Turkovich Wine Harvest 2016 Week 5

In Winters, The Reds Are Coming

A Rite of  Passage for a Wino 

August/September

Week 1


Monday

August 29th 2016

Being a small family winery, all of the whites, except a little left for late harvest, have already been harvested, pressed, and are in fermentation tanks.  From now on, the majority of what we will be getting in is reds; it's punch down city from here on out!

Today the Hill Top Syrah was pressed, which means it has gone through the first fermentation process and is ready to say goodbye to its skins.

Fermentation chart: 
Brix & temps are taken everyday, so that we can track how the fermentation is progressing. This is normal for adding dry yeast (wild yeast take much longer to complete fermentation), also....different yeast families will take different amounts of time when it comes to fermentation. 

Sucking out what wine may be at the bottom

Pumping the wine into the tank

The remaining  skins go into the press and out pops wine.

It smells amazing! Think freshly picked black berries, or a dark berry pie! 

I think this shade of lipstick is quite in this season! I should bag some and wear it around....

The color on this is amazing, but this is not what the finished product will look like; the reason why this purple is so vibrant and milky is due to the lees giving it this creamy appearance. 

All that remains here will be washed away. 

Tuesday

August 30th 2016

"Want to see something cool?" Peter says =) 

Looking at a wine being racked off its lees and sediment.

This is the first time I've seen the racking arm from inside the tank, but because the 1,000 gallon tank is almost completely racked we can open the front door and see from the inside.  From the pictures below you can see there is a clear top layer of juice and the rest sitting on the bottom is lees and sediment, most of that will be thrown away. 

Syrah-Viognier: Buddies? Lovers? Let's see.....

For something that seems so complicated, the practice of co-fermentation was a matter of mere convince and common practice throughout France's Rhone region.
Vineyards that are planted together are easier to harvest together.  You know how they say opposites attract? Some psychologists may beg to differ, but for the case of Syrah and Viognier they create harmony in the glass when fermented with one another . 

Wine Spectator's Dr. Vinny also gives a helpful answer

Why is Viognier added to some Syrah?

This practice has its roots in the Côte-Rôtie, a wine-growing region in France's Northern Rhône Valley. Here Viognier grows alongside Syrah, and red wines are made with mostly Syrah grapes and up to 20 percent Viognier—most vintners just use what's been planted in their vineyards, which is usually from 1 percent to 5 percent. According to Côte-Rôtie law, the Syrah and Viognier grapes must be fermented at the same time, a process called co-fermentation.

Viognier, when bottled alone, is an aromatic white wine with intoxicating (heh) floral, spice and peach notes. When Viognier mingles with Syrah, it adds these same elements, including a rounder mouthfeel. These Viognier influences can be a great contrast to some of the meaty and minerally notes of Syrahs, making them intriguing wines that you can't stop sniffing. Bacon and peaches? In the same wine? Don't knock it until you smell it.

Adding a dab of Viognier to Syrah is also practiced in other parts of the world, and is increasingly popular in Australia (where Syrah is called Shiraz). If a winemaker adds only a small amount of Viognier to a Shiraz, it can still legally be called just "Shiraz." But wine lovers are embracing the Viognier influence so much that there are more and more bottlings that say "Shiraz-Viognier."

—Dr. Vinny

Syrah & Viognier making their way through the destemmer

It's raining Syrah!

Wednesday

August 31st 2016 

With so many different types of yeast, what does it all mean? 

Different yeasts produce different flavor and aroma profiles; also not all strains have the same alcohol tolerance.  Wild yeasts have a low alcohol tolerance and mid way through fermentation these yeast can die off. With the fermentation not finished this leaves a chance for the yeast to eat up other things present in the juice besides grape sugar; by using the dry yeasts like in the pictures below this ensures that the yeast is strong enough to finish fermenting the wine.

Each strain has its own characteristics. 

www.laffort.com/en

Getting the inoculation going

Paul makes holding these hoses look easy! These things are heavy!

Tempranillo has arrived and is ready to go through the destemmer. 

Thursday 

September 1st 2016

The work orders are written up, it's time to get to work! 

The remaining varieties to be picked.
We still have a long road ahead of us.

A view of what's fermenting where. 

Pumping Over

The cellar is getting full with all the new fermenting reds, and in the beginning stages of fermentation for reds, the cap (grape skins that raise to the top) is incredibly difficult to break, in this situation pumping the juice over is much easier than doing manual punch downs. 

Remontage or Pumping Over is the practice of drawing off the grape juice or must from the bottom of  the tank or open bin and pumping it back over the cap. This process helps to extract color, create even temperature distribution, bring out more flavors, and help from letting the cap dry out which can contribute to unwanted bacterial spoilage. 

Tempranillo Rosé

Saignée or “Bled” Method

"The Saignée (“San-yay”) method is when during the first few hours of making a red wine, some of the juice is bled off and put into a new vat to make rosé. This method is very common in wine regions that make fine red wines such as Napa and Sonoma. The purpose of bleeding off the juice not only produces a lovely rosé but it also concentrates the red wines’ intensity. Saignée wines are pretty rare, due to the production method and often will make up only about 10% or less, of a winery’s production." ~winefolly.com/review/what-is-rose-wine/

Friday

September 2nd 2016

First things first! Check the co2 meter. With so many reds fermenting the scent is defiantly in the air, which means the cellar door needs to be opened as soon as possible to aerate the place out.  

Today really is a treat! Luciana Turkovich's father Norberto Moreno a successful winemaker from Argentina's famous wine region, Mendoza. If you have had bubbly from Mendoza made in the méthode champenoise, it is likely that it was made by Norberto Moreno; about 80% of Mendoza's sparkling made in this way are made by him.

Pulling some Chardonnay from the tank, it's still early in the fermentation process; this stuff tastes like honey! 

Tasting what is currently being made alongside Mr. Moreno 

If you can't punch these down, walk the plank! 

I have 15 of these to do today! 

This bin of whole cluster Syrah needs to be stomped! We have to release the juice from its skins.  

How I'm still so happy after all those punch downs...I have no idea! Maybe it's the bottle of bubbly waiting at home for me. =) Cheers and happy Friday!