Winery Technology and Operations

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Winery Technology and Operations

• Bus 416W

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Grape Ripening

• Quality is determined by..
• A. The winemakers skills
• B. During fermentation
• C. In the field
• D. By the aging process

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Grape Ripening

• When should we harvest???
• It Depends
• Variety
• Appellation (soil and climate)
• Recent weather
• Bunch health (mold infection)
• Style of wine

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Grape Ripening (Changes to Follow)

• Sugar
• Brix Concentration of sugar
• Why is sugar important???
• That is what gets converted to alcohol during
  fermentation

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Brix

• Each 1.7 sugar becomes 1 alcohol
• What do we want alcohol level to be??

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Grape Ripening (Changes to Follow)

• Acids
• Tartaric Acid
• Malic Acid
• Mature grape juice has PH of 2.9 to 3.8
• Why do we CARE??
• We are trying to project grapes flavor and taste
  into the finished wine.

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Grape Ripening (Changes to Follow)

• Table on page 9
• Variety
• Brix range
• Alcohol range
• Sampling
• Top berries higher in sugar
• More sugar close to the skin
• Use at least 250 grapes

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Composition and Yield

• Composition
• Stems 5
• Seeds 4
• Skins 16
• Must 75
• 80 water
• 20 sugar
• .6 acids
• 5 to 10 additional liquid from pressing

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Pre-Harvest Operations

• What about before veraison??
• Chemicals
• Sulfur dust
• Botrytis
• Irrigation
• The vine should struggle
• What if you dont own the vineyard???
• Leaf removal and pruning Why?

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Harvest

• What about mechanical harvesting
• What is wild fermentation
• Where do you find the people
• How do you prepare the winery
• Why dont we like stems

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Sulfur Dioxide

• Prevents oxidation during processing and in the
  bottle
• Protects against microbial spoilage
• Fugeddaboutit!!
• In whites, it preserves and magnifies the
  fruitiness
• Old method was to burn sulfur and pump the gas
  into the wine.

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Skin Contact (Maceration)

• Flavor, color, and tannins are stored in the
  skins
• Whites
• No contact sparkling wine
• Short contact - 1 to 4 hours
• Long contact - up to 24 hours
• Separate lees with centrifuge or drainer
• Aha! capital equipment decision

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Skin Contact

• Reds
• No contact Blush May turn brown
• Short contact Rose
• Long contact 3 days to 21 days
• Tannic man likes longer contact
• Have to plan ahead when the wine will be consumed
  and process it accordingly