Vine, Vineyard, Region Environment

Different countries, states, cities and suburbs can be either warm or cool, depending on the time of the year and whether you're close to the coast or inland. The same goes for; wine regions, vineyards and even the vines.

Vineyard climates are divided into the following three climates:

Macroclimate: this is the region of the vineyard, i.e. Hunter Vally, Barossa Valley, Margaret River, Yarra Valley etc.

Mesoclimate: this is the vineyard itself, e.g. Tempus Two, Yalumba, Evans & Tate, Penfolds, Yering Station etc.

Microclimate: this is the direct environment of the vines.

All these different types of climates effect wine production, then of course there is the terroir. As you can imagine vineyards are acres of vines and one end of the vineyard can be cooler or warmer than the other. The wine maker takes this into account when producing the best type of wine that nature has handed them in any given season.

Peace,
Cristian.

 "…Hang on, its a drink, its only a drink. It goes through our kidneys and then it goes into the great sewerage system. Lets have a bit of fun with it, it wasn't built to be serious it was built for enjoyment and discourse and humour."

So I was having a glass of wine the other day and...

I thought to myself, I'm actually writing about this delectable drink and as I was having this glass of wine, I started to remember a process called maceration.

Maceration and fermentation go hand in hand, then of course there's the cap.

First, we'll get fermentation out of the way. Fermentation is when the yeast converts sugar into alcohol, releasing carbon dioxide.

Second, is the cap; which consists of "must". Since the fermentation gives off carbon dioxide, it causes the must to rise, this creates the cap, leaving the juice underneath. Must will also create the tannins colour and texture of the wine. The cap can dry out if left unattended, so the process of maceration is a 24 hour, 7 day commitment.

Finally, maceration. There are a few ways in which the wine maker can tackle this process. Which ever way the winemaker decides, the process is simple - keep the cap moist.

There are three main types of maceration:
1. Pumping Over
Grab a hose -> connect it to the base of the vat -> pump the juices through the hose and spray over the cap, as if you where watering the garden.

2. Punching Down
Get some crazy guy or gal to stand on top of the vat, breath in all that carbon dioxide, while plunging the cap into the juice or you can also get a machine to do it for you. And lastly...

3. Rack and Return
This requires two vats. Empty half the the original vat into vat2. Then poor vat2 back into the original vat at high speed.

Peace,
Cristian Sepulveda
 "…Hang on, its a drink, its only a drink. It goes through our kidneys and then it goes into the great sewerage system. Lets have a bit of fun with it, it wasn't built to be serious it was built for enjoyment and discourse and humour." Phillip White

Swirling wine to release oxygen

Why swirl? Swirling helps the wine to grab some air like an eagle in the sky. While the wine is grabbing air, it will start to release some of the air trapped inside the wine and in turn release the essence of the wine otherwise known as the bouquet.

Now if you don't have a lot of confidence holding the wine glass in your hand and giving it a good swirl, all you need to do is place the glass on the table and move in a circular motion. This way your are less likely to spill any out of the glass. Once you get used to this motion you can start picking up the glass and start swirling the wine in the glass with your hand.

As I mentioned earlier, air is released from the wine. How is this so? The simple answer is that there is water in wine therefore oxygen. The complex answer is that the vineyard is watered not only via rain and/or irrigation but in the wine making process. This is where the oxygen comes in, water being 2 part hydrogen and one of oxygen - H2O.

With cheaper bottles of wine, there is more water added in the wine making process, as the concentration of the grape juice is less. While the more expensive bottles have not only a higher concentration of grape juice, they also have been taken care of i.e. oaked in barrels (American or French), hand picked and planned out blending of grape varieties. All this and more is what differentiates the cheap from the expensive. 

Fun little fact to finish off. How much water does it take to produce a glass of wine? 120 litres. How is this possible? This encompasses the whole wine making process from irrigation right up to the delivery.

Peace,
Cristian

Oldest vine and what they mean for the grape Part 2 of 2

Continuing on from the last blog. The age of the vine has varying different effects on the grape and in turn the wine. For e.g. you are able to harvest old vines sooner as the tannins ripen sooner, though the yields of an old vine are low, compared to younger vines.

Old vines produce a steady grape. Young vines can produce a grape that is high in sugar and juice/water content, making a cordial like wine. Old vines can produce a grape that evenly distributes these attributes. Lastly an old vine has deeper roots, as a starting point the vines root can go down to 6 metres (20 feet) and laterally 9 metres (32 feet) and further still with ancient vines.

Deep roots benefit the grape as the vines can search for water deeper down in the soil during drought, while young vines struggle. When there is too much rain, the older roots don't soak up that much water whereas the younger vine will take in all this water and produce a very juicy grape.

Of course, all of this has an effect on the wine, so in saying all of this, get to know your regions, how old their vines are, keep an eye out on the vineyards weather and how their wine is made.

Does all this make a difference to the wine? Yes and No!
Yes, because old vines provide balance and No, because it depends on what the wine maker does with the juice to develop a great old vine wine.

Peace,

Cristian Sepulveda

Oldest vine and what they mean for the grape Part 1 of 2

It's been a while since my last blog, Easter came and went and my son's baptism also came and went. So a lot of family time over these last few weeks which is always great + some wine on the side.

These last few weeks, I've also been researching the oldest vines in Australia and this title goes to Yalumba in South Australia's, Barossa Valley.

We'll start with the Barossa Old Vine Charter. This charter was introduced so that the age of vines can be distinguished between the various ages of the vine itself, within the Barossa Region, i.e. at 35 years of age you get an Old Vine, 70 year old vine is a Survivor Vine, 100 year old vine is a Centenarian Vine, 125 year old vine is an Ancestor Vine.

Now, this isn't cemented, it's like "The Pirate's Code" in Pirates of the Caribbean. They're more like guidelines but can still be taken seriously. This is a great start, opposed to the the many laws in Europe. Here is the link to the video that explains in detail the Barossa Old Vine Charter.

Peace
Cristian Sepulveda

Harvest

Now it's time to get your hands dirty.

In the southern hemisphere, the grapes are harvested between February and April. While in the northern hemisphere, they are harvested between August and October. White wine is usually harvested first and then the red grapes, as red grapes take a little longer to ripen though there are reds that ripen early e.g. Tempranillo, which comes from the spanish word 'temprano' meaning early. The later you harvest a grape or the longer you leave it on the vine, the sweeter the grape. Hence, if you like a sweet wine, that is not a dessert wine, look for wine that is harvested late in the season. Then of course, the type of grape also has a factor but lets stick to the harvest.

There are two methods of harvesting, hand picking and the other machine harvest. Both produce wine that you can drink, it's just that the hand picked grapes produce a finer quality wine, though there is evidence to suggest that machine harvested wine can also produce premium wine, as recorded in California and New Zealand.

Machine harvesting does have its advantages but they do harm the grape and carry so much more to the press i.e. bruised grapes, MOG (Material Other than Grapes) which could include shrubs, leaves and bugs and no variation between ripe, unripe and spoiled. The machine violently shakes the vines to loosen the grape and compresses the soil.

Whereas, the grape pickers hand select the grape making sure that there are no blemishes. The grapes that are picked are ripe but the grapes that are unripe or spoiled are not picked. Pretty much the opposite of machine harvesting. In some regions like Burgundy in France, it has been made compulsory to harvest by hand.

Lastly it is more expensive to hand pick wine due to manual labour than it is to machine harvest.

To machine harvest or not to machine harvest? That is the question.

Peace,
Cristian

Technique

Before I head into this week's journey, I would like to thank all those that have been reading my blog. I met someone on the weekend that complimented me on my blog and said that my blog is an interesting point of view, in his words "from the grapes point of view". I thought that was awesome, so thank you.

There are so many techniques used in wine making but the one that caught my attention this week is being used by a wine maker in California and here in Australia. We'll go a little into the history and what this producer is doing to replicate the technique.

The technique is using Clay Amphora and amphora is a specific type of vase (pictured left) with two handles and as the name would have it it is made out of clay.

In ancient times the Greeks mainly used amphora, as a means of storage (usually buried), and to transport wine, grapes, olives, olive oil among many others but it was also used it as a canvas. The greeks would paint designs on them for particular ceremonies and social events for example, funerals, weddings and as prizes.

This history goes back to acient Greece and Rome and now in the 21st century we are seeing a resurgence of this wine making technique.

Del Dotto Vineyards  (a place I would love to visit) are using terracotta amphora  to produce their wine. The size of these amphora is impressive, measuring in at four-feet high, six-feet in diameter and hold around 2 tonnes. Then comes in the cost, which is $5,000 - $15,000 for each amphora. (Del Dotto actually made clay bottles to then sell to the public). The Australian producer who used to work for Foster's Wine Estates now has his own vineyard Ducks in a Row and produces Pandora's Amphora. Which is a drop I wouldn't mind getting my hands on!

The advantage of this technique is that the wine maker is using minimal sulphur so the wine does not oxidise making the wine more natural. So for all you allergy sufferers that love your wine, give this one a go. I feel as though I need to put in some kind of health warning - 'I take no responsibility for what happens' or 'drink at own risk', you get the picture.

Peace