Morning ya'll,
Well, this is the time of year when we begin the arduous task of pruning the vineyard. Our crew has begun shaping the vines into the base from which the growth in 2009 will come. We have started in Pinot Grigio and have moved along into Riesling. Each vine is tended one-by-one when pruning. There is indeed a technique to pruning. A proper technique will already begin to mold fruit quality that the vineyard will yield. As we prune we are already planning and discussing the 2009 Harvest.
At the winery we are preparing our white wines for bottling. Filtration and stabilization of the wines is underway. Stabilization is when we look to remove any hazes that the wine may have as well as remove tartrate crystals. Tartrates as we call them sometimes are referred to as 'wine diamonds'. Tartrates are in fact crystals formed from a naturally occurring acid called tartaric acid. However, with time and cold temperatures tartrates will form and drop out. We can accelerate this process by adding tiny amounts of cream of tartar which acts as a magnet for tartrates.
The removal of tartrates are only an aesthetic operation as they do not effect wine quality. However, the average consumer that may see these crystals in a bottle may think the bottle is bad. So, as a result all white and rose' wines are cold stabilized. Our red wines do not go through cold stabilization, but rather the time in barrel helps lose a large quantity of tartrates.
Lastly, we have just received our screw capper at the winery. We have been busy working on a customized Stelvin (Correct name for a screw cap) that will bear our logo. The new packaging will look quite sharp and help bring us to the fore front of what is happening in the wine world.
Cheers,
Juan.
