also hooked up to hot and cold glycol for temperature control, which was an- other significant investment to protect wine quality. Fermentations are managed by manual punchdowns. Despite having the opportunity LIQUID NITROGEN DOSING regardless of your closure preference Minimize dissolved oxygen Extend shelf life Purge O 2 from empty bottles Purge O 2 from headspace Since 1958 4 Barten Lane, Woburn, MA 01801 T 781-933-3570 F 781-932-9428 sales@vacuumbarrier.com vacuumbarrier.com to invest in some type of punchdown device, Hoefliger said it would have been too restric- tive for the layout of the cellar, and it's easier to regulate the pressure and intensity of punch- downs when done by hand. Once fermentation is complete, the reds are pressed with a new Bucher Vaslin JLB press. Hoefliger admitted the trendy choice at pre- mium wineries is to go with a basket press but stressed it's really about quality over quantity. "Lots of people think, 'oh gosh, it's so trendy to do a basket press.' Yeah, yeah, sure, sure it's trendy to have a basket press, but there's a cost to it because your yields of pressing are lower, but most people forget if you can use 20% of your press wine rather than 3%, then your investment is fairly fast recovered," he said. The tanks are supported with tall legs that allow cellar workers to position the press bas- ket directly beneath the main hatch, so they can simply rake out the pomace from outside of the tank. For Chardonnay, the winery has a Europress EHM-120 press that is loaded with whole clus- Both the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay ages in French oak barrels with about 30% new.