What techniques would be Italian wine making techniques ?
- Thread starter Cabroper
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most italian wies are made just as they are in the US. What specificaly are you looking for?
I hear people say "this is made in the classic Italian style" and I like those wines. i.e. Doffo winery in Temecula CA and others in So Cal.
I'm wondering what would be done (techniques) that would characterize "italian" style? What does that mean?
I'm wondering what would be done (techniques) that would characterize "italian" style? What does that mean?
seth8530
The Atomic Wine Maker
For the most part, technique wise things are the same for the most part ( or should be). However, their are things that can be done stylistically. Ie, yeast choice, fermentation temperature, surlie, how long you wait until you press, coldsoak vs no coldsoak, co-fermentation vs blending, oak choice and toast level..... and the list goes on.
I think I have read somewhere that some of the Italian wines do some funky stuff like dehydrating some grapes and adding them into the fermentation to raise the sugar... But don't quote me on that.
I think I have read somewhere that some of the Italian wines do some funky stuff like dehydrating some grapes and adding them into the fermentation to raise the sugar... But don't quote me on that.
Maybe I'm way ahead of myself, but how would I go about figuring that out conclusively?
seth8530
The Atomic Wine Maker
Figuring what out? Not quite sure what you mean.
seth8530
The Atomic Wine Maker
Ahh, well that is all stuff you need to read up on. Honestly, the way I would approach it would be to go to scott labs website and give this linked pdf a looking at.
http://www.scottlab.com/pdf/ScottLabsHandbook2014.pdf
Pretty much, it has a huge number of available yeast strains and the stuff and it can help you choose what yeast you want to use based on what you are looking for. Temperature, in general warmer fermentations give better extraction for red wines. I would not recommend going higher than 85 F for a red and much lower for a white. But I know many will disagree with me. I tend to prefer nice clean and cool fermentations to keep the yeast happy.
Surlie, is a technique worth reading up on its own. But pretty much, after you rack off the gross lees sediment will drop over time. In surlie you mix this sediment back up into the wine. Surlie can give some pretty nice biscuty flavours and can tone down the fruitiness a bit. So it might work well for say a MLFd chardonnay.
Time to press, I would generally choose to press the wine once it is nearly done. Ie SG is closing in on 1.000 or if it appears that the cap is looking unhealthy or fermentation is appearing to sputter out a bit.
The truth of the matter is that it takes a good bit of time to get a grip on the material since their is so much of it. I have been doing wine for a few years now and I am just now getting to where I can start exploring a lot of the rabbit holes.
Honestly, if you want to learn a lot about fermentation, try making a mead. I say this not because it has much in common with working with grapes ( which involves its own large set of complexities) but making mead in my opinion is the pinnacle of fermentation management. If you can successfully cleanly ferment honey and water, I would be willing to say with good certainty that you understand the fermentation process and the kinetics involved with it. Once you have a good understanding of that, it becomes much easier to add in extra complexities, such as adjusting acid, working with grapes and all the fun that involves.
http://www.scottlab.com/pdf/ScottLabsHandbook2014.pdf
Pretty much, it has a huge number of available yeast strains and the stuff and it can help you choose what yeast you want to use based on what you are looking for. Temperature, in general warmer fermentations give better extraction for red wines. I would not recommend going higher than 85 F for a red and much lower for a white. But I know many will disagree with me. I tend to prefer nice clean and cool fermentations to keep the yeast happy.
Surlie, is a technique worth reading up on its own. But pretty much, after you rack off the gross lees sediment will drop over time. In surlie you mix this sediment back up into the wine. Surlie can give some pretty nice biscuty flavours and can tone down the fruitiness a bit. So it might work well for say a MLFd chardonnay.
Time to press, I would generally choose to press the wine once it is nearly done. Ie SG is closing in on 1.000 or if it appears that the cap is looking unhealthy or fermentation is appearing to sputter out a bit.
The truth of the matter is that it takes a good bit of time to get a grip on the material since their is so much of it. I have been doing wine for a few years now and I am just now getting to where I can start exploring a lot of the rabbit holes.
Honestly, if you want to learn a lot about fermentation, try making a mead. I say this not because it has much in common with working with grapes ( which involves its own large set of complexities) but making mead in my opinion is the pinnacle of fermentation management. If you can successfully cleanly ferment honey and water, I would be willing to say with good certainty that you understand the fermentation process and the kinetics involved with it. Once you have a good understanding of that, it becomes much easier to add in extra complexities, such as adjusting acid, working with grapes and all the fun that involves.
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