Tinker Tailor Solider…… Dry? December 2011
By now, anyone following the Oregon grape industry will have heard about the challenging year that 2011 was. The entire growing season was cool and late in terms of fruit development and ripening. Most vineyards did not finish picking until early November, and even then sugar levels were low. So what?
Provided that the grapes had enough hang time, and in most cases they were allowed that extra time, there was enough flavor development to avoid throwing in the towel. Indeed, pinot noir and many white grape varieties tend to benefit from the higher levels of acidity that result from a cooler year. As the grape ripens, sugars go up and acids come down. The warmer the year, the more the sugars rise, and conversely, in a cooler year, the sugars are lower. As a consequence, there is less food (sugar) for the yeasts to eat during fermentation and, as a result, less alcohol is produced. Therein may lie a potential problem if the final alcohol is so low, and the final acids so high, as to make the finished wine “out of balance”.
Enter the winemaker. 2011 is the kind of year that virtually gives the winemaker poetic license to tinker. Even those who profess to be “hand’s off” in the winery, or those who prefer to keep the chemicals out of the vineyard and out of the winery, nonetheless feel justified in making some minor additions to the ferment. For most purists, this means adding a little sugar for the yeasts to munch on. Invented by a Frenchman, one Jean-Antoine-Claude Chaptal, the process is called chaptalization. It generated considerable controversy in France at the beginning of the 20th century, so of course the government stepped in to regulate what can and can’t be added, and how much. Not to be outdone, both the federal and state governments in the US have also weighed in. Within limits, the winemaker may “ameliorate” juice with low sugar content or high acid, and may do so using either pure dry sugar or concentrated grape juice.
In the end, the consumer is protected from paying too high a cost, in terms of wine appreciation, for the variation in vintages. The wines, though tinkered with, are more pleasing. And the wine in its ameliorated state tastes just as dry, and the better for it.
