®The Process of Making Wine at Et Fille Wines
Since you are "tasting" some virtual wine, you might as well stay and have a tour of the facilities to see how the wine is made. Winemaking begins in the vineyard in that we work closely with the vineyard owners from whom we purchase grapes. Together we determine the desired crop load (more load, more quantity but frequently less quality), how many leaves to pull to assist in ripening, when to harvest, etc. We convert the harvested grapes into our wine at August Cellars, a three story winery designed to utilize gravity as wine is transported from one stage to the next. The grapes are brought to the top floor by truck in bins. They are removed with a forklift, weighed and stacked in the shade and under cover. (photo 1) When ready to begin crushing the grapes, the bins are lifted by forklift onto one end of the crush pad. This is an elevated platform containing a pair of tilt-able trays at one end, a "shake table,"that slowly moves fruit from one end to the other, and a destemmer/crusher receives the fruit and deposits it into a waiting fermenter below it (photo 2). While the grapes are moving people on either side of the table sort the grapes to remove anything that is not perfect fruit. We are a bit compulsive about this. No leaves, no little green berries, no unripe grapes, no afflicted fruit... only perfect grape clusters (photo 3). The destemmer/crusher separates the grape berries from the stems. The stems are shunted aside and go down a trough into a waiting receptacle. In photo 4, you can see the sorters with the destemmer/crusher on their right, and a bin below where the perfect fruit gently falls and collects in a fermenter. There are several types of small fermenters we use, varying in capacity from about one ton to four tons. As the grapes fall into the fermenter, we frequently will add pieces of dry ice to cool the grapes (photo 5) Once the fermenter is full, or there are no more of one vineyard's grapes to crush, the fermenter is moved inside, to the fermenting room on the top floor. The fermenters are moved inside by hand with the aid of a pallet jack, or by forklift. Once inside, we cool the grapes down to less than 50° F and let them soak for several days. This is done to increase the time the skins are in contact with the juice, as the skins impart the color and flavor to the wine. During this period, we keep the fermenters covered but open the covers to take samples for quantitative analysis of brix (sugar), temperature, and acidity, and to punch down the grapes. Jessica is taking a sample in photo 7, while Howard eats a piece of paper. After the grapes have cold-soaked for a sufficient time, we inoculate each fermenter with a particular strain of yeast. Much as you might use a sourdough yeast for one bread, and a different yeast for another bread we use different strains of yeast in the fermenters. The yeast drive the fermentation by converting the grapes sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide. There are so many yeasts cells in every milliliter of juice that the juice roils with the releasing carbon dioxide. This release of carbon dioxide is so strong that it lifts all the skins to the top, and floats them above the juice. Since the flavor and color come from the skins, we have to push the skins back down into the juice. This process is called punching down the cap, and we do it three times a day to each fermenter (photo 8). This fermentation stage usually lasts from 5 to 15 days. Once fermentation is complete, the wine is separated from the skins, seeds and other organic matter. We do this in three stages. First, the "free run" juice is siphoned out of the fermenter with the aid of a torpedo shaped colander. The wine is put into a tank on the next level down in the winery, using gravity. The remaining skins and seeds are then dumped into a press (photo 6). The press uses compressed air to squeeze the skins and force the wine out through small openings. This pressed wine is not as clean as the free run. It too goes into a settling tank on the next floor down. The third step is to allow the wine to settle for a few days. The suspended organic matter drops out to the bottom. Then the wine is "racked" to barrels. Racking is siphoning the wine to the lowest level of the winery while keeping a racking wand below the level of the wine, but above the layer of organic matter at the bottom. The wine rests in barrels for many months. Before bottling, the barrels are lifted upstairs where they are blended in a tank.
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