It is time for our second annual harvest date and amount prediction. We winner of each category will receive a bottle of their choice from our current Pinot Noir releases at the time the contest closes.
A few hints…we have 3100 vines which produced between 2.1 and 3.8 tons the last 3 years. Harvest has occured between August 23 and September 13 for those vintages. BTW, bud break was 4 days later this year than last 2016.
Please email dww@sonic.net to enter!
What is unfined/unfiltered and why do I need to know this?
Back in 2014 I discussed how easy it is to make wine vegan and gluten free, but now I want to touch upon sediment in wine and why you should not fear sediment or crystals in your wine.
The process of fining wine adds components to remove defects and treats wine with the use of animal and plant proteins, clay, fish bladders, plastics, etc. You make a wine more consistent wine year to year, but you are removing flavor.
Filtering the wine removes small to microscopic particles… again at the expense of flavor.
Our Pinot Noir does not get fined or filtered, we just “rack” off the wine from the sediment on the bottom of the barrel during the winemaking process. This may leave a small amount of sediment in the bottle/cork but we have not removed any of the unique flavor of the grapes!
As far as the glass like crystals…these are tartrate crystals. Most large wineries either fine these out or cold stabilize the wine below 32F to allow the crystals to adhere to the side/bottom of the tank. Small high end wineries are concerned that losing these crystals will remove flavor, so they limit the cold stabilization to around 38-40F. Since Pinot Noir is served at room temperature, you should not see these crystals, but you might in your glass of Chardonnay. The only cold stabilization we do is naturally from the chill of winter in our barn!
When is sediment and crystals bad? When the wine has gone bad and you can taste it in your glass…otherwise, don’t worry about it. In fact many boutique wineries feature unfined/unfiltered wine to preserve the flavors, just like we do at Turtle Vines.
I just finished reading Bianca Bosker’s “Cork Dork”. A very interesting read how a technology writer for the Huffington Post decided in 1 year to go from enjoying wine to becoming a Sommelier! For those into wine, it is a very interesting read and I recommend it on your next vacation. Sort of like Joanne and I leaving technology and in a few short years… planting a vineyard, making wine and now having our 2014 Turtle Vines Pinot Noir becoming the featured Pinot Noir by the glass in a new high end restaurant in Sebastopol!
Two sentences resonated with me from the book that I want to share.
One sip leads to a second sip…One glass leads to a second glass…one bottle leads to a second bottle.
The people who do Cabernet are businessmen, the people who do Pinot are passionate!