Kaiken Winery, Photo of the Week Submitted by Gillian Goodrich
I love the term in castellano for the making of wine: elaboración. As we’ve learned in our sommelier course, God’s green earth makes the wine and, as humans, we simply move the process along.
In Argentina, the espumante, or sparkling wine, harvest begins approximately between January 15 and February 15. Sparkling wines must be harvested earlier so they have less sugar and thus less alcohol. Sparkling wines generally have approximately an 11.5% alcohol content. The harvest of the “Vinos blancos” or white wines, begins at the beginning of February and ends at the beginning of March. And finally, the red wines begin in March and wrap up at the end of the month. Finally, in April they begin cosecha tardia, or the late harvest wine. All of these timelines depend on the wineries’ style of course, as well as the climate and altitude of the fields. The colder and higher the area, the slower the maturation. For example, Tupangato’s harvest can be slightly later than perhaps in the rest of the region.
After picking the grapes, they are carried in 20 kilo boxes to the winery. Even before any of the real winemaking begins, oenologists can take test samples from the grapes to determine acidity, alcohol levels, temperature, maturity, etc.
From there, the winemaker must produce the “mosto de la uva” or grape juice and despalillar (unstem) and estrujar (press) the grapes. Grapes may pass through a descobajadora (screw conveyer), which separates the grape from the stem and leaves. Winemakers may or may not use this machinery depending on the wineries’ size, amount and types of wines produced, etc. Large wineries, such as La Rural, use this so they can process a large volume of grapes faster.
Now for the alcoholic fermentation!
At this point, winemakers can choose to add specially manufactured yeasts that are more conducive to fruity flavors or to allow the natural yeasts (already present in the grape) to do their work. Adding yeasts is more common in white wine, as might be expected, because the fruity flavors are more important in white wines. Most white wines are fermented between 50 and 68 degrees Fahrenheit, a cooler temperature range than red wines so that the white wines, again, will retain their fresh, fruity flavors. The yeast converts the sugar (glucose and fructose) into ethanol and carbon dioxide, and the carbon dioxide is released from the wine mixture. This process takes 15-30 days.
The winemaker then passes it on to the bottling process for a young white wine or to the barrel for aging for an older white wine. For an older white wine, the winemaker may choose to have the grapes go through malolactic fermentation, which converts malic acid into lactic acid to produce smoother, creamier acid tones in the final product.
Throughout the entire process, the winemaker must make sure that there is no excess of proteins, which although not necessarily dangerous, can be unattractive if seen floating around in the bottle (much more apparent in a bottle of white wine than red). More importantly, the winemaker must ensure that no harmful microbial organisms are present in the wine, a challenge that leads to the filtration and addition of sulfites to the wine before it is bottled.
Finally! the wine is bottled, and then aged for additional time if the winemaker desires. The final steps are labeling and shipping, and when they are completed, the wine reaches you, the consumer, just in time for you to enjoy it on a nice spring day, such as today! Today would be a great day to try a nice Torrontés (white), which is Argentina’s only true indigenous grape!
Carolyn is a newcomer to Mendoza and the wine industry and will be sharing her experiences as she learns more about both. A recent college graduate from UNC-Chapel Hill, she also teaches English at a local university.
