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Upon arrival
at the winery, the macrobins of grapes are weighted,
then carefully emptied out onto a sorting table where
any leaves or other unwanted material is removed. The
bunches then go into a destemmer, which separates the
grape berries from the stems. The berries are placed
into a stainless steel tank or plastic fermenter, sulfur
dioxide also is added to restrain fermentation activity,
and thumb-sized pieces of dry ice are mixed in. The
dry ice cools down the fruit, inhibit oxidation, and
allows a gentle, water-based extraction of colors and
flavors from the skins to begin. This process is called
a cold soak.
After a few days of cold soaking, specially developed wine yeasts are added,
and fermentation begins. The progress of every fermenter is constantly
monitored, both with lab tests of sugar and acid content, and with sniff
and taste tests of the fermenting wine and yeast mixture, or must.
The CO2 produced during fermentation causes the skins to rise to the top
of the fermenter and form a cap. Since wine color and flavors reside in
these skins, the cap must be continually re-mixed back into the wine by
the cellar crew. This process is called punching down.
When all of the sugar in the grapes has been converted to alcohol, the
must is ready to be pressed. (Sometimes, a few days of waiting before pressing
called extended maceration allows additional time for an alcohol-based
extraction of flavors and colors from the skins.)
The press is a large, horizontal stainless steel cylinder with a balloon-like
bladder running lengthwise down its center. The bladder is inflated with
carefully controlled pressure to gently squeeze the must against the inner
walls, separating the wine from the skins and seeds.
The pressed wine is placed into oak barrels. Flavor complexity increases
during barrel aging, both by extraction of flavors from the toasted oak,
and from a second or malolactic fermentation. The wine typically will spend
nine to 18 months in the barrels.
When barrel aging is complete, its time to bottle the wine. Bottling includes
not only putting the wine into the bottle, but also putting a label, cork
and capsule on the bottle, and packing sets of twelve bottles in cardboard
cases. The bottling process often disturbs the young wine, causing flavors
and aromas to go into hiding. To overcome this bottle shock and to further
develop and consolidate its flavors, the wine is allowed to rest after
bottling for an extended period usually six to eight months before
being released for sale.
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