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TECHNICAL SPOTLIGHT WINEMAKING May 2018 WINES&VINES 61 ters, which are picked at night into MacroBins. Delivert said one lot of Chardonnay is de- stemmed and sits on the skins for a few hours as a special blending lot. The free and hard press wines are kept separate through fermen- tation and aging. Almost all of the Chardonnay ferments in 100% French oak barrels of which about 25% to 30% are new. Delivert said he will stir the lees regularly and the vintage dictates how often. The wine goes through ML in barrel and generally spends about 10 months in oak. Tolosa also produces one Chardonnay that is fermented and aged in stainless steel and typically bottled after six months. All of the Tolosa Pinot Noir is also aged in 100% French oak barrels, of which about 25% to 30% are new. Another key element of the cellar upgrade was the addition of a tempera- ture-controlled room that can be warmed and cooled as needed. Hoefliger and Delivert say they are still evaluating the wines and vineyard with the goal of matching barrels to specific vineyard blocks. "It's still a work in progress," Delivert said. "To me, it takes a few years to really fine- tune your oak program." Some of the cooper- ages used at Tolosa include Tonnellerie Marsannay, François Frères, Tonnellerie de Mercurey, Ermitage Tonnellerie, Tonnelleries Billon, Damy and Tonnellerie Rousseau. The evaluation will take time, Hoefliger said, because he and Delivert want to make sure their decisions are based on what they are tasting from the vineyard and not the weather. "You want to make sure that you don't adapt to a vintage but to a block, right?" Hoefliger said. "So you have to really measure year to year what works." But adapting to the weather is something that both winemakers say one has to be quick to do when growing grapes in the Edna Valley. Because of the proximity to the ocean and the larger weather patterns of the Central Coast, the valley can see wild swings in temperature and conditions. "Last year we had a couple of thunderstorms, and it was in the middle of "Last year we had a couple of thunderstorms, and it was in the middle of harvest because the picks were canceled for the safety of the crews." —Frederic Delivert A blending trial in the winery's technical tasting room.