Harvest kicking into gear

So it appears that the heat of harvest is on the horizon. Pinot Noir is continuing to flow into the winery from Central Otago. Today we processed 18 tons of Pinot from the Zebra vineyard, from various lots. These lots differ in minute ways, be it a different clone, different rootstock, or section of a vineyard with unique soil or topography. These , differences result in a significantly different wine, at least when the vineyard is planted to Pinot. The way that the Pinot grape can so easily change depending on so many factors is why is has become so famous and beloved. It is not a grape easily predicted or dealt with. So many winemakers producing high-end Pinot plant a Pinot vineyard to many different clones and rootstocks, breaking it up into small lots, and producing a myriad of components which can then be blended to produce a final wine that has a balanced and complex mouthfeel and aroma spectrum.

This approach- to keep the lots separate throughout fermentation and aging in barrel until the point of blending- was what I saw in Oregon, when I worked at Penner-Ash Wine Cellars. The winemaker at Penner-Ash, Lynn Penner-Ash, tasted these separate lots constantly throughout the course of cold-soak, fermentation, aging, and came to know her lots intimately. Any adjustments to the wine were made cautiously, only after it became clear that intervention was the best route, and only in the context of a fine knowledge of the wine, knowledge gained over years working with the same lots. This approach resulted in a great wine, because the components, so well acquainted with, could be expertly blended when desired.

Adrian has a slightly different approach. He told me that for year he kept the lots separate, as does Lynn. But once he came to know the vineyards and lots well enough to know what he was working with, he began to experiment with early blending of lots, before fermentation. This approach has both advantages and risks. The advantages are that the lots, mixed early, are able to integrate flavors and develop into a more balanced wine. A lot that is less ripe can be mixed with something a little more ripe, or a softer lot can be mixed with a more acidic or tannic lot. This is only done to a degree; the key apparently is not to overshoot the goal, to ameliorate any rough edges of the lot and bring it more towards a balanced wine, but not all the way. You don't want to eliminate your blending options later. You want to maintain your options, to still have blending components which have flavors differing from each other, so that your "spice rack" during blending is not all the same spice, but various spices which can complement each other in the final mix. If this sounds like a tricky and confusing approach, it's because it is. From all appearances it is an approach requiring knowledge of the lots being mixed, cautious experimentation, and an artistic touch.

According to Sam, Adrian's Assistant Winemaker, the great majority of the Pinot (and for that matter, all of the grapes) will enter the winery in the next ten days! This means that the next ten days will be intensely busy with processing fruit and cap management. In addition I should mention the roughly two weeks after all of the fruit has arrived during which time all of that volume of fruit will finish fermentation and post-fermentation soaking, and will require pressing. There will also be heaps of cleaning to do.

In my next blog I hope to break down the theories and processes involved in the latter part of fermentation and pressing of red grapes. For now, I'll try to get some sleep, which I dearly need after the 12-hour day I just put in as a member of the night shift (processing Pinot, cap management, receiving fruit, and getting everything ready for the various jobs the day crew will undertake tomorrow).