So you think you can wine? - part 3 - Pressing and barrels and bottling

While picking grapes at Puddleduck recently we learnt that Darren and Jackie Brown had decided it was time they made their first pinot and we decided to go along for the ride. We're following the process, from grape to glass, that will produce the 2010 Puddleduck Pinot. Learning was never this much fun at school.

In part 1 the grapes were picked, de-stemmed and crushed. Yeast had been added to begin the fermentation process. A week later .... we were back at the winery.

In part 2 the grapes and their juice began the serious business of turning into wine. The de-stemmed grapes had sat in vats for a week and fermentation had begun.  The grapes were pressed and the resulting juice was placed in barrels. After a bit of waiting around it was time for a little more ....

Step Eight - waiting, waiting

The winemaking process at this point is a bit like a teenager. A non-responsive, gormless exterior hides a lot of activity going on inside. A wine sitting in a barrel wouldn't make good television, or radio come to think of it, but don't be fooled. While you're not looking the yeast is busy eating the sugar in the juice and turning it into alcohol.

We've already touched on the oak barrels versus tank debate but even if you have voted for barrels the decisions don't end there. There are different types of oak. Winemakers will tell you American oak has a very different effect on wine from French oak. What's more the age of the barrels has an impact.

Darren has opted for French oak and his first vintage requires 6 barrels. Two are new and the other four range in ages from 2 to 4 years. This age difference is needed to manage the oak impact. "All new oak would be overpowering" Darren said. So all the wine has a chance to spend time in the new as well as the older barrels Darren will continue the process of periodically emptying the wine from the barrels into a mixing tank and then returning it to the barrels.

Step nine - Malolactic baby ....

This step is also called 'secondary ferment' and involves turning malic acid, that is already in the wine, into the softer and more palatable lactic acid.  While this can occur naturally, to make sure it was a controlled process Darren added a bacterial culture to kick things off.

Step ten - Rack off Noddy

We don't want to upset the kiddies but all that hard working yeast eventually dies. It gives it's life so that you may get blotto. This is a good thing and is yet another reason why it's good to be at the top of the food chain. But this selfless sacrifice does leave a bit of a problem. What to do with all those dead yeast cells sitting in the bottom of the barrels?. The answer - get them to rack off.

Aside from being a quaint but decreasingly used term to let someone know that it's time for them to be annoying somewhere else it's also a technique for getting the dead yeast out of the barrels. But before anything is done the wine is 'checked' to make sure nothing untoward has happened. If you hear the term 'barrel sample' it means a small amount is taken from the barrel and tasted. This process is called 'working flat out mate!' in the wine industry.

Next the 'very expensive but almost unbelievably quiet pump' is called into service again and the wine above the dead yeast is pumped into a holding tank. To make sure the wine comes into contact with air as little as possible carbon dioxide gas is pumped into the tank before the wine.

Once the wine is out of the barrels the 'muck' can be drained.

To make sure all the 'muck' is gone the barrels are washed and then allowed to drain

Once the barrels are clean the wine can go back into them. This step also ensures that all the wine has exposure to both the new and aged barrels to ensure a consistent and balanced flavour.

Step eleven - Bottling!

About six weeks after the racking the wine is ready for bottling. Firstly the wine is pumped from the barrels into a tank so it can be taken to the fine folk at Frogmore Creek.

The tank is connected to the automated bottling machine. It only takes 2 people to manage the process. One to put the bottles in the machine and one to take them out again. The cleaning, filling and capping is done automatically.

That's all folks!

Well nearly. The bottles are now being labeled and all that remains is for punters to try and buy. Jackie and Darren are still selling their 2009 pinot so it will be some time before the "Darren's vintage" is for sale. However we have tried it and it's a beautifully smooth and fruity drop. It reminds us of the 2008 but with slightly more back end. We think it will be a 'brisk seller' but we can't wait to see what the punters think.

Well there you have it. Now you know how wine is made there's no excuse, go out and make some yourself......

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