6 October 2006
September has come and gone (almost) in a flash of activity: harvest preparations; winery events; a car accident OK for me but terminal for the car (!); 40th high school reunion; and finally, grapes actually ripening!
The first vineyard that I pick every year is Alexander Valley Sauvignon Blanc for the Passalacqua Winery. The fruit, which is a musque clone of Sauvignon Blanc, comes from Mark Lyon¹s vineyard near Cloverdale. Mark is an old friend and winemaker for Sebastiani in Sonoma, where he makes some really wonderful wines. I felt that the grapes were perfectly ripe for a stainless fermentation at 23 Brix. The vineyard had a few hits of Botrytis but the ³Noble Rot² just adds complexity to this grape¹s character. After pressing was complete, we emptied the pomace from the press and were delighted with the wonderful floral and spicy aromas that filled the room. I felt like we were in Alsace instead of Healdsburg. We picked on the 7th; it¹s still slowly fermenting away at 50 deg Fahrenheit to preserve those unique aromas and the wonderful flavors that accompany them.
And next came the 2006 Pinot Noir: I picked Clone 777 this year since it set a much lighter crop and had much less Botrytis than Clone 115. I was really on pins and needles waiting for the grapes to taste ripe. The longer I waited and anxiously read weather reports, the more opportunity for the mold to advance. The vines were well leafed for sun exposure and air circulation. Vineyard workers were dropping fruit so that clusters did not touch and spread the mold even faster. But temperatures were moderate during the day and downright cold at night, so ripening was slow and the wait was nerve wracking. I finally picked on September 20th at 24 Brix. The fruit came in at 48 deg Fahrenheit and just today began to actively ferment and get warm. I really didn¹t intend to do a cold soak this year due to the presence of Botrytis but Assmanhausen yeast is a slow starter at any temperature, let alone below 50 F.
Why do winemakers worry so about Botrytis in table wines? Heavy infections bring along other opportunistic spoilage organisms (Penicillium, Aspergillus) that really taste bad in a finished wine: rot; vinegar; moldy leaves, bitterness. Even minor infections turn wines orange (both red and white) due to an oxidative enzyme called laccase. It is not denatured by normal winemaking activities so it is essential to protect heavily infected wines from oxygen in order to slow progressive color degradation. Years ago researchers at Mondavi Oakville proved that juice Pasteurization was the best method for treating white wine juices from heavily Botrytised grapes, particularly chardonnay, without negatively impacting wine character. I tasted the trials and was pleasantly surprised at their success. But juice Pasteurizers, necessary infrequently on the North Coast, are beyond the budgets of most wineries.
Well, time to go sample more Zinfandel all of which seems to be sitting at 23-24 Brix and not really tasting ripe yet. Some weather forecaster has predicted rain during the first week or so of October. The anxiety in the Dry Creek Valley is almost palpable. The thin skinned Zin with its huge, densely packed clusters is harboring spores that can potentially explode like mold bombs if given a bit of moisture or cloudy, humid weather.
'No guts, no glory', they say, but what would you choose to do if you were making Zin? Harvest a bit early and pick sound or mostly sound fruit or wait for perfect ripeness and take a chance? Write to comments@davenportwines.com.
