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

Difference between New World and Old World

I have no idea what New World and Old World wine is and what the difference between the two are. My general understanding are the techniques used in making wine. There must be more to it. 

Wine is grown in certain countries and some can trace their vines back to the Roman empire. These countries are Italy, France, Spain, Germany and Austria. These regions are classic wine growing regions and are therefore are classified as Old World style wine.  The New World wine growing regions are Australia, United States of America, South Africa, Chile, Argentina, New Zealand among many others. 

The other way to differentiate between the two is the terroir. In Old World, the wine is terroir driven. Let me quickly explain terroir; it is basically the soil, climate, rain, temperature, hours of sunlight, water retention, slope and drainage and other environmental factors that give the wine certain characteristics such aroma and unique flavour. It is the reason why people can tell the difference between an Australian Cabernet Sauvignon and a French Cabernet Sauvignon. New World wines are less geared towards terroir.

And yes, there is a difference in New World and Old World techniques. In the Old World they rely more on terroir. While the New World are a lot more flexible on growing and making wine though they do consider environment an important factor in growing wine. 

The main differences between Old and New are the countries, terroir and techniques. On top of all this the two are colliding. Many New World vineyards are adopting Old World techniques and visa versa but you do still get your traditionalist that will only stick to the Old World. 

For me all this means is that there is more to explore in world wide wine, the new www.  

Peace,

Cristian

Benefits of wine

Wine is currently known to help the heart by preventing the hardening of the arteries. This is possible because the tannins in the wine provide certain chemical properties that help prevent the hardening of arteries. These tannins also contain anti-oxident properties that prevent cellular damage. More detailed information can be found here.

This is where it gets interesting for me, what are tannins? Simply, they provide that grip on the tongue, or dryness. I like to best describe it as velcro on your tongue. The more tannin in the wine, the more dryness on your tongue. The tannins come from the skin, seed and stalk of grapes, see picture below. Apologies for the quality, picture taken on the phone. 

Geddes, R 2011, A good nose and great legs

Next time you have a grape, as unpleasant as it may seem, bite down on the seeds and feel what textures you are left with. Do the same with the skin and the little stalk that is left on the end of the grape. This is what generates tannin in the wine and the more contact the wine has with these elements of the grape the more tannin there is going to be in the wine.

Now that we know what tannins are and what they do for us not only in our mouths but for our bodies, we can now appreciate wine even more. Enjoy your next glass!

Peace