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50 WINES&VINES June 2018 WINEMAKING said the company manages about 1,000 acres of mechanically pruned vines and if they had to be pruned by hand it wouldn't be completed until the end of March. He said that mechanically pruned vines result in more speckled light exposure and much smaller bunches and berries, providing for a good juice to skin ratio. The vines also produce two to four times as many bunches. Schiff said all of the grapes used for the Diamond line are contracted and come from approximately 250 growers in all of Califor- nia's appellations. On average the Cabernet is picked at 26° Brix for mature fruit flavors and no greenness. He eschews cold soaks and in- stead inoculates and adds enzymes to help ensure all potential color can be extracted in a fairly quick fermentation. "For the average machine harvested fruit coming from 2 to 3 hours away we want to get it in the fermentor. We want to get it going," he said. He said that enzymes help to ensure fer- mentations last only about six days on average, so he can manage his tank space better. Schiff uses Coppola's in-house phenolic assay that dictates winemaking only in conjunction with sensory analysis. "We don't make our wine by the numbers only and we don't taste without the numbers," he said. At 2° Brix he generally presses but may press earlier if there is sufficient tannin. After a gentle fining with Isinglass, the wine then goes to tank where it ages on barrel alterna- tives and micro-oxygenation at a rate of about 3 mg/liter per month. Schiff stressed the im- portance of checking the wine's basic chemistry and tasting every week while using micro-ox. He also uses multiple oak suppliers to help create some complexity and will spread the oak among several tanks rather than concen- trate it in just a few. Final blends are built with sensory and tan- nin analysis with a goal of consistency and to fill enough tanks to support as many as five bottling runs per year. "It's really all about consistency at this price point," he said. Night harvest for $35 wines As Rodney Strong Wine Estates' wine grower, Ryan Decker manages the company-owned vineyards and works closely with supplying growers. He and winemaker Justin Seidenfeld discussed the winery's 2014 Knights Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, which has a retail price of around $35 and total production of around 11,000 cases. Decker said most of the vines for this wine are cane pruned leaving two canes although high-vigor areas are set to four. He said every- thing is managed by hand and with minimal leaf pulling as the soil helps keep the vines in check and excessive pulling could lead to sun- burn in the warm afternoons of Knights Valley. "You can overexpose the fruit really easily out there," he said. Most of the grapes are machine harvested at night. Decker said that ensures they are picked when it's as cool as possible and arrive at the winery as cold as possible. A few blocks Evan Schiff, Francis Ford Coppola Winery mm