Grape-Shifting: One Grape Two Styles

There’s an old aphorism often quoted concerning wine quality: Good wine is made in the vineyard. It is certainly true that great, or even good wine can’t be made from poor quality grapes. Nor does excellence in the vineyard insure excellent wine. Like all aphorisms this one doesn’t tell the whole story. How you make the wine is just as important as the quality of the grapes. In an excellent year a good winemaker will “get out of the way” and allow the wine to express itself. In a challenging year a good winemaker will use various cellar techniques to improve the vintage.

Winemakers can use those same techniques to create a chosen style of wine. They can deepen the textures of the wine or soften those textures to make the wine more approachable at an earlier age all without changing the characteristic flavors or aromas of the varietal. It’s like turning up or lowering the volume of a piece of music. The music is the same, the intensity changes.

Certain grapes are more amenable to “grape shifting” than others. An excellent example of a grape that is made in differing styles is Gamay. Grown worldwide, Gamay’s home is in the Beaujolais district in southern Burgundy. This grape has light to moderate tannins and elevated acids making it a great “food wine.” In the 80s and 90s, it became very popular as Beaujolais Nouveau, a wine rushed to the United States in time for Thanksgiving. Nouveau was, and still is, made in a very light and quaffable style and still is available right before turkey day. This somewhat faded fad overshadowed the more traditionally made Beaujolais especially in the classified village regions. These are barrel aged and comparable to the style of Pinot Noir, its neighbor to the north. The difference in these two Gamay styles is how the grape is handled in the cellar, and more specifically, how fermented. This article will discuss techniques that can be used to deepen a wine or to make it more approachable. One grape but two different styles.

Make It Big: Cold Soak

As we know the color and tannins in red wine come mostly from the skins of the grape being in contact with the juice of the grape. The skins contain color molecules (anthocyanins) that leech out of the skins before and during fermentation. These molecules meld with the tannins also leeched form the skins. Deep color and deep strong tannins go together, and along with higher alcohol, make the wine bigger and more flavorful. As alcohol retards the leeching of these ions, a pre-fermentation soak is the best way to capture these elements. The longer the pre-soak the better if you want a bigger style. Assuming you have clean fruit, two to three weeks is usual, if you can manage it. The grapes must be kept cold to avoid fermentation and spoilage bacteria from taking hold of the must.

The downside of this approach is that it is easy to overpower the varietal and the terroir. Soaking too long can lead to over-extraction of tannin, which can make the wine harsh, requiring amelioration by heavy fining with possible loss of color and flavor. Over-extraction is more likely with thick skinned grapes, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, rather than thin skinned grapes, like Pinot Noir. But when balanced, soaking works very well to enhance the wine.

Make It Big: Enzymes

The enzymes used in fermentation are usually natural products and usually contain enological tannin. These enzymes help with color, flavor and tannin extraction. They are very helpful with thinner skinned varietals that struggle to produce color. In cool climate regions, the skins also may not have developed perfect ripeness and can help extract color and flavor, lesser in these grapes. If there is difficulty keeping your grapes cold, it may help advance the process allowing you to begin fermentation earlier. Some people don’t see the need for these products, but I find them a helpful tool.

Make It Big: Punch Down/Pump Over

During fermentation tannin and color molecules, as well as flavor molecules, continue to leech out from the grape skins. But as the pulp of the grape is broken down by the yeast, the skins rise and float on the must. This is called the cap. Punching down is the process of submerging the cap back into the must. It’s key to keeping the must healthy and continuing the process of deepening the flavor and color of the eventual wine. Larger wineries will pump the juice back over the cap. This is called a pump over. In both cases, needed oxygen is added to the must as the cap is submerged, allowing the yeast to continue their job of turning sugar into alcohol. Increase of punch downs increases the texture of the wine. A good habit to develop is to punch down every time you pass your fermenter.

Make It Big: Freeze Or Dry

Intervention is not a dirty word in my winemaking lexicon. Some winemakers believe in the priority of Terroir and put nothing into, or take anything out of their wine. These winemakers are usually in the “natural wine” category. I applaud their adventuresome natures. As amateur winemakers, our livelihoods are not at stake, only the cost of the grapes and our time. So why not experiment and have fun. I think you can also enjoy creating a wine, the way a portrait painter might choose the subjects best side. A little intervention may be a good thing. In the experimental category consider intensifying grape must by removing some of the water in the grape, thus increasing both sugar and flavor.

Some amateur and professional winemakers make a dessert wine by freezing grapes and pressing them cold. It is not proper “ice wine” which must remain on the vine and naturally freeze, but it’s darn good. A legendary, award winning amateur winemaker once gave me the secret to his phenomenal strawberry port: He freezes the ripe strawberries and allows the sugars to naturally seep out as the berries thaw. He never presses the berries. I have even read articles from professional winemakers who will freeze some of their must to intensify the must, even though they are not making a dessert wine.

Freezing is not the only way to intensify grapes. In Europe it is a common practice to dry grapes before the wine is made in the normal fashion. In Spain’s Sherry region the grape Pedro Ximenez (PX) is harvested and left in the sun on straw between the vines. These dried grapes make a delicious, unctuous Sherry. More famously, in Italy’s Valpolicella Region some of the traditional grapes of the Valpolicella region are dried to make a very powerful wine called Amarone.

Drying not only increases the sugar of the grapes, but also changes the chemical structure of the juice, reducing the malic acid and creating new flavor and aroma compounds. But it is a difficult process. In Italy it is closely regulated and you can understand why. First, the type of grape must be thick skinned and resistant to sour rot (not like Pinot Noir). Also, the drying process is in cool ventilated shade without heat, but with low humidity. It sound very much like how cheese is aged or how beef is dry aged. Or perhaps more manageably for the amateur winemaker, how fruit is dried in a dehydrator. I am intrigued by this concept, but haven’t tried it myself. For further study, I recommend the article by Gian Pietro Carrozza in the December 2021 edition of Wine Maker Magazine.

Make It Soft: Soaking & Punching Down

After reading my suggestions about soaking and punching down to increase the structure of the wine, it might seem that the best course to avoid “bigness” would be to omit these two techniques. But that may not be the best course to follow. Some soaking and regular punching down should still be performed. Rather than two weeks, perhaps soaking two to three days would still be necessary to have a good color, structure and especially to develop aroma.

If you are working with thin skinned Pinot Noir, then three to four days might be called for. For thicker skinned grapes, like Cabernet Sauvignon, a couple of days might do the job for you. Keep in mind that when you sulfate the wine, you also reduce the color of the eventual wine. Punching down is also necessary to keep the wine healthy and to add needed oxygen to the must. This encourages clean aromas in the finished wine.

I believe that enzymes are still helpful to making a well-rounded wine, even if you ultimate goal is softer, more approachable wine. But they are not necessary, with the exception of peptic enzyme. This enzyme prevents “jelly” hazes.

Make It Soft: Whole Cluster Fermentations

The phrase whole cluster fermentation defines itself. The clusters of grapes are not destemmed or crushed. But there are degrees of cluster fermentations, a spectrum starting with just adding a few whole clusters to a traditional fermentation, the balance are crushed and destemmed. A total stem fermentation is where the total amount of grapes are not destemmed and added to the fermenter. A further variant is a whole cluster carbonic fermentation, essentially a chemical fermentation from the inside out. This is the Beaujolais Nouveau style fermentation. It’s bit tricky for the amateur winemaker, but may also be done in a partial way as well.

Why would a winemaker want to do this? One reason is that it is a way of reducing skin contact as the juice of the grape remains inside the berry. Thus a softer more approachable wine is made. Another reason is that the stems do add different aromatic and tannin profiles on the nose and palate. The overall tannins are reduced, as is the color, but usually the wine may be highly aromatic. A third reason is that if a carbonic fermentation occurs, the malic acid may drop, as well as some of the tartaric acid. So, it can soften the acid profile as well.

A word of caution is necessary here. Grape stems often contain green tannins, especially in cool climate regions. These tannins are astringent, which means they coat the tongue and dry the mouth. These tannins tend to linger on the finished wine. You must have stems that are lignified, that is are brown and woody. Those tannins would be “ripe.” If the stems are neon green, you probably should avoid this method. Also, a full-on carbonic maceration can result in funky aromas, like banana or bubble gum. On the other hand, the results can be stunning.

Lamoreaux Landing Vineyards on Seneca Lake in New York’s Finger Lakes region produces excellent Cabernet Franc and one that is made with the carbonic maceration process. It’s called T 23. It tastes like a Cabernet Franc, but is smooth like a Pinot Noir, with cherry aromas and red fruit on the palate. We use a Pinot glass. Their traditional Cabernet Franc is styled like a Bordeaux wine. The difference is the fermenting process.

Carbonic maceration uses 100% whole clusters which are kept cold by the use of carbon dioxide so that the chemical process can occur. Sulfite should be kept low, as wild yeast may play a role in the process as well. For the amateur winemaker, you would probably have to use dry ice. It’s recommended that the process only go for a week or so, to avoid the problem of spoilage bacteria hijacking the fermentation. Add yeast and continue with a regular fermentation.

So too, a whole cluster fermentation is probably too cumbersome and may have the same spoilage issues. Perhaps try a partial use of whole clusters in a traditional fermentation process.

Make It Soft: Delestage

Delestage is a French technique to both soften the tannins in a red wine and increase the wine’s aromatic profile. This technique is not well known or commonly used by amateur winemakers, because it’s thought to involve pumps and large tanks.  An amateur winemaker can accomplish the same result simply using a second bucket, an optional faucet and a sieve.

Harsh tannins can leech from the seeds into the juice during red wine fermentation. This is especially likely when the must is energetically punched down, crushing some of the grape seeds. This process removes many of the seeds, while adding oxygen to the must. With fewer harsh tannins, especially fewer green tannins, the wine requires less time in the cellar.

After a few days of fermentation, the pulp of the grape is pretty much dissolved into the must and the skins tend to float up to the top of the fermenter. That is why we need to punch the skins down. To get the seeds out of the must, tanks with faucets are used. The wine, which is at the bottom of the tank under the skins, is pumped out from the bottom of the fermenter and sieved to remove the seeds. The wine is returned to the fermenter and fermentation continues. This process is repeated several times.

For the amateur winemaker, you can separate the skins into other buckets and pan the must/juice into a sieve over a bucket or carboy, collecting as many seeds as possible. Another solution is to install, at the bottom of your fermenter, a faucet large enough to allow the seeds to flow out. Allow the juice to flow into a sieve and into a carboy. In both cases, return the juice to the skins. At the same time you are removing the seeds, you are performing a splash-racking. What’s not to love?

Make It Soft: Restrained Oak Additions

Oak can add complexity and a spicy (French oak) or vanilla (American) aspect to your wine. It adds tannic structure as well as flavors and aromas. I find that small amounts of oak can soften the palate of a red wine, without necessarily giving an impression of an oak addition. It’s counter-intuitive as oak adds a slight bitterness on the tongue. Moderate amounts can signal the presence of oak on the palate, which will soften within a year or two. More than that and you risk creating a more sizable wine, needing more aging to integrate these flavors. One thing I hear repeatedly from wine judges is that many of the wines they taste have too much oak.

Make It Soft: Fining for Harshness

We often think that fining agents are used only to clear white wine. Certainly that is a major use for these agents, such as gelatin or bentonite. However fining agents can be used to help clear excess tannin, certain odors and hazes of various types. In Bordeaux red wines are regularly fined with egg whites, to remove harsh tannins. Considering Classified Bordeaux wines do need several years of cellaring after release, these wines must have huge tannins!

Fining agents tend to have an ionic charge. To remove tannin, a positively charged agent is used. The positive nature of the fining agent attracts the negatively charged tannin. Thus, harsh tannins can be reduced pre-bottling, rather than post bottling in the cellar. Cellaring can take a number of years, fining a number of days.

Cellaring is a lengthy process, but a gentle one. Fining can be completed relatively quickly. Very gentle fining can be done with egg whites or gelatin for tannin reduction. Casein, derived from milk, is another possibility and will help with tannin and aroma from excessive oak. But, fining agents can be harsh. In either case bench trials are in order to be sure the wine is not stripped of beneficial color, tannin and aroma. Consider fining for softness a touch up of the wine, rather than rehab.

Make It Soft: Blending

Blending two or more wines can both soften and strengthen an original wine. A blend can correct deficiencies, such as acid profile or the strength of the alcohol in the wine. It’s surprising how a small addition of a different wine can change the aroma and flavor profile. All of this without adding chemicals such as carbonate or acid. In its way it is more organic. But flavor or aroma flaws such as hydrogen sulfide or greenness are too stubborn and will linger.

Make It Soft: Gum Arabic

Gum Arabic is an approved natural additive in commercial winemaking. It will stabilize tartaric acid and prevent some of the tartaric acid from precipitating out of the wine, forming those wine diamonds on the bottom of a bottle. It has other uses in that it softens the perception of acid and tannin while creating a larger sense of “mouthfeel” on the palate. In other words it rounds out the flavor and presence in the mouth.

It should be used as a finishing agent to fully clear wine. It should not be used for wines meant to age, as it will prevent maturation. To soften the wine for early drinking, it might be just the ticket.

Making it soft or big, much can be accomplished in the winery by a skilled winemaker. Consider how one grape can be both big and soft. Why not make one vintage two ways. Enjoy your great wine in both styles, enjoying the silky wine while the bigger wine comes of age in your cellar. Try grape-shifting!