JUNE 2006
Dear Wine Friend!

You might have wondered whether you will be reading from my diary again after such a long wait! Well, with the harvest over and the wine resting already, I have moved other duties of a winemaker aside to chat to you again.

As you know, I am not only winemaker, but the viticulturist as well. For me it is therefore not a cliché to make the wine in the vineyard. I am also in the privileged position to have planted every single grapevine on Audacia. My knowledge of the product that I work with stretches therefore right from the roots! Even when doing everything right, nature has the final say in the ripening process. This has been a great season for us. The ultimate ripening conditions prevailed and it was so exciting to see how the grapes ripened to perfection. Cool weather prevailed throughout, ensuring that we had a longer ripening time. For this reason the harvest was almost two weeks later for us. It was a healthy season with no diseases harming the leaves and that meant that all the good stuff landed in the berries! Optimal ripeness was achieved at lower sugar levels, something that is not always possible in the South African climate. This was due to the cooler ripening conditions. The tannins, flavours and other grape components had time to ripen to perfection before the sugars reached high levels. The warmer the climate, the quicker sugars accumulate in the berries. The grapes have to be picked before the sugar levels are too high, the latter which will result in too high, unbalanced alcohols. Sometimes the other components in the grapes are just not ripe at that stage and then the winemaker has to really adapt the winemaking processes to ensure the best possible wine. This year, the least possible intervening. It was a walk in the park, or shall I say… vineyard?

We do not want to irrigate anymore, because this might have a detrimental effect on the concentration of the grapes and the resulting wine. Growing weeds and cover crop will draw water from the soil and cause competition with the vine for the water necessary to ripen.

The grapes arrive at the cellar in half ton bins. It is very important that only the healthiest grapes are selected and picked during harvesting. No MOG’s are allowed (material other than grapes). These MOG’s can be anything from cutting scissors, small stones that got stuck in the picking basket, vine shoots, leaves, etc. Although the first mentioned MOG’s can damage the machines, it is actually the green material, like especially leaves and shoots that we are worried about, because these are directly responsible for poorer wine quality. Unwanted green, vegetal stalky characters result when too many leaves are fermented with the skins.

As winemaker, I only have a relatively short period of time to ensure that the maximum colour and the best tannins are extracted from the skins. The skins have to be kept wet as much as possible. Now, if you wondered what our work during harvest season is about? This is it!! As red wine makers, we have to make sure the skins are kept wet! Sounds easy? In a cellar like ours where we believe in hands-on operations, no machines with timers and automatic spraying systems it is very laborious, but very satisfying in the end!

The colour pigments are fairly unstable and can easily be oxidised, resulting in colour loss. It is therefore important that these pigments, called anthocyanins, be stabilised as soon as possible. This is by means of a chemical binding process to tannins. Fermenting red wine with added tannins, in wood or with added wood shaving, ensures that these anthocyanins bind quickly to ensure a dark red colour. The binding process is enhanced by the presence of oxygen. For this reason we do aerated pump- overs. We draw off the juice from the bottom part of the tank into an open container where aeration of the fermenting wine takes place.

The wine is then pumped back into the tank where it is sprayed over the skins to keep them wet which again will result in extraction (rinsing out from the skins) of the colour. Just look at the deep red colour already present after just one day of fermentation. Active fermentation takes place for five to seven days. It depends on the style of wine for how long the wine stays in contact with the skins. Extended skin maturation after fermentation leads to a softer, more tannin and colour stable product.

After the pressing of the skins which is actually a mere separation process of the skins from the wine, it is time for the wine undergo malo-lactic fermentation and then off to wood maturation, whether it is on staves or in barrels. We’ll spend more time on wood in the next issue of the snippet from my diary.

I hope that you have once again enjoyed the walk with me through the processes of wine and look forward to sharing the next steps of “wine making”. The word wine making does not describe what I do. There are certain processes needed to get to a well made wine, I am the facilitator. Making? A bit ego-centric, won’t you think?

Here’s to wine!

Elsa Carstens

P.S. Now what is this malo-lactic fermentation all about?
This is a secondary fermentation process only done on wine intended for (usually barrel) maturation, whether it is a barrel fermented Chardonnay or a serious red wine. Here we allow (either naturally or by inoculation) a certain bacteria to remove the malic acid in a wine. These bacteria are found naturally on grapes and are therefore naturally in wine as is the presence of malic acid. With time, these bacteria will start growing by using the malic acid as their main source of nutrient (where their name comes from). Any micro-organism adapts very easily to new conditions, so preserving a wine with eg. sulfur dioxide is not a guarantee that they will not grow once they adapted. While growing, these organisms excretes gas that might cause problems if the wine is already in a bottle. The gas emitted will form a fizz in the bottle, the wine can become cloudy and the cork could pop! To prevent this harmless, though bad experience for you as the consumer, we make sure that this process takes place as soon as possible after alcoholic fermentation.