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AWARD WINNING ORGANICALLY PRODUCED WINES |
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Berries to Juice |
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We are often questioned,
sometimes quite cynically, about our organic
grape growing and winemaking practices.
At a recent tasting, one of the proprietors
of a prestigious Napa Valley winery, after
asking for more details about the meaning
of the word "organic," commented
rather pointedly that they weren't doing
anything differently than we were. To
that, we say congratulations and good
on ya! The whole point is that our approach
is never intended to be critical of anyone
else's; organic does not mean that we're
doing it right and everyone else is doing
it wrong. It simply means that there is
a verifiable set of standards, we've agreed
to follow them and we're willing to have
someone audit the process. We keep saying
(and we're about to say it again) that
organic production in the Vine Yard and
in the cellar is only part of how we're
trying to minimize our environmental footprint;
our approach extends to recycling, composting
and a host of other decision-making processes
in the course of doing business--everything
from using washable cloth towels instead
of disposable paper in the public washrooms
to getting our computer printer cartridges
refilled instead of replaced. Some of
it just makes good business sense, and
some of it just makes us feel a little
bit better about what we do. And who's
going to scoff at a chance to do that?
The winemaking process, organic or not,
always starts with good quality grapes.
Quality is determined by a number of factors,
including the winemaker's preferred balance
of sweetness, acidity, pH and flavour.
It also generally means fruit unaffected
by mildew, rot or surface moisture, brought
to the winery as soon as possible after
manual picking. (Mechanical harvesting,
used in only the largest of Vine Yards
and not in ours, usually breaks the skins
of the fruit, making the transfer from
the Vine Yard to the winery a process involving
juice and fruit together.) The low humidity
of our climate helps the picked fruit
keep a little longer than would be the
case in a damper region, but soft-skinned
varieties such as Pinot Blanc still need
to be dealt with quickly.
Organic standards stipulate that organic
grapes must be stored and processed in
a manner completely separate from non-organic
fruit. Cellar practices need to be adjusted
to allow for a complete clean up of equipment
and working areas (using phosphate free,
permitted solutions) before switching
from one type of fruit to the other. Cellar
records include an audible record of incoming
fruit and its origins, processing stages
and locations, and transfers. (These records
are found in any well-organized processing
operation, not just the organic ones.)
We also need to ensure that the fruit
does not come into contact with anything
else which may contaminate it; all containers,
hoses, tanks and fittings are made of
non-reactive food grade plastic or stainless
steel. Most modern equipment used by many
wineries meets these criteria.
It is on the mechanical side that the
first unique qualities of organic winemaking
begin to appear. One of the hallmarks
of organic winemaking is minimal processing;
winemakers are expected to refrain from
elaborate mechanical or chemical intervention.
We call it "low tech" winemaking,
with the help of gravity, a few pieces
of vintage used equipment from Germany,
the talents of winemakers Tilman Hainle
and Jason Parks, and a lot of time.
The fruit goes through a crusher/destemmer,
which gently breaks open the berries and
remove them from the stems. After crushing,
white wine grapes are gravity fed directly
into the press, and red wine grapes (either
all crushed, or part crushed and part
whole berry) are fed into a holding tank
or a red wine fermenter in which the juice
will ferment with the skins for extraction
of colour, flavour and tannins. (What
does "gravity fed" mean? It's
a fancy way of saying that instead of
pumping the material around mechanically,
which consumes energy and treats the fruit
and juice roughly, the material simply
falls from the crusher--sitting above
the cellar's working area--into a container
below.) White wines are pressed immediately
after crushing, but red wines may remain
in the holding tanks for anywhere from
24 hours (for Rosé wines) to 3
weeks (for full reds) before pressing.
Our press is a Willmes brand pneumatic
bladder press which holds approximately
2 tons of material. A rubber bladder inside
the press is slowly inflated in cycles
with compressed air, and as it expands
it presses the grapes against perforated
plates, in much the same way you would
press any fruit through a sieve. The juice
runs into a tray below. Bladder presses
are the choice of many winemakers, because
their gentle action removes the juice
efficiently without crushing the seeds
or skins, both of which can lend bitterness
to the wine. The bladder can exert pressure
as high as 80 pounds per square inch:
we don't use more than 30 pounds, except
for Icewine.
We are sometimes asked about "second
run" wines or "free run"
wines. We don't extract absolutely 100%
of the juice from the skins, because the
last portions of juice will always be
of poorer quality than the first. We will
not force more juice from the skins by
pressing harder or longer, or by adding
water (with or without sugar) to the process.
Gentle handling and pressing and no pumping
has other benefits down the line; fewer
particles in the juice means lower turbidity
(cloudiness) in the wine and less need
for heavy fining or filtration. After
the juice is pressed, it is pumped into
a stainless steel tank and inoculated
with yeast. And that's it, so far! Nothing
but grapes and juice.
So, you're asking, in this part of the
process, what's different about organic
winemaking? You will encounter gravity-fed,
clean, organized, gentle winemaking in
many wineries, not just ours. Occasionally,
winemakers will add sulfites to the grapes
just before or after crushing to prevent
any oxidation of the juice, and sometimes
added enzymes are used to break down the
skins as an aid to extraction and pressing.
And there's your answer; there isn't much
difference. So, now you're asking, how
come there are only a few organic wineries
in Canada? We simply don't know. |
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