The Nov / Dec issue of "Practical Winery and Vineyard" has an excellent article on the famous Bien Nacido Vineyard. Noted Pinot Noir winemakers give in-depth comments on their techniques using these grapes. (Note: The Shop has extra copies of this special issue. $3.95)

Whole berries, being uncrushed, ferment a bit slower. This keeps the temperature down and promotes a slight elevation of fruit character, a more focused fruit. Clusters are progressively crushed as the cap is punched down. The trade-off with lower fermentation temps is a possible reduction of "vineous"/"wineyness" character. Also, there can be a reduction of "extract". Stems, attached as in whole cluster, or added back, contribute tannin. This adds to the bitterness and/or astringency which might be deficient in some Pinot Noir clones. The trade-off is a coarseness that might overshadow the delicate fruit, creating an imbalance on the palate. So, you can not crush some bunches, adding the whole clusters in with the crushed and destemmed fruit. Or, you can set the rollers on the crusher/destemmer so as many berries, less stems, remain whole. And/or, you can add back a percentage of stems. The more stems, especially greeny, not woody stems, the more veggy the wine and the more age needed. Not for thin wines. The more whole berries without stems the less need for whole clusters, if any. (Note: In order of tannin contribution: Seeds > Stems > Skins.) Cold Soak:. I do about a week at The Daumé Winery. But, this is with max SO₂ and in a walk in cooler at 45ºF, and with a lot of punching down to distribute the temp and SO₂. Color is maxed in 4 days. Color and fruit is very focused. I press early at about 5º Brix. It will surprise you at how well you can pull this off at home. Insulate the fermenter with a sleeping bag or old comforter. Drop in frozen, non-leaking plastic containers. Cold grapes to start with. SO₂ and cold needed to prevent VA. (Any other cold tricks? Call Dave Lustig for the newsletter)

Chris Whitcraft (Whitcraft Winery): Crushes by hand and pulls the stalks out by hand. No Electricity in his winery.

Lane Tanner (Lane Tanner Winery): Whole Berries. Adds back 4 lbs/1.3 tons of clean, healthy stems.

Stephen Dooley (Steven Ross Winery): No Whole Clusters and No Stems. Feels that stems raise pH and contribute aromas and flavors of tomato juice. Says whole berries focus the wine's aroma but result in lighter wines. Break the berries and get maximum extraction and mouthfeel.

Gary Mosby (Chimere Winery): No Stems. Maintains that with stems, as the wine ages and the fruit subsides, the wine tastes like alcoholic asparagus juice. Does like as many whole berries as possible. Moves apart the rollers, letting the destemming paddles break the berries.

Jim Clendenen (Au Bon Climat): If you do really have mainly whole berries, you’ll have to jump in a break up a good percentage to get the fermentation going. If the fruit is very ripe and flavorable, stems can be an asset. Otherwise, the wine can be wretchedly herbaceous and vegetal with poor color. I converted to using enzymes for color fixing and clarity. You can't use enzymes and stems together.

Don Blackburn (Bernardus): I've worked six harvests in Burgundy and 15 here in Calif. and have seen zero crops where there was a preponderance of lignified, woody, stems. Burgundian wines are drunk older and stemmy flavors tend to attenuate. Burgundian winemakers do not use stems today, at least not in batches that are crushed before fermentation (As in cold soaked).

Lane Tanner (Lane Tanner Winery): Makes cold-soak decisions based on the temperature at which she receives the grapes. Doesn't want the risk of high volatile acidity (VA). Prefers the gentler elements coming from water solubility rather than alcohol-high must.

Jim Clendenen (Au Bon Climat): Fruit must be harvested in the early morning and be about 54ºF. Since he does cold-soak, fermentation begins uninoculated. But, as soon as it takes off, he inoculates with

Assmanshausen, a slow fermenter.

Dane Stark (Page Mill Winery): The longer the soak, the better the wine. But, if the grapes come in warm, you do not have this option unless you can chill. Uses PDM (Premiere Cuvee) yeast which ferments vigorously/warm but does so in 4X4 bins that can be cap managed.

Don Blackburn (Bernardus): It is not true that you blow off flavor and other aromatics with hot fermentation .... as long as you are willing to both punch down and gently pump over to distribute/dissipate the excess heat. With heat, Bien Nacido Pinot Noir, which tends to be a very expressive, sensual wine, reaches its full potential.

Jim Clendenen (Au Bon Climat): Based on new Burgundian gossip, he will experiment with not punching down until late in fermentation, but will do gentle pump-overs once fermentation is active. The theory is not to liberate all the seeds early. Punching down lends itself to bigger, fleshy, extracted wines. Those focused on elegance are gently pumping over with systems that do not pick up and crack seeds. The whole thought now is extracting through improved gentleness. The first 4 days are cold-soak. The next 5 days are gentle extraction through pumping over. Punching down is done on days 9, 10, 11 before going to press.

Lane Tanner (Lane Tanner Winery): When Pinot Noir gets to a point where smell at the top of the tank is not as fresh and the cap starts to sag ... these are my signs to press.

Bill Wathen (Foxen Vineyards): When all the reds get ripe at once, he has pressed at 4º or 5º Brix. Ideally, he prefers a 7-12 day fermentation, going to dryness.

Eric Cinnamon (Leeward Winery): He notices that the wine's body picks up toward the tail end of ferment. He prefers to press at 0º Brix or below, after the skins set for 24 hours without pumping over, maintaining an inert atmosphere in the head space.

Well, that’s it for this article. Lots of good tips for you to digest, affecting crush decisions next fall. Get the P&W magazine and check out all the other info in this article that I didn't print... John E. Daumé

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