As grapes are slowly getting ripe, winemakers are beginning a journey marked by anticipation. The start of the harvest season is a time when the fruits of labor begin to reveal their potential, yet it also brings a unique set of challenges.
Let’s explore some of the intricacies associated with the start of this harvest 2023 and the tools at your disposal to navigate them successfully.
As the harvest season unfolds, the incidence of Botrytis and Powdery Mildew is showing to be one of the main challenges. Due to a colder and wetter season, these two fungi are having an impact on fruit quality. In wine, this translates into higher risks of microbial instability, oxidation, moldy off-flavors, stuck fermentation, clarification, and filterability issues.
Enartis has developed protocols to help winemakers with each of these challenges, and some of the tools include the following:
Later harvests present unique enological challenges that underscore the critical role of yeast nutrition. As grapes ripen for an extended period, their sugar levels tend to rise significantly. However, what’s often overlooked is that the availability of essential nutrients in grapes may decrease as they hang on the vines longer. Understanding and utilizing the balance between various amino acids and ammonium allows winemakers to improve the sensory profile of any wine, avoiding sluggish and stuck fermentations or sensory faults that will affect final wine quality. Ensuring yeast get the right nutrients can help make exceptional wines that reflect the terroir and vintage, no matter the challenges.
Enartis has developed the NUTRIFERM range to provide the most important elements at each stage of fermentation:
The looming threat of smoke taint resulting from wildfires is a constant in winemakers’ minds each year. In late vintages, the risk of having harvest and fire seasons coincide is even higher. Numerous volatile phenols present in wildfire smoke can be absorbed by grape berries and leaves during a smoke event. Vineyard and grape exposure to smoke may result in wines with undesirable aromatic characteristics such as smoky, burnt, cigarette-butt, medicinal, and/or ash, as well as distinct bitterness and drying sensation in the throat. There are key steps that winemakers can take when dealing with smoke-affected grapes. These include sorting out MOG, separating press fractions, selecting a yeast which produces high levels of red fruit characteristics, racking off the lees early, and building up the wine with tannins and polysaccharides. But the most powerful tool on the market to help with smoke taint is CLARIL SMK, a blend of activated carbon, pre-activated chitosan, and pea protein. CLARIL SMK is very efficient at removing smoke-taint compounds, while having a minimal impact on color, other polyphenol compounds, and primary aromatics.
The presence of green flavors in wines can diminish their overall quality and appeal. Often described as herbaceous, vegetal, or underripe, they can emerge in wines from late vintages due to:
Winemakers can employ enological tools such as selective sorting of grapes, antioxidant protection, precise temperature control during AF, a balanced yeast nutrition strategy, promoting condensation and co-pigmentation reactions, balancing mouthfeel with mannoproteins and fermentation tannins, and masking the green notes with oak alternatives and sulfur donor compounds (such as yeast derivatives rich in sulfur containing amino acids and peptides) to promote the conversion of C6 compounds into thiol precursors.
Enartis’ useful tools against green characters in wine include:
Reach out to the Enartis Support Team or your local Enartis Technical Sales Rep for more information, technical material, and useful protocols for this harvest!
(707) 838-6312 – orderdesk@enartis.com