Wine and Evolution
by Warren Richard
How do good wines evolve over time? We asked ourselves this question and decided to find the answers. However, we wanted to observe the process from start to finish---from the vines into the barrels and then finally into the bottle. We began our quest last September and volunteered to harvest at Gray Ghost Vineyards; from that starting point, we got an up-close and personal look at the grapes and the de-stemming process. In March 2006, we were able to taste the wines out of the barrel and thus observe their development, and this included the same Chardonnay that we helped to harvest from the previous fall. The next step in our journey was to attend a winemakerÃs dinner that featured the finished products; these wines were ones that are currently offered at the winery itself. Finally, we took advantage of an opportunity to compare vintages over time at a vertical tasting at Gray Ghost Vineyards. We chose Gray Ghost Vineyards because they have won numerous state, national and international awards including Best of the East for three consecutive years; furthermore, they maintain an immaculate vineyard and facility, Therefore, we knew that Gray Ghost Vineyards would provide us with some of the answers to our complicated question. In this four part series, we will share with you how good wines are made in Virginia.
Part I: Harvest
With our question in mind, we began our search for the answers on a cool, misty morning in early September; it was a pre-dawn hour, and Warren was wise enough to bring along a large thermos of coffee in the car, and the caffeine was much appreciated during our trip to the vineyards. By the time we arrived, Cheryl Kellert had already set out a generous breakfast spread on the crush pad; Warren replenished his coffee intake, and Paul headed for the donuts and juice. As the sun began to rise, Al and Cheryl gave the volunteers a lesson on how to use the sheers to carefully cut the grape clusters from the vine with special care not to snip the precious canes. With these instruction and armed with our pruning sheers, we took to the vineyards to gather the Chardonnay fruit.
The mist continued throughout the morning, but that did not deter us from our mission---to fill the lugs with as much fruit as we could harvest from the Chardonnay vines. The fruit clusters were beautiful to behold, and we could not help but notice the aromatic experiences as we trimmed leaves, snipped the clusters, and even sampled a few grapes. We were also careful not to include clusters from beyond the growing zone; these grapes produce a bitter effect not appreciated in a nice Chardonnay. The time seemed to fly, and by 11:00 AM we and the other harvesters had completed the mission. Now it was time to enjoy the lunch that Cheryl prepared for us and to watch the de-stemming process on the crush pad.
Al Kellert invited the harvesters to observe the process known as de-stemming. De-stemming removes the stems and seeds from the grapes; Al prefers this procedure as opposed to crushing as it removes the risk of bitter seeds and stems from being crushed along with the grapes. From the de-stemmer, the grapes are transferred to the press; the grapes are pressed by an expanding bladder devise that gently extracts the juice from the grapes. From this machine, the extracted juice go into tanks and ultimately into barrels for the aging process. In March 2006, we were able to sample this evolving Chardonnay right out of the barrel!
Stay tuned for Part II: Barrel Aging
How do good wines evolve over time? We asked ourselves this question and decided to find the answers. However, we wanted to observe the process from start to finish---from the vines into the barrels and then finally into the bottle. We began our quest last September and volunteered to harvest at Gray Ghost Vineyards; from that starting point, we got an up-close and personal look at the grapes and the de-stemming process. In March 2006, we were able to taste the wines out of the barrel and thus observe their development, and this included the same Chardonnay that we helped to harvest from the previous fall. The next step in our journey was to attend a winemakerÃs dinner that featured the finished products; these wines were ones that are currently offered at the winery itself. Finally, we took advantage of an opportunity to compare vintages over time at a vertical tasting at Gray Ghost Vineyards. We chose Gray Ghost Vineyards because they have won numerous state, national and international awards including Best of the East for three consecutive years; furthermore, they maintain an immaculate vineyard and facility, Therefore, we knew that Gray Ghost Vineyards would provide us with some of the answers to our complicated question. In this four part series, we will share with you how good wines are made in Virginia.
Part I: Harvest
With our question in mind, we began our search for the answers on a cool, misty morning in early September; it was a pre-dawn hour, and Warren was wise enough to bring along a large thermos of coffee in the car, and the caffeine was much appreciated during our trip to the vineyards. By the time we arrived, Cheryl Kellert had already set out a generous breakfast spread on the crush pad; Warren replenished his coffee intake, and Paul headed for the donuts and juice. As the sun began to rise, Al and Cheryl gave the volunteers a lesson on how to use the sheers to carefully cut the grape clusters from the vine with special care not to snip the precious canes. With these instruction and armed with our pruning sheers, we took to the vineyards to gather the Chardonnay fruit.The mist continued throughout the morning, but that did not deter us from our mission---to fill the lugs with as much fruit as we could harvest from the Chardonnay vines. The fruit clusters were beautiful to behold, and we could not help but notice the aromatic experiences as we trimmed leaves, snipped the clusters, and even sampled a few grapes. We were also careful not to include clusters from beyond the growing zone; these grapes produce a bitter effect not appreciated in a nice Chardonnay. The time seemed to fly, and by 11:00 AM we and the other harvesters had completed the mission. Now it was time to enjoy the lunch that Cheryl prepared for us and to watch the de-stemming process on the crush pad.
Al Kellert invited the harvesters to observe the process known as de-stemming. De-stemming removes the stems and seeds from the grapes; Al prefers this procedure as opposed to crushing as it removes the risk of bitter seeds and stems from being crushed along with the grapes. From the de-stemmer, the grapes are transferred to the press; the grapes are pressed by an expanding bladder devise that gently extracts the juice from the grapes. From this machine, the extracted juice go into tanks and ultimately into barrels for the aging process. In March 2006, we were able to sample this evolving Chardonnay right out of the barrel!
Stay tuned for Part II: Barrel Aging