Wine theory for Leon Millot rouge, grown in SW Washington state

Here are my thoughts re my 2017 big red Leon Millot, made in a big red style (I also make it in a deep rose style, off the skins, so the following is regarding its being made on the skins, in a style that ends up similar to Pinot Noir):

1. Harvested on 9-17-17 at 23.3 Brix, which suggests a dry wine at 13% alcohol. pH 3.38 which is very good for Leon (would be higher for a vinifera red). TA = 0.72% (this is from the free run juice after the crusher/destemmer, and before pressing).

2. We added 5% white grapes, just as 5% Viognier is added to Syrah in Europe, to fix the color. I have never had Leon turn "Bricky" when I've added white grapes, and for some reason adding white grapes at that level does not seem to dilute the red color (at least not much, if at all). We used Blattner Epicure, and a little Monastery Muscat. I plan to plant one Lakemont white grape (dependable, heavy yield, fairly neutral flavor, and early ripening), for this purpose in the future, as I'm not sure about putting Muscat into my big red Leon, and I plan to use my Monastery Muscat in a Muscat rose (with Jupiter and NY Muscat, IF we decide to keep those two varieties).

3. I added Pectic Enzyme (to help break down the pulp), and tannin (Leon has little), and Yeast Nutrient (reduces the chance that a yeast will be stressed and produce H2S). Fermented on RC212 (a yeast often used for Pinot Noir, with which I see many similarities with Leon) for 5.5 days. Max temp (on heating pad) was 85F, which many Leon winemakers say is important for color fixing and for correct flavor extraction.  Once it reached 85F, I removed pads and blankets/towels, and it finished at 82F (it generates a lot of heat internally), falling to 78F at the end. RC212 needs 68F or more--always be careful to maintain no cooler than your yeast's minimum operating temp. I also didn't use a red extraction enzyme, because I didn't want to over-extract the herbaceousness in the skins of Leon. Note: Others are more adventurous than I am, with yeast choice and with enzymes; this is a personal preference with no right or wrong answers IMO.

I am devout about making a healthy yeast starter; have never had a long lag phase or a misferment, with my approach. I pitched at noon on 9-18-17 (78F starter, into 65F must), and sometime before 6am on 9-19-17 we had vigorous fermentation and good cap lift on the must. I am pretty sure that if I had just sprinkled yeast over the must, it would not have started ferm that quickly. I want to minimize the lag phase because wild yeasts and spoilage bacteria would eventually overtake the juice if the wine yeast is slow to begin.

4. At 8am on 9-20-17, I pitched MLF (Vineflora Oenos, freeze-dried white clumps--keep it in the deep freezer) on the 2nd day of primary fermentation, at 80F. Read up on the four things that MLF bacteria do not want; my approach works for me and I am reluctant to use a more-exotic MLF culture because (even though other varieties will produce a bit less diacetyl) Oenos is so robust and dependable for me, at least so far.

Leon can have a lot of Malic acid, so you can see a large increase in pH and a large decrease in TA, after MLF, in most years. I'm a bit confused now, because after 3 days (see #5 below) my pH is only slightly higher and TA is also barely higher; this is an odd result, but it might reflect slight differences in wine chemistry between free run juice and post-ferm pressed juice. Perhaps MLF just needs more time. MLF likes at least 65F, so instead of putting the carboys in the 61F cellar now, they are in my 68F garage (which will soon get warmer, with the coming two 80F days). The danger is that those higher temps, with no sulfite in the wine, could cause spoilage issues in the wine--the only protection I have against that, now, is the 13% alcohol in there, and the slight continue outgassing of CO2 from the yeast, which helps. Also, the pH of 3.66 is probably low enough to prevent spoilage in the face of 13% alcohol, but one never knows for sure. I can't add more acid (I would add tartaric, if the wine's TA was too low now) because TA is already 0.76% now, which is a bit high for a big red. I can lower that by about .05% during Cold Stabilization (CS) later, and if MLF is ongoing, that will lower it as well. My best guess is that MLF is only barely through its cycle so far. It can take a week or two even under ideal conditions. I hope to see TA fall to about 0.60-0.65%, before CS, ideally. If it falls more than that, I'll add tartaric to reach 0.60%.

5. Today, after 5.5 days ferm, SG-1000 with good lift of the cap (this sounds like full dryness but I read that there's still 1% of RS or so, at this point, and the still-lifted cap proves that ferm is still ongoing). The skins are a depleted, flat, brownish light purple, and all the pulp is gone, and the seeds are all loose. (The yeasts truly are like sharks). I pressed, using a nylon mesh bag in a sterile bucket, scooping must and wine out of the primary (44 gal white plastic rolling tank) with a plastic pitcher, and pouring it into a mesh bag which was in a bucket, then poured the wine from the bucket through a sterile funnel into the carboys. If it had been much more than 11 gallons of wine, I would use the bladder press. Now, pH is (temp-adjusted) 3.66, and TA is 0.76%. 

​6. MLF should drop the TA by .15%-.40. I will occasionally retest TA, to see if I can satisfy myself that MLF is done. If my MLF doesn't finish (gets stuck), and if the wine chemistry is good, another advantage of CS (besides lowering the TA) is that at 25F, MLF bacteria are killed. And I can insert a bit more sulfite, on bottling (say, 75ppm rather than 50ppm), to also help guard against MLF restarting in bottle (that's a disaster for flavor; can ruin the wine). ​And carrying the wine a long time in carboys, through next summer, also provides the heat needed for MLF to perhaps restart and finish--another reason not to rush bottling (though I will sulfite once ferm is finished, and that reduces the chance of renewed MLF, but still I've seen it happen, as sulfite levels fall over time inside the carboys). I believe Leon (like apple cider) needs at least a 2 year production cycle, unlike Cayuga which is fine on a one-year cycle.

7. The Leon will get oak (medium toast; I like vanilla flavors) after it's calm and racked off the lees. I might stir the lees a couple of times per week; this can add body/mouthfeel, or maybe more-complex flavors. Lees stirring is called "battonage" ("Baton" is the French word for "stick").

K

now, THAT is a blue grape!

Look how populous my Leon Millot clusters are--with a super-healthy canopy. Don't adjust your monitor--these are blue-skinned grapes. And don't worry-those blue skins, through the mysteries of organic chemistry, indeed make a red red wine. We're only a few weeks away from harvest now, on these. I'm going to make half as a deep red rose, and the other half as a big, ageable, oaked red.

Leon Millot was bred in 1911, in Alsace, by Eugene Kuhlmann. It is early and healthy and productive here. Early enough that I don't have to hang nets and still don't get much bird damage.

Muscat Madness!

One of the more-confusing grapes must be the Muscat varieties. Here is some light shed on it:

1. There are about 200 varieties of Muscat grapes. All are varieties within the species Vitis vinifera.

2. They are white, yellow, pink, blue, and black.

3. It might be the oldest domesticated grape varieties. Nations claiming them include Saudi Arabia, Iran (Persia), and Egypt.

4. Muscats almost always have a strong flowery, musky aroma. (I love it.) This is caused by the presence of more than forty "monoterpenes," including  citronellol, geraniol, linalool and nerol. (You will recognize some of those as in such products as citronella candles, or geraniums. Linalool is a terpene found in various strains of marijuana. Nerol is new to me.)

5. Many languages are possible sources of the Muscat name: Persian (muchk), Greek (moskos), Latin (muscus), French (musc), and Italian (mosca, which refers to fruit flies, which are attracted to the grapes' sugar and musky aroma).

6. Here are some of the confusing parts:
a. Vitis rotundifolia (a grape native to the SE United States) is called "muscadines," though they have nothing to do with Muscat grapes.
b. The German winegrape "Morio Muskat" is not in the Muscat grape family.
c. The Bordeaux winegrape "Muscadelle" has strong aromatics and is often confused with Muscat grapes.

7. Muscats have been bred into modern grape varieties, through crosses with native American and Asian grapes. One of the many examples is Muscat of Norway, which some think is really Donskoi, a Russian-bred grape that can ripen in cold climates and thus somehow got named for Norway.

Here is the Wiki article on Muscat grapes.

Pictured is Muscat of Alexandria. (photo credit to Wikipedia)

Expensive wine tricks our minds into thinking it tastes better

Thanks to Robert for this article.

Not a huge surprise, but research has confirmed that we are wired for wine snobbery: If we are served the same wine twice, but the first time we're told it's $7 and the second time we're told it's $21, guess which one we'll say tastes better?

You know what this means. It means we must work very hard to avoid being tricked into paying too much for wine. This is what I work so hard on--finding great wines at low prices. I think I have lost some customers over the years, who want to pay more for wines than most of the wines I offer. It's sad that they have bought so hard into the myth that most $50 bottles taste far better than most $20 bottles. I sell a few $10 bottles that have won major, major awards over much-more expensive wines. I even found a $7 wine (Chat St Michelle's Dry Riesling) that won Double Gold over wines costing twice as much, five times as much, even TEN TIMES AS MUCH. Just think about that.

Not sure about you, but I have better things to do with my money, than to waste it by overpaying for wines. Train your mind to work for you, not against you!

More on the Effort to Synthesize Wine in the Lab

Ava Winery studies the many chemicals in wine, and attempts to synthesize fine wine in the lab. So far, their best synth wines cannot fool the wine experts, who find the synth wines "off" in many ways.

Here's the article about it.

As a matter of science fiction, I wouldn't be surprised if someday all our beef, potatoes, and wine came from labs. Chunks of muscle cells can be grown in nutrient-rich tanks; probably potatoes are the same. And once we've mastered the thousands of chemicals in wine, why couldn't you just whistle up a synthetic wine equivalent to a 1948 Lafite?  I'm fully confident that, once the science is fully understood, such wine could be replicated. It could be an exact chemical match for the real thing.

Where would leave our descendants? Imagine a life with no farms, no vineyards. Few people will have to work, either, because most jobs will have been mechanized and humans will be paid a living wage, just for doing nothing.  Would we then turn to artistic and educational pursuits, or would be become even more lazy--perhaps doing little more than living in a virtual reality world where we can be sexy and athletic and wealthy. Maybe our poor health wouldn't matter then, because there would be medical machines to address any health problem. In that faux world, nothing would be real, except for the machines and the machines' products, and the humans so dependent on them.

New potatoes vs D-flawless diamonds

I submit to you the word "fresh." You can be fresh with a girl (though fear not--I am not the type, I hope and think, to get too fresh with a woman, though I am the type to wax reminiscent for a time when "fresh with a girl" meant you tried to hold her hand, and you wanted to kiss her, but she didn't want you to, and so you didn't). But today I refer to "fresh" in regard to potatoes. Who knew? Yes, of course a fresh ripe fig or peach is remarkable (as certainly one cannot find such things in a store). Yet I am here today, my friends, to represent to you that "fresh" has significance even as to the lowly potato. Indeed, my fresh friendly faces, a newly-dug potato, when lovingly parboiled and fried in vegetable oil, with the right spices and care, can turn into something quite extraordinary. Quite extraordinary, indeed. One simply has to imagine Nirvana, and there you are. Why should a potato be considered any more common than a D-flawless diamond? You can't eat a diamond, or at least you should not. You can't fry a diamond, or at least you should not. Diamonds are not made more exquisite with the applicaton of ketchup. And yet one comes out of the ground with a $64,000 price tag, and the other comes out with hardly any value at all. Yet the value-less one giveth all the more pleasure. It yields itself up to instantaneous destruction, to bring you joy--can a diamond do that? In such paradoxy doth life reign. Good night.

PS- 2010 Chateau Caleches de Lanessan.

The major grape species of the world

There are eight major species of grapes in the world, and six are native to the USA:

Europe: Vitis vinifera, to which all the classical wine grapes belong.

Asia: Vitis amurensis.

USA:
1. Vitis rotundifolia: Muscadines--large flavorful grapes.  The best-known example is the Scuppernong. There is a Muscadine "mother vine" in North Carolina (see photo) that is hundreds of years old. I've rejected trying to grow these grapes here in the PacNW, as they would be (climatologically) so far from their Southeastern US home.

2. Vitis rupestris: The Sand Grape, it grows in warm prairies and sandy areas such as wet/dry creekbanks, in places like the Ozark hills of Missouri and Arkansas. As it is found principally on riverbanks, our practice of damming and draining wetlands has severely threatened this grape in the US.

3. Vitis mustangensis: The Mustang Grape is found in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, and has very acidic juice (acidic enough to burn my lips!).

4. Vitis labrusca: Best known for its varieties Concord and Niagara. This grape is the one used in Welch's grape juice or grape jelly, and its flavor is called "welchy" or "grapey." It does not make good wine.

5. Vitis riparia: The "Frost Grape" grows well in cold climates and is found from New England to Montana to Texas.

6. Vitis aestivalis: Called "bicolor" by grapebreeders due to its leaves' silver-colored undersides. Found from Maine to Florida, to Oklahoma and Texas. This grape is a parent of Norton, one of the best-known winegrapes bred in America, from only American grapes.

All these species of grapes have been bred with Vitis vinifera, to make modern varieties of grapes. The aim of grapebreeding is to create new varieties with the flavor of vinifera and the disease resistance, cold-hardiness and earlier ripening of the US grapes.

Cayuga is a great example. It tastes like a cross between Riesling and Viognier, with a taste profile that is very familiar to vinifera winelovers, and yet it has outstanding disease resistance (never needs antifungal spray) and ripens early, with huge yields of large clusters. It is currently my favorite white winegrape here in SW Washington state. Cayuga is 56% vinifera (including Zinfandel, a red wine grape, oddly enough), and some rupetris and other US varieties. It was bred in 1945 by Univeristy of Cornell at the Finger Lakes, NY, but not released until 1972.

Photo credit: In the article, discussing the above grape species, found here.