wct@mordor.UUCP (Bill Thompson) (05/08/84)
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For those of you interested in winemaking--even from a consumer's
point of view:
A review of the Nov., Dec. 1983 issue of "Practical Winery, the
Winemaking Review"
Basically this is a publication for the winemaking industry. It
however contains many articles which might interest the
connisseur or consumer of wine. This issue, the latest available
at my winemaking supply store, contained articles on:
"What is in a Wine?", Dr. Richard Peterson with the Monterey Vineyard
in Gonzales, Calif. discusses why ingredients labeling would not
be appropriate for the wine industry.
"Pinot Noir", the winemakers of 9 wineries discuss their techniques for
producing Pinot Noir varietal wines. The interviews are then followed by
a wine tasting of Pinot Noirs from their wineries with discussion by all
winemakers. The wineries included: Acacia, Beaulieu (BV), Calera, Carneros
Creek, Domaine Laurier, Frick, La Crema Vinera, Louis M. Martini, Santa Cruz
Mountain. All rather interesting, there is a rather large variation in
treatment of the grape--some of the smaller wineries even depended on wild
yeasts for the fermentation.
Various winemakers comments on filtering, fining and cold stabilization
(for tartrates remember?) are interesting.
Other articles include "Sluggish Fermentations" (yes winemaking is still
not a science-- more disagreement among the authorities here)
"Sterile Bottling" -- The necessary steps so that we, the consumers, don't
get bottles which blow their corks on the way home from the store.
One article on "Barrels and Wine" discusses the Sebastiani methods of using
barrels for aging wine. For example, new barrels are used to age some of
their Country Chardonnay for 2-3 wks. At that point it is transferred back
into the bulk of the Country Chardonnay (at about a 1:5 ratio) to impart
an "oakiness" to the batch as a whole. After the barrels are better broken in
by a few batches of the Country Chardonnay they may be used for the Proprietor's
Reserve. Later the Premium Chardonnay will age in the barrels for longer periods.
Columns on "In the Cellar", "wine and Food", "The Wine Lawyer", and "questions
and answers" .... are included.
Subscriptions are $20/yr (6 issues), current issue is $3.50, back issues $5.
Practical Winery, 15 Grande Paseo San Rafael, Ca. 94903.
random reviews of other wine and spirits journals to follow in the future--
--
William C. Thompson III (S-1 Project, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)
U.S. Mail: LLNL, S-1 Project, P.O. Box 5503, L-276, Livermore, Ca., 94550
Phone: (415) 422-0758
MILNET: wct@s1-c or s1-a UUCP: ...!decvax!decwrl!mordor!wct