Crush, Press, Ferment
Crush
Grape bunches are fed through a hopper into the crusher/de-stemmer. The machine lightly crushes the grapes and separates them from their stems. At this point, SO2 (sulfites) are added to stop native yeasts from acting on the sugar. Sulfites are important for preventing spoilage. Check out the below video of our 2010 crush:
Press and Ferment White and Rosé wines:
The juice and lightly crushed grapes go from the cusher/de-stemmer directly into the Press, where all the juice is pressed off and separated from the skins. The juice is then transferred to stainless steel tanks where it settles for a day, allowing the solids to sink to the bottom of the tank. After racking (transferring the wine to a clean tank and leaving the solids behind), a specially formulated wine makers yeast is added to begin fermentation (the conversion of sugar to alcohol).
When fermentation is complete, after about 2 weeks, the wine is racked to a clean tank and the temperature dropped to approx. 28 degrees F. This cold stabilization process helps to clarify the wine by encouraging the tartrates (harmless, clear crystals), spent yeast cells and other solids to settle to the bottom of the tank.
The wine is racked yet again for clarity. Generally, our white wine is made and stored in neutral stainless steel tanks so that the flavors of the fruit are allowed to shine.
To make rosé wine, we treat red grapes as if we’re making white wine, and do not ferment on the skins.
Press and Ferment Red Wines:
The juice and lightly crushed grapes go from the crusher/de-stemmer directly into vats where they rest on their skins to extract color and tannins. Winemakers yeast is added directly to the vats so that fermentation can take place while the juice is in contact with the grape skins. During fermentation, the juice should have maximum contact with the skins to ensure full extraction of color and tannins. As fermentation progresses and the temperature of the mixture rises, CO2 is released and the grape skins float to the surface. The grape “must” is mixed several time a day (called “punching down the cap”) to insure full skin contact with the juice.
After fermentation is complete the red grapes are pressed, allowed to settle for 24 hours and then racked to a clean tank. After cold stabilization and more racking or filtering to clarify, most of our reds are transferred to oak barrels where they age for several months.
Once in oak, red wines go through a second (Malolactic) fermentation, during which the sharp, malic acid present in the wine, is converted to a softer, lactic acid. Red wines also benefit from the extra tannins and subtle oak flavors that our barrels impart. We use French, American and Eastern European barrels for aging our reds.