Early 2013 Harvest Is Well Under Way…
10/01/2013
Roger Roessler and Drew Huffine taking a break over a bin of just-picked Pinot Noir.
The harvest got off to an early start this year. After several years in a row of late blooms in the spring leading to late harvests in the fall; many of us winemakers just expected we’d be lounging in September and picking in October. As a result, there were many generally unprepared and grumpy winemakers throughout the state during that first week of September when the fruit told us in a big way that it was ready.
For most, that sense of grumpy bewilderment quickly gave way to excitement and anticipation as we started tasting the quality of the fruit this year.
This is definitely the case for me with the vineyards we’ve harvested from so far. Our first fruit in the door was from the Sanford & Benedict Vineyard in Sta. Rita Hills. We night harvested that vineyard on Sept. 9. Our friend Erik Mallea is the vineyard manager there and he has definitely raised the bar in delivering well-cared for fruit that just sings with flavor. It’s absolutely stunning stuff!
I picked the Pinot there a little earlier than I’m used to, but the flavors were just so good even at these lower sugars, I knew we had something very special.
After we brought the fruit in, it’s hand sorted it to get out any bad berries, raisins and/or leaves and other debris. Then we cold soak it for a few days. During a “cold soak” the fruit is kept at a temperature—around 50 degrees F—that is too cold for fermentation to get going. During this process more color and aromatics are extracted from the grapes than if we just brought it in and let it get going. After five days of cold soaking, the native vineyard yeasts started the fermentation and we were off to the races. Well, more like a very slow jog as opposed to a race!
One of the main reasons I love native fermentation as opposed to using cultured yeasts is I invariably get a slower fermentation that never gets too hot. This preserves the lighter floral aromas, fresh rose hip and red fruit notes intact that make for a stunning Pinot.
During the fermentation process, I did a mix of one punch down and one pump over per day. During fermentation, as the yeast eat the sugars and make alcohol, the get hot and the also release carbon dioxide. This action forces the grape skins to the top of the tank where they would dry out unless they got reintroduced to the liquid below them. One way to get the skins back in contact with the wine is to use a tool that looks like a giant metal plunger to gently push them back down. This is called a “punch down.” The other common method is to use a pump to bring liquid out from the bottom of the tank to the top, submerging the cap of skins. This is called a “pump over.”. How aggressively either of these is done and the frequency of these manipulations have a huge impact on the final wine and is one of the main variables of “winemaking.”
Finally, just yesterday I pressed this wine off the skins and put the wine in barrel. It should be ready in about 10 months.
I’m off to pump over our Pinot Noir from the Day Ranch in Anderson Valley. This is a new vineyard for me, but one that Roger has worked with for many years. More on that soon!
Drew Huffine
Winemaker
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Drew Huffine