WINEMAKING TECHNIQUE

Weird Science
Meets Reality
A NEW APPROACH TO MAKING WORLD-CLASS
PINOT NOIR WITH LESS ALCOHOL
by Christopher Sawyer / photos by Nichole Albright

W
Twomey 2012 Pinot Noir, Russian
River Valley, 13.9% alcohol.

An attentive
crowd of winemakers, sommeliers and wine
professionals
at the In Pursuit
of Balance 2014
gathering in San
Francisco.

ith the aromas of fresh spring flowers and radiant

beams of sunshine now upon us, the ripening
of Pinot Noir grapes has become a hot topic of
conversation in the coastal regions of California. For many
large-production wineries, the goal is to get the grapes as ripe
as possible to meet the growing demands of consumers that
are accustom to drinking wines with high levels of sweetness,
oak and alcohol.
But as the grapes get sweeter towards harvest, their natural
levels of acidity decreases and their pH falls out of balance.
To correct these problems, many wineries rely on designer
products and fancy hi-tech equipment to bring the wine
back in balance, including: commercial yeast to stimulate
the fermentation process; artificial acidulation techniques to
compensate for low levels of natural acidity; enzymes to add
color and tannins; centrifuges to reduce the levels of alcohol;
and other clever scientific techniques that ultimately manipulate
the flavors of the finished wines.
By the end of the process, the natural characteristics of the
grapes and the true expression of the sites take a backseat
to the signature style of the winemaker. Thus, its fair to ask
whether the habits of ber-ripening in the vineyards and
human intervention have simply gone too far?
In March, these intriguing topics were discussed at the
In Pursuit of Balance events in San Francisco and New York
City. Created in 2011 by Rajat Parr of Michael Mina and RN74
restaurants and Jasmine Hirsch of Hirsch Vineyards, these
annual gatherings attended by winemakers, vineyard owners,
sommeliers, retail buyers and media are designed to promote
boutique wineries striving to produce flavorful, balanced and
complex wines made with ultra-premium grapes grown at
extraordinary sites and minimal intervention.

106 / the tasting panel / may 2014

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Defining Ripeness in Pinot Noir seminar participants, from

left: Josh Jensen, Calera; Jordan Mackay, wine writer; Katy
Wilson, La Rue Wines; Dr. Jamie Goode, Wineanorak.com;
Wells Guthrie, Copain; and Justin Willett, Tyler Winery.

Winemaker Sashi Moorman of Domaine de la Cte (left) and

In Pursuit of Balance co-founder Rajat Parr of Domaine de la
Cte and Sandhi Wines.

Winemaker Katy Wilson of LaRue Wines with her father,

J.B. Wilson.

Focus and attention: In Pursuit of Balance member Jason

Drew of Drew Family Cellars.

Among the devoted practitioners striving towards purity is

Ehren Jordan, winemaker/proprietor of Failla Wines, whose
basic formula for capturing the dynamic flavors in his wines
starts with picking when the fruit reaches physiological
ripeness at low sugar levels (or Brix), low pH and high acidity.
In the cellar, he relies on native yeast; daily punch-downs
in small open-top fermenters; moving the juice with gravity
to avoid pumping; the judicious use of new oak barrels; and
bottling the finished wines unfined and unfiltered.
Every year you have a brand new slate, coupled with
elements of mystery and the ultimate expression of Mother
Nature, says Jordan. The more you try to control it, the
more boring the wine becomes.
Another believer in minimal intervention is iconic winemaker Josh Jensen, who founded Calera Wine Company
in the isolated destination of Mt. Harlan on the Gavilan
Mountains in 1978. At harvest, Jensen and his team commonly pick Pinot Noir grapes with low yields at 22 to 24 Brix,
then use a large percentage of whole clusters to slow down
the fermentation process and provide more structure to the
finished wines.
Our highest aspiration is to show off the strengths of the
estate fruit and the unique character of each vintage. For this
reason, we avoid covering the natural aromas and flavors up
with commercial yeast and too much new oak in order to let
each personalized wine speak for itself, said Jensen.
Among the younger winemakers to join the IPOB fold is
Katie Wilson of the Sonoma-based LaRue Wines, who poured

two Sonoma Coast selections from the Rice-Spivak Vineyard

at the event in San Francisco. The first was an energetic 2012
barrel sample highlighted by notes of dark cherry, ripe plum,
wild strawberry, mineral, earth and just 12.6% alcohol. The
second, a finished wine from the 2010 vintage, was a deeper,
more structured Pinot Noir with complex flavors of ripe
cherry, plum, rustic spices and 13.2% alcohol.
In both cases, the wines were made with Dijon clones 115
and 667 and a smaller amount of the Swan selection. My
goal is to find the balance of the levels of sugar, acid, pH and
ultimately the purity of flavor, says Wilson. If I do these
things right, Ive found that the level of alcohol is always
naturally in balance.
Over the past five years, these more delicate, elegant and
complex styles of Pinot Noir have gained more traction in
the marketplace, particularly with sommeliers looking for
food-friendly wines that are graceful enough to compliment
everything from tuna tartar, gourmet salads, grilled salmon,
roasted chicken, and enough acidity to cut through the fat of
a juicy steak served rare.
Jamie Kutch, winemaker/proprietor of Kutch Wines and a
devoted IPOB member, describes his style of winemaking as
an ode to Burgundy with a California twist. My Pinots are
fresh and light on their feet. Unique flavors with underlying
California tones based on the sites where the grapes are
grown that help me create wines that are age-worthy, yet
still approachable when young and desirable at the dinner
table on a nightly basis.
may 2014 / the tasting panel / 107

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