Grape Futures (12)

I am sure you are all waiting to find out how things went.

Did it all turn into vinegar ? Has it been poured down the sink ?

Neither of the above.

After 12 days fermentation

Fermentation proceeded smoothly for about 12 days until I decided to remove the skins, seeds etc and let the remaining liquid settle in the fridge for a week or so.

After removing the skins

By doing this I was simulating the traditional onset of lower Winter temperatures in the winery, where the wine would spend the winter in tank, before malolactic fermentation triggered by rising temperatures in the Spring.

Having let the lees settle at low temperature it was time to remove the liquid (racking), which could now be described as wine although as yet a very young wine, placing it in another vessel, where it would settle some more, at room temperature.

Some of the lees after racking

The clear liquid after racking

Another few days to wait until malolactic fermentation starts (or not), another racking and the process will be complete.

It has not been very scientific, I agree.

I have no sugar content, alcohol content, pH, total acidity readings or any other data to share with you, but I do have something which looks and smells very much like wine.

I will let you know how it tastes soon.

GM crops - are we all lab rats ?

A new study has revealed that laboratory rats fed a diet of GM maize (NK 603 by Monsanto) will contract cancerous tumours and other disorders which will prematurely end their lives.

How come this has not shown up before ? Well, until now most studies involving GM crops lasted only 3 months. Too short a time to determine whether there were likely to be any adverse effects.

The new conclusions published in the US magazine Food and Chemical Toxicology (Link to article) are based on the findings of a 4 year long series of experiments carried out since 2007, and in the utmost secrecy, by a team of French researchers.

Rats were fed GM maize, GM maize treated with Roundup, or if they were fed neither, given water containing concentrations of Roundup commonly found in the environment of GM cultivation.

After 13 months of these diets female rats contracted large tumours (up to 25% of their body weight), whereas males suffered significant or severe kidney or liver disorders.

The authors of the article call for long-term studies to evaluate GMO's and related pesticides.

We have always been assured that GM crops pose no threat. This news seems to contradict these assurances.

Why have we heard nothing about this in the UK ?

Article in Nouvel Observateur (France)

Something to look forward to

I am really looking forward to getting my edition of José Vouillamoz' book (Wine Grapes - the most complete guide to vine varieties) on grape varieties.

I wrote about a talk and tasting José gave at the RAW natural wine fair and had the opportunity to chat with him afterwards. I have never met anyone with such a deep knowledge of the subject.

I think anyone who is interested in vines and viti-viniculture should find the book interesting.

It is described as the most complete ever, although it will be interesting to compare it with Pierre Galet's various ampelographic works (see list at Athenaeum).

It is due to be released towards the end of October and can be pre-ordered via the link above.

The Right Vines in the Wrong Place (or vice versa)

Unidentified allotment vine - in the right place ?

Reading an article in Le Rouge et le Blanc on the Sablet and Séguret Côtes du Rhône Villages appellation today.

The article by Philippe Bouin and Yaïr Tabor mentions that some younger vineyard owners wonder whether it is useful for appellation rules to call for the use of 'improving grape varieties' (cépages améliorateurs) in blends.

Many local regulations in southern France call for Syrah or Mourvèdre to form part of the blend in order to gain appellation status, whereas they might not give of their best in the area.

Everyone knows that the Northern Rhône is the spiritual and probably physical home of Syrah and that some of the wines produced there have gained mythical status. You would not plant Grenache here.

On the other hand the jammy grapes produced by Syrah in hot, very sunny areas of the lower Rhône valley serve only to gain the appellation badge, bringing nothing 'improving' to the party.

This leads me to reflect on the fact that there is indeed a 'right' place for certain grape varieties to grow.

In countries such as France with a long tradition of vine growing most of the 'right' places are known and have been for centuries. Generally speaking 'right' is a place where the grapes only just ripen fully, over a long season, every year.

French regulations by and large respect these traditions, but are applied a little too rigidly, ignoring or relegating to bit parts good indigenous grapes, which properly cultivated would produce great or at least very good wines (e.g. Pineau d'Aunis in the Loire; Cinsault and others in the south).

In countries like England regulations allow for much more flexibility, and the 'right' places are only starting to become known (e.g Darnibole at Camel Valley...).

There is much to look forward to as far as English wines are concerned.

Everyday Drinkers (7)

This is probably not quite an everyday drinker, but it is priced to allow occasional consumption and it is too good to forgo. Yet another rather inspired choice from the Tesco people.

The grape variety is one you do not often encounter on the shelves of a supermarket: Teroldego.

This is a red grape of northern Italy, from around Trento in Alpine country, a region better known in this country for Pinot Grigio and sparkling wines.

The wine has 12.5% ABV and conspires to be both light and concentrated at the same time with plenty of dark fruit, cherry stone flavours, refreshing acidity and attractive garnet colour. A real treat.

This is a wine which can be drunk with food (homemade gnocchi) or on its own just for pleasure, good Beaujolais style.

It reminds me of the Persan grape of the Savoie in France and of the better Gamay wines from Loire and Beaujolais.

Tesco Finest Teroldego 2009 (Vigneti delle Dolomiti IGT) around £7.99.

Made by the CAVIT co-op in Trento.

Jumpy

We are extremely fortunate in London to have access to such wonderful theatre, music, art, film and all the rest.

Only if you have lived in this city can you imagine how true is the famous quote 'He who is tired of London is tired of life'.

Saw the brilliant Tamsin Greig on Saturday in the Duke of York's production of Jumpy by April de Angelis.

Greig gave a truly barnstorming performance (on stage in practically every scene) with an outstanding cast, particularly Doon Mackichan and Bel Powley.

Jumpy (website)

Is there Wine on Mars ?

Mars (image from NASA - Hubble Space Telescope)

Wine on Mars ? Of course there isn't, at least as we know it.

Vines would be required to survive extremely low temperatures (-75 degrees Celsius air temperature and -90 soil) and a tenuous carbon dioxide atmosphere.

They could get by on CO2 but the temperatures would kill them, unless they were earthed up, as in Russia or China during Earth winter months.

Seriously though, what might these wines, no doubt made from grape vines cultivated under futuristic geodisic glass domes, be like ?

Martian soils would not have any organic matter, little or no nitrogen but would no doubt have plenty of trace elements. Water could be found in sufficient quantities.

The Martian surface is mainly basalt based. There are also areas of clays and other sedimentary deposits to be found.

One might imagine a Petrus style wine made on these soils from Merlot and Cabernet Franc.

What better reason to want to explore Mars ?

Mars Science Lab (Curiosity).
Mars Image

100,000 Year Hole in the Ground

News that the Finnish government has decided to store all its nuclear waste in a vast hole in the ground for up to 100,000 years should make us all rejoice.

What foresight ! The Finns are such an enduring lot, too. They still plan to be around in 1000 centuries.

Perhaps we could send them our rubbish instead of burning it. It would be the best guarded rubbish in the world...

Grape Futures (11)

We are nearing the end of this little grape odyssey which has spanned spring and summer and gone from budburst to veraison to harvest.

The fruit has been picked and is ready for processing.

Whole bunch and stem

I don't fancy bitter tannins from the stalks so I will destem the grapes.

Destemmed fruit before crushing

Once destemmed they can be crushed to free the juice which will start to flow out.

Crushed grapes

If I wanted to make white wine from white grapes I would cold soak pulp, juice and skins overnight and then press them to get clear juice, which would then be fermented. Alternatively one could press straight away and ferment the juice after leaving it to settle overnight at cool temperatures.

As I want red I am leaving everything together until the end of alcoholic fermentation which may take several days.

Since I have only a small volume of juice and do not want to let it spoil I will forgo the opportunity to wait for the ambient yeasts to start the fermentation. There is always a risk that undesirable yeasts may set to work resulting in unpleasant flavours or spoilage. They are often not able to survive in more than 5% alcohol so are therefore unable to produce wine. In other words the precious juice could well be turned into vinegar -not what we want- unless sufficient numbers of the desirable sort of yeast are present.

So I am inoculating the must with a starter culture consisting of a small amount of juice into which some dried yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) has been added. Left to itself for an hour or two the yeast will become active and start feeding on the sugars in the juice, which it will transform into alcohol, giving off carbon dioxide in the process. Hence the characteristic bubbles which signal the fermentation process.

Crushed grapes fermenting

This starter is then added to the main volume of juice and left to ferment.

We shall see how it evolves. It might turn out to be drinkable !