Turkovich Family Wines Week 13

The Barrel Hog

A Rite of Passage for a Wino

October 

Week 4

Harvest is over, but the work in the winery is never quite finished.  

ML fill is on the work order, what is that?

Some of these wines that are being barreled down have not finished malolactic fermentation, which means we need to leave a little breathing room (these wines are still giving off CO2), and room to sulfur dose the wines after malolactic fermentation has finished. 

We leave just barely enough room for the finger to touch the wine (ML Fill) after malolactic fermentation is finished these barrels will be topped off and sealed to prevent oxidization. 

Steaming Wine Barrels

Before any wine goes into empty barrels that have been used before, they will be steamed and barrel washed. Since wine barrels are porous, things such as past tartrates, old wine, and bacteria can stick inside the pores of the barrel. 

Steaming the barrels helps to work deep into wood pores, releasing pesky tartrates, and old wine among other things that may have been absorbed inside the barrel. Steam can also be used to rehydrate the barrels; there are cases where some wineries may leave their barrels outside, this may dry out the barrels depending on the climate, and in some cases if the oak barrels are too dry, the barrels may start to leak until the liquid being put inside swells the wood again. 

Bungs

In the cellar there are a few different types/positions the bungs that will be put in the barrels, depending on the stage of the winemaking process for wine.

Closed Bungs: Means the barrels are sealed (top is closed) since the wine has finished its secondary fermentation (ML), has been SO2 dosed, and will be put away for maturation. 

Bubblers/Airlocks: (like shown in the picture below) This little device allows gasses that are still present in the wine to escape, while preventing oxygen from entering the barrel; bubblers are also favored for wines that go through a slow ML fermentation, as well as problem fermentations. 

Upside Down Bungs: This means the bunghole is not sealed/closed since the wine has not finished its 2nd fermentation. Some of the barrels that are not sealed in the picture below are still giving off CO2 which needs to escape. If you were to completely seal the barrel while it was still producing CO2, the bung would blow off, and in some cases the heads of the barrel could blow off! 

Talk about a serious mess!
Or...potential for some really cool explosion scenes in an action film, somehow evolving a winery.

 Seals & Sanitation

The highest risk of contamination is right at the top of the barrel, so if any wine touches the tops of  these barrels while we are filling them, they will need to be sanitized. With the barrels in the picture below (these barrels are from Silver Oaks Winery) they actually have a protective seal on the top which makes for ensured and easy sanitation.
Why not cover the whole barrel in this stuff?
 Barrels are porous and breath; this contributes to the charter of an ageing wine, this also allows water to evaporate out of the barrel which helps concentrate the wine.  

 Wine Diamonds 

If you look closely at the top of the barrel in the picture below, you will see something that resembles glitter.  Not all that glitters is gold, in this case, what is glittering on the top of this barrel are tartrates. 

 Why do wine diamonds form?

"Tartrates are a normal byproduct of wine as it ages-but if the wine is exposed to temperatures below 40F wine diamonds can form. It is these chilly conditions that make the tartaric acid compounds in a wine naturally combined with potassium to form a crystal."
An informative article provided by ~www.jordanwinery.com

 Lees Stirring, waking the dead, booze butter...or whatever you want to call it, when you are thinking creamy Chardonnay this may be why. 

Why use lees?

"When yeast cells die their cell walls breakdown, gradually releasing such compounds into the wine as polysaccharides (e.g. glucose), amino acids (and peptides), fatty acids, and mannoproteins. The compounds released can influence the structural integration of the wine in terms of phenols (including tannins), body, aroma, oxidative buffering and wine stability. 

At the end of alcoholic fermentation, yeast cells autolyse. Yeast autolysis is a slow process involving hydrolytic enzymes which act to release cytoplasmic (peptides, fatty acids, nucleotides, amino acids) and cell wall (mannoproteins) compounds into the wine.

The primary reasons for sur lie ageing are usually based on stylistic goals: to enhance the structure and mouthfeel of a wine, give it extra body (an impact of polysaccharides on astringency), and increase the aromatic complexity, flavour/aroma depth and length. Lees also absorb oxygen, assisting in maintaining a slow and controlled oxidation during maturation. Lees stirring can increase the release of yeast compounds into the wine bulk. Stirring can result in a creamy, viscous mouth feel, and can enhance flavour complexity.

Some of the compounds from broken down yeast cells also contribute to wine in the following ways: 

• polysaccharides contribute a roundness and volume to the palate
• mannoproteins can bind with anthocyanins and tannins to increase colour stability and decrease astringency
• the nutrients released from the dead yeast cells assist the growth of malolactic bacteria
• increased palate length, attributed to the late release of particular volatile compounds in the polysaccharide network of the fruit and yeast
• they can assist in protection from oxidation of particular fruit aroma compounds.
• the process of proteolysis, whereby proteins are hydrolysed to amino acids (which can act as flavour precursors, possibly enhancing flavour complexity) and peptides (which travel through the yeast cell walls causing an increase in nitrogen content).
• dead yeast liberate esters, particularly fatty acids with sweet/spicy (fruity) aromas (such as ethyl hexanoate and ethyl octanoate); this coincides with the time when fermentation esters (such as isoamyle acetate and hexyle acetate) experience hydrolysis, resulting in combined sweet/spicy/fruit aromas
• the release of amino acids and nucleic acids can enhance flavours and complex aromas, particularly at the end of the palate
• they yield a sweetness when binding with wood phenols and organic acids
• they modify wine esters and wood aromas
• they provide a natural fining, reducing more yellow colours in whites
• they improve protein stability (current research suggests that lees do this by producing an extra mannoprotein (polysaccharidic molecules which constitute ~35% of the yeast's cell) which prevents polymerisation of tannins, pigments and volatiles; and more of this compound is released when the temperature is increased, and with greater contact time and lees stirring frequency)
• they can assist potassium bitartrate stability, since mannoproteins act as potassium bitartrate crystal inhibitors
• they can reduce colour: the more yeast cell surface area, the higher the absorption and subsequent loss of colour."

Information above provided by: www.brsquared.org/wine/Articles/surlie/surlie.htm

It's always exciting when I get a chance to taste our hard work.

Pretty much this is what I have been waiting for! Filling brand new barrels, yet to be sulfur dosed, so I can pretty much stick my nose right next to the opening of the barrel as I'm filling it up with wine. The task, and the scent expelling out the opening of the top of the barrel never gets old! And so the title of the article is relieved...as I basked in the enjoyment of absorbing all the wonderful aromas this barrel had to offer as it was being filled, my parade was soon rained on as winemaker Chris Turkovich said, "hay let me get in on this, don't be a barrel hog."