Category Archives: Wine

Cryo=very low temperatures, similar to the current NYC forecast. 

Cryoextraction is a fascinating and controversial way to make sweet white wine. 

Freshly picked grapes are held overnight in a special cold room, usually around 21°F.  The freezing point of the grapes will depend on their sugar content – only the less ripe grapes will freeze.  This means that when the grapes are pressed, the juice will only be coming from the non-frozen, ripest grapes, whose chemical composition has remained unchanged.  The colder the grapes are kept, less, but richer juice will be obtained (and vice versa).  The producer can manipulate the quantity and quality of the wine.

In essence, this process artificially replicates the conditions necessary to produce icewine.  Some notable producers, including Chateau d’Yquem from Sauternes, practice this method, opting for control and consistency instead of the wrath of mother nature. 

For true icewine production, the grapes are frozen on the vine.  This requires a deep frost with temperatures as low as 18°F.  The harvest is usually done between 5-8 am (sounds fun) and yields grapes with concentrated sugar, acidity and extract.  German producers started making eiswein in the 1960s and by the 1980s the majority of the country’s top producers joined in.  Today, you can also find icewine in Austria, the United States and Canada. 

Last night in Fundametnals of Wine class we did a side by side tasting of these two wines:

wine showdown: cryoextraction vs. true icewine

On the left is Pacific Rim’s Vin de Glacière, a single vineyard Riesling from Columbia Valley, Washington and on the right is Mission Hill’s Riesling from Okanagan Valley, in British Columbia, Canada. 

Both are 2007 and 100% Riesling, but the Pacific Rim is “of the icebox” as its producers say, while the Mission Hill is a true icewine.  Both were golden in color and luscious in body, but the class overwhelmingly preferred the Mission Hill, favoring its aromas of honeyed pears, its more substantial weight and its complexity. 

To be fair, there is a substantial price difference between the two wines – both bottled in 375 ml, the Pacific Rim goes for $14, while the Mission Hill goes for $59.99.  I could enjoy either with spicy food, a stinky blue cheese or as a substitute for dessert.

the winery opened to the public in 2006.

 I came across an interesting sign in the front yard.

this sign should have included a warning about bachelorette parties as well.

Virginia boasts over 140 wineries and La Grange is the closest to Washington, D.C. 

Their line-up includes Chardonnay, Viognier, Rosé of Merlot, Cuvée Blanc (a proprietary blend of Riesling, Traminette and Vidal Blanc), Norton (more on this in a moment), Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Meritage (rhymes with heritage; a blend of Bordeaux varietals: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec), Cabernet Sauvignon, Tannat and a port-style wine dubbed “Snort” and made from Tannat, Touriga Nacional and Tinta Cão. 

The only other wines I’ve had from Virginia have been from Kluge Estate.  Overall, I was impressed with what La Grange is doing.  I’ll touch on a few of my favorites.  You’ll notice a variety of vineyards and regions listed because La Grange is not an estate winery, meaning they buy their grapes from throughout Virginia to make their wines.

2008 Viognier from Hollins Farm vineyard in Paris, VA.  13.5% alc and 6 months in Hungarian oak.  Viognier is one of my favorite varietals.  It hails from Condrieu in the Northern Rhône and when done well, has a distinctive, heady, perfumed aroma.  The tells for me are apricots, peaches and honeysuckle.  It’s also planted in Australia and South America.  The majority of experimentation in North America has been in California, Canada and Virginia.  In a blind tasting, I would have put this wine in the old world and at $21 per bottle, it’s a great value Viognier.

2007 Norton from Honah Lee vineyard in Orange, VA.  13.5% alc and a touch of American oak.  The varietal takes its name from Dr. D. Norton of Richmond, VA, a pioneer grape-grower.  Its origins are debated.  Our pourer at the tasting room said it’s a hybrid originally from France; the Oxford Companion quotes Leon D. Adams as saying Norton is “the best of all native American red-wine grapes”.  It seems to be from the species vitis aestivalis, though there are signs of vitis labrusca parentage.  The wine was light and easy-drinking with red-fruits, currants and sweet spice.  La Grange added 15% Cabernet Sauvignon to give the Norton a little more structure.

2007 Tannat from Honah Lee vineyard in Orange, VA.  13.5% alc with a combination of American and French oak.  The vine’s origins are Basque and it is well-known in Uruguay and Madiran (south west France).  Known for being intense and tannic, I was impressed by the approachable, but still concentrated style this wine exhibited.  Black fruits led to a spicy finish.

the purchased goods.

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?