Some really fun recent stuff, mostly old

1975 Monterna Zin/Barbera blend: What a bizarre blend! There is no way this is still drinking well, right? Wrong! It was gorgeous. Simple, perhaps, but still with fresh expressive fruit. And best of all, a zippy acidity that held it all together. I'm no friend to California wines. But I'm finding that I really enjoy Cali wines from the 70s because of their acidity and fresh fruit, and I've been having a lot of luck with them at very reasonable prices. No doubt this wine, back when it was made, aspired to be little more than a table wine. They don't make it like this any more, and that is a damned shame.

1980 Vajra Barolo Bricco Del Viole: From a producer that I've really come to enjoy. Tar, distinct truffle, velvety texture... but also a lifeless soy flavor. Still worth drinking, but sadly this was over the hill.

1997 Haut Brion: In a wonderful place. For a time, one of the most gorgeous perfumes I've ever encountered. I won't even try to describe it except to say that it was in a class of it's own. Tasted blind, and my guesses were simply to list off the top producers of big but elegant red wines: Gaja, DRC, etc., until I finally got it right. I should have gotten it earlier from the gravelly nose, but all I knew for sure was that this was the "real deal." This being said, while it will probably stick around for a few years, I think this wine (no surprise given the vintage) is doing it's thing right now. Lovely stuff. Looking forward to trying a 1929 Haut Brion next weekend!

1975 Beychevelle: Brett. Dirt. Leather. Tobacco. It was okay. Drink up.

1975 Brane Cantenac: Totally fallen off the table. Undrinkable.

2007 Mann Pinot Blanc: One of the best values in the wine world. An incredible rain-water purity. Slightly grapey fruit, but wonderfully minerally. It was the ESSENCE of spring-time with, Alsace style, asparagus. A truly classic, unique, awesome pairing!

2004 Numanthia Termes: People that like huge opaque oakey wines will no doubt rave about this. By the time we finished the bottle, it was pretty explosive on the nose. But this is too big, too international for me. Almost Australian in profile, and somehow despite it's huge fruit and tobacco, very little sense of the Tempranillo grape. I bought a bunch of these, along with the higher-end 2004 Numanthia, when I first started collecting wine based on WA. How can I get rid of them?

2008 Produttori del Barbaresco Nebbiolo: I've been having discussions with folks recently about how wines that, while not made in the fully carbonic style, can still bare the marks of enzymatic/inter-cellular fermentation (and taste therefore ala Gamay). An example of a wine like this is the 2006 Charvin CdP, in which one can detect the (slight) fruity aroma of carbonic fermentation. Here is another example of a wine which, made no doubt in a "traditional" semi-carbonic style (which can mean just about anything), underwent some form of inter-cellular fermentation within whole grapes. This is fine, in and of itself, and I think it's interesting that this style is "classic" (for whatever reasons, I'm always drawn to "classic" and "traditional" wines). On the other hand, the wine had some dried fruit flavors that suggest to me bad product. Nice acidity, but a disappointing wine. Really not very good.

2008 Produttori del Barbaresco Nebbiolo: I've been having discussions with folks recently about how wines that, while not made in the fully carbonic style, can still bare the marks of enzymatic/inter-cellular fermentation (and taste therefore ala Gamay). An example of a wine like this is the 2006 Charvin CdP, in which one can detect the (slight) fruity aroma of carbonic fermentation. Here is another example of a wine which, made no doubt in a "traditional" semi-carbonic style (which can mean just about anything), underwent some form of inter-cellular fermentation within whole grapes. This is fine, in and of itself, and I think it's interesting that this style is "classic" (for whatever reasons, I'm always drawn to "classic" and "traditional" wines). On the other hand, the wine had some dried fruit flavors that suggest to me bad product. Nice acidity, but a disappointing wine. Really not very good.

Strange, I was there in November, visited the fermentation tanks and had a long chat with one of their winemakers. According to him, the grapes are fully crushed and macerated for up to 24 days in open top tanks in contact with the skins. No sign of semi-carbonic. Where did you get this information?

Hi Oswaldo,
Being an amateur home winemaker, when thinking of “maceration” (skin contact time) I usually separation it. Pre- fermentation maceration (some might call this a cold soak, I think this is what Ed is referring too); maceration during fermentation and post-fermentation maceration or extended maceration.

Ed, a Zin/Barbara blend is quite common, especially among the Italian home winemakers on the East Coast.

Salute

Strange, I was there in November, visited the fermentation tanks and had a long chat with one of their winemakers. According to him, the grapes are fully crushed and macerated for up to 24 days in open top tanks in contact with the skins. No sign of semi-carbonic. Where did you get this information?

Well the crush is what is at issue. They said full crush even about the basic Nebbiolo? My understanding is that the use of a certain amount whole berries is the traditional style, befitting a winery like this (although you would know better than I no doubt!).

In any event, as long as there are some whole berries suspended in there, it's not surprising that there are parts of the tank (even with open top) that have a high Co2/anaerobic atmosphere, which is when enzymatic fermentation can happen. Fermentation (like crush) is not always or maybe even usually an either/or proposition. Which is something I find interesting...

Hi Ed,
Yes it might very well be possible to have some carbonic fermentation occurring in a red grape juice must using only partially crushed fruit and a percentage of whole berries. But the purpose of using an open top fermentation vat is so that you can “manage the cap”. Once you start performing your “punch downs” or “pumping over” operations your going to have a “full-blown” alcoholic fermentation on your hands.

Salute

Hi Ed,
Yes it might very well be possible to have some carbonic fermentation occurring in a red grape juice must using only partially crushed fruit and a percentage of whole berries. But the purpose of using an open top fermentation vat is so that you can “manage the cap”. Once you start performing your “punch downs” or “pumping over” operations your going to have a “full-blown” alcoholic fermentation on your hands.

Salute

Thanks Victorwine. The question then I guess becomes how you manage it and when you start punching and pumping, right? Here is a passage from the Oxford Wine Companion which I believe best captures what I imagine the process was with the wine in question above:

Even when a crusher is employed in traditional red wine-making, a proportion of whole berries is retained, depending on the size and condition of the berries and the operation of the crusher. These berries undergo carbonic maceration as the fermenting must at the bottom of the vessel gives off carbon dioxide which excludes all oxygen above it. Thus, alcoholic fermentation and carbonic maceration would proceed simultaneously.

This also applies to some red burgundy made today using whole grape fermentations. Winemakers in other regions around the world, working with varieties other than Burgundy's classic Pinot Noir, carefully adjust their crushers, pumps, and cap management regime to maximize such flavour modification techniques.

The technique is open to much regional and personal modification (see semi-carbonic maceration as an example). Some winemakers allow one or two days' maceration in carbon dioxide while others (or the same individuals in different vintages), may prefer to leave the grapes a week or two under the gas. It is generally considered that the necessary period of maceration is longer when the fruit is less ripe because carbonic maceration reduces the concentration of malic acid, which tends to be higher in greener grapes.

I guess for semi carbonic maceration fermentation it all depends upon the grape variety and how “tough” its skin is. As long as the berries remain whole and CO2 blankets the top of the wine excluding air you’ll always have some carbonic maceration fermentation-taking place.

Salute