#11: Making Red Wine (Part 1). Journey to Harvest…and Beyond!

Our 2021 Harvest is Over!                                                         

Yippee!  Our 35th “Harvest” is officially over!   Time to celebrate! 

Interesting to note that the two words “Harvest” and “Crush” are sometimes thought to be the same thing, but they’re really not.  “Harvest” is the generic word we use when we pick the grapes off the vines; whereas “Crush” is traditionally the first day of processing those harvested grapes.  Here at tiny GlenLyon, both the “harvest” and the “crush” of the grapes from that particular vineyard (or block) tend to happen on the same day.  These days, the word “crush” is kind a misnomer.  In the winemaking days of yesteryear, “crush” was a pretty accurate descriptor (“to squash, mash, or macerate”) but these days, we try to be as gentle with our grapes as possible.  But since it’d sound silly to call the first day of grape processing “Gently-Pop-The-Berries Day”, we’ll call it “crush” for now….

What Happens During “Crush”?

Here at GlenLyon, the first grapes to arrive at the winery are usually the white varieties (Viognier and Chardonnay) followed by our lower vineyard grapes we use to make our Rosé (Syrah and Grenache).  Then, ten days to two weeks later, the red varieties will (one at a time) ripen and be perfect for harvest.  Having done this for 34 prior years, two days before harvest we set up the bladder press and all the equipment for processing the whites.  But this year, Ms Mother Nature (ask any grape farmer…she is very fickle) had a different plan for us, and announced that a red variety (Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir) was going to cross the finish line first.  So, we removed all our pre-set white-winemaking equipment and replaced it with all the hardware for red-winemaking.  Since our Pinot Noir was first in line this year, let’s talk about the crush and how we make our red wines.  For the sake of space (and my short attention span), this column is about everything that happens prior to the beginning of fermentation in red wine; the next column we’ll deal with what will happen the moment fermentation begins. 

So…There is a Difference Between Making Red Wine and White Wine?

There sure is…starting with a whole different set of equipment that we use.  After we set aside our white winemaking equipment, we cleaned, sterilized and set up all our red winemaking hardware: the elevator, our new de-stemmer, the sorting table, the pumps, the hoses, and the tanks.  (“Why a new destemmer” you might ask?  Read on!)  Pinot Noir, like nearly all red grape varieties, has colorless pulp and juice inside those dark-skinned berries.  As a result, instead of immediately pressing the juice off the skins (as we do with our whites and Rosé), we destem the red clusters and then ferment the berries, juice and pulp along with those red skins.  Naturally, the longer we leave the pulp and juice on those color-laden skins, the darker the eventual wine will be. 

What Happens When the Red Grapes Arrive at GlenLyon?

We begin our work in the early morning darkness and triple check all our equipment and fittings to make sure everything is working correctly.  When red grapes arrive at the winery at dawn (it’s easier to make good wine if the fruit arrives cold) we fork lift each macrobin off the truck or trailer.  After zeroing out our scale (an empty macrobin weighs 96+/- lbs) we weigh the fruit.  After noting the net weight of the fruit (usually between 850-950 lbs) I fork lift the macrobin into the winery and rotate it so the grape clusters will fall into our big (very clean) elevator hopper.  Net weight is very important as our grower gets paid an agreed-upon price per ton.  That weight will also dictate the grams (solids) or mL (liquid) of any nutrients we will add to the grapes, the fruit and the juice.  We generally figure one ton of grapes will equal somewhere around 160 gallons of finished wine. 

Wife Suzy and our trusty crew (including family, friends, neighbors and some unsuspecting visiting wine club members) are positioned on each side of the elevator to remove and discard any leaves or other MOG (Material Other than Grapes).  The beautiful grape clusters then travel up our elevator and are dropped into our new de-stemmer, a brand-new super-dooper machine we only use for red wine production. 

Why a New Destemmer????

Our old destemmer-crusher was state-of-the-art when we purchased it 20 years ago, but winemaking technology has greatly improved during the past two decades….  Using our old machine, after de-stemming, the berries went through two rollers that “crushed” the destemmed berries…there was no option.  Using the brand new (very expensive) machine, I have two options: to only destem the clusters or to destem and then crush the berries.  Thus the purchase of Suzy’s early Christmas present: “her” new de-stemmer! 

In the case of Pinot Noir, a delicate grape variety we’ve only been making into wine for two prior harvests, a recent innovation is to only destem the fruit.  Thus, Suzy’s gift materialized.  But I digress….  After the stems are removed, the whole berries are then dropped onto a roller unit which will remove any MOG that might have been missed.  Those berries drop into another hopper, ready to be pumped into one of our temperature-controlled stainless-steel tanks.  Since we’d like the environment inside the tank to be free from any air (oxygen), we cover each tank with a sheet of a flexible plastic material called Visqueen. Then we fill each tank with about 200 lbs of argon, a gas that’s both inert (doesn’t interact with the wine) and heavier than air so that it will keep any air (21% of air is oxygen) away from the top of the “must” (the skins, pulp, juice and seeds).   Air (oxygen) is an enemy to wine and it’s important to keep as much air away from the delicate fruit (and eventual) wine as possible.

3.4 tons of “must” is the perfect volume for each of our 971 gallon tanks as that allows two feet of “head space” (the empty tank area above the must).  We need that “head space” so when fermentation is in full swing and the solids rise to the top, the tank won’t overflow.  (No need to ask me how I know that….)

Many winemakers choose to add yeast to begin the fermentation process, but here at GlenLyon (with our red varieties) we choose to only use the natural yeast that is inherently on the grape skins.  Because of that, our fermentation process doesn’t begin immediately and takes two or three days to even start.  That also means the juice will be on those skins longer until fermentation is completed.  That additional skin contact also makes our red wines a bit darker. 

What Happens After Fermentation Begins?

Glad you asked!  We’ll cover that next time in Part 2! 

Whew!  Time for a glass of something RED!

Slainté M’hath!  (“To your health” Scottish Gaelic)