Monthly Archives: October 2009

Two legendary winemakers behind two world-renowned properties came together for a joint wine dinner last week at Tribeca Grill.

David Powell and Daniel Brunier

David Powell is behind Torbreck and Daniel Brunier is behind Vieux Télégraphe and the two men could not be more different – their backgrounds, their demeanor and their wine making style.  Daniel is the 4th generation in a family that’s been making wine for 110 years; David started Torbreck in 1994.  Daniel was quiet and reserved while David was larger than life.  My two favorite quotes from the evening capture their personalities well.

“If you don’t make a wine you like, you’re not a real winemaker.” -Daniel

“Don’t share me a good idea or I’ll try to steal it.” – David

Tasting the wines side by side was like the classic exercise old world vs. new world.  Daniel’s wines were elegant, earthy and restrained while David’s were rich, lush and in-your-face.

Both were delicious and it was incredible to see the range that these two producers could achieve using the same Rhône varietals – Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Viognier, Marsanne, Roussanne and so on.

My favorites of the night were the 1995 Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf-du-Pape (dark cherries, coffee and cloves); it sang with the braised shortribs and the 1999 Torbreck RunRig 1999 (concentrated with black fruits and leather); it stole the show with the artisanal cheese course.

You may have heard malolactic fermentation described as a secondary fermentation.  While it never precedes the primary, alcoholic fermentation (sugar+yeast=alcohol+CO2+heat), it’s not a true fermentation.  The process is carried out by bacteria (lactic acid bacteria), not yeast.  It is sometimes shortened to MLF or to the French la malo, and it is the conversion of malic acid to lactic acid. 

Malic comes from malum, Latin for apple and this type of acidity is found in nearly all fruits and berries.  It’s used commercially to acidify food and beverage in industrial processes.  Lactic acid is named after lactis, Latin for milk and is one of the milder acids found in wine. 

Is it a good thing?  Well, that depends.  If you have a wine with excess acidity, like a red wine from a cool climate, then yes.  It can also add additional flavor and complexity to both red and white wines as well as prevent the process from happening later on once these wines are bottled.  If, however, you have a wine from a warmer climate or a hotter vintage and you want to preserve its zip, then no. 

Some grapes, especially Chardonnay, take better to it than others.  Producers of Riesling or Chenin Blanc usually avoid it (through maintaining cooler temperatures and using sulfur dioxide), even though these grapes are naturally high in acidity. 

So, what can you expect if a wine’s undergone the process?  A rounder, fuller mouthfeel – some would say buttery.  The buttery-ness is from diacetyl, which is a by-product of the process.  If the diacetyl is not kept in check, it can be overpowering in the wine, even coming across as rancid butter.  Some winemakers think that if the malolactic fermentation happens while the wine is in the barrel, the fruit and oak flavors will be better integrated.

Sounds more exciting than “vinified pink”, don’t you think?  As promised, it’s time to talk about winemaking and I thought rosé would be a fun place to start. 

Let’s back up for a moment, though.  Whether you start with grapes that look like this:

Riesling

Or like this:

Spätburgunder aka Pinot Noir in Germany

The juice and pulp of all grapes are clear, meaning the color in wine comes from the skins of the grapes. 

If this is a new concept to you, it might be helpful to think about Champagne.  The pink stuff aside, most of the Champagne we see on the market is white.  Two of the three permitted grapes for Champagne production, however, are red (Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier).  The winemakers are careful to quickly separate the liquid from the grape skins, preventing any color from being imparted into the juice.

So, what to do when you want wine whose color falls somewhere between a white and a red?  Here are a few options:

1. A short maceration of the juice with the skins.  For our purposes, you can think of maceration as skin contact.  Technically speaking, it’s the extraction of phenolics (think tannins and flavoring compounds) from the grape skins, seeds and stem fragments into the juice and it’s affected by temperature, agitation and time.  The soak usually lasts 2-3 days, depending on the style the winemaker is going for – the longer the skin contact, the more darkly colored the rosé will be.  The skins are then discarded and fermentation proceeds as for a white wine.

2. The Saignée method – French for bled or bleeding the vats.  In this process the winemaker will collect free-run juice from just-pressed dark-skinned grapes after a short, prefermenation maceration.  Coincidentally, this concentrates the remaining red wine, imparting more tannin and color because the ratio of liquid to grape solids has been reduced through bleeding the vats.

3. Blending.  This is just as it sounds – blending finished red wine into finished white wine.  You’ll get a pink wine, but you won’t get the nuances achieved through maceration.  Believe it or not, Champagne is one of the few controlled appellations where this is allowed.  I guess the thought is that the second fermentation and resulting carbonation will provide enough interesting character to the rosé. 

I’ve also read that pink wines can be made by using charcoal treatments to remove the color from red wine.  This makes me a little suspicious – if the winery doesn’t want to sell it as red wine, why would I want to drink it pink?