Yes, it's true, we've given our little baby Pinot Noir barrels their inoculation. Malolactic fermentation is used to help convert some of the more tart tasting malaic acid into a smoother, rounder lactic acid. This is accomplished by adding a bacteria culture. It's kind of strange that
we've done everything heavenly possible to prevent bacteria from getting into the wine. We carefully cleaned everything that would touch the juice (several times.) We put a blanket of Co2 on the top of the cold soaking grapes to keep bacteria out. We cleaned and steamed each barrel. And, now, after fermentation is complete, we're adding a bacteria into the wine.I think the exact bacteria is Oenococcus oeni. Scott showed me the container, and I looked it up on line, and I think this is the one. One way to have the wine go through this process would be to just bring it up to a temperature of 70 degrees or so and let it go. The bacteria are probably present in the wine already, but Scott doesn't like to leave things to chance, so, we inoculate.
The grapes at the bottom of the hill mature earlier, and you can kind of see the progress in the photo to the left. No leaves at the lower section of the hill, and still some bright colored leaves at the top. Part of the reason that the leaves still have color at the top of the vineyard is that they were not as affected by the cold weather that we had a couple of weeks ago. The cooler air flowed down towards the valley floor and left warmer air up above.
In the photo to the left, Ryan is stirring the wine in the barrel with one hand, while pouring in the solution with the other. Scott has combined some water and food with the brown powder and shown us the amount to go in each barrel. Ryan and I get into a groove where he pours the solution into the barrel, and I clean up, and put a chalk check mark on each barrel to show that it is complete. Every once in a while we stop and smell the wine in the barrels. It is so beautiful now. Especially the estate wines in the new oak barrels present themselves well.
After we are finished with the inoculation I decide to take a walk around the property. It is interesting that the leaves are falling off the vines from the bottom of the hill up to the top of the hill.
The grapes at the bottom of the hill mature earlier, and you can kind of see the progress in the photo to the left. No leaves at the lower section of the hill, and still some bright colored leaves at the top. Part of the reason that the leaves still have color at the top of the vineyard is that they were not as affected by the cold weather that we had a couple of weeks ago. The cooler air flowed down towards the valley floor and left warmer air up above. Scott is getting ready to attend a conference for his other work, so I'm kind of wrapping things up. I hope to be around for the harvest of the Riesling vines from Highland Vineyards, but I maybe back in the pulpit by then. I head back in less than two weeks now, so it's going to be close. I never would have predicted that when I was planning out my sabbatical in June. This is by far the latest harvest they have ever had in the Willamette Valley. On Saturday I get to go back up to Coeur de Terre to taste some wine for a change. That's still my favorite part of the wine making process--consumption. I'm glad there are others who enjoy making it for us. I'll appreciate what they do a lot more now. One very strange aspect of this experience is the overwhelming sense that I know less now than when I started. The first step in learning anything is to go from unconscious incompetence to conscious incompetence. And I guess that's where I am. I now know how much I don't know about wine. And that just makes me want to learn more. And, the best way to do that it to do research. So wine tasting here we come!