Wine Dimensions August 2006 |
Dear Friends of Monolithos, |
| The harvest season is almost here. As it approaches, vine growers will try to ensure that the fruit is picked at optimum maturity and quality for its specific use. Ripeness is by no means an absolute term. The concept of ripeness and its definition really depends on whom you speak to. |
| Dictionaries define ripe as "ready to be harvested or to be eaten, having reached full flavour". Grapes should not be picked until they are fully ripe because they will not develop full flavour if harvested too early. After separation from the vine, grapes do not improve in flavour, colour, and sugar content, so harvesting should be delayed until desired levels are reached. Therefore, it is extremely important to determine the fruit composition in the vineyard prior to the harvest. |
| No matter what the growing conditions in any particular year, growers must test the fruit to determine its readiness for collection. Fruit in different parts of a vineyard can vary in ripeness, and different grape varieties mature weeks apart. Leading up to the harvest, grapes are tested frequently for sugar content to help determine ripeness and optimal picking times. Hot, dry weather can benefit the final wine produced because the grape skins are tougher and thicker, imparting more concentrated flavours into the wines. Over-ripe or damaged grapes can negatively affect the aroma of the wines produced. Last-minute weather shifts can change the timing as well. Consequently, even with advanced technology, determining harvest time still remains much of an art form. |
| Ripening begins when the berries soften at the stage called “veraison” and is concluded normally by harvest which can occur at different stages for different grape varieties and for different wine styles. Following veraison, berry sugars will rapidly increase, acid will decrease, and the berry will reach its final size. |
| Approximately four weeks after veraison, the winemaker should carry out regular berry sampling in order to monitor fruit composition. It is critical that the sampling procedure be consistent each time to fully evaluate ripening. Berry samples should be taken from exposed fruit and shaded fruit in different parts of the vineyard and in a manner that as close as possible represents a realistic balance of fruit in the vineyard. For the sample to accurately represent maturity, a minimum of 100 berries should be collected from multiple clusters on at least 20 vines. |
| Colour is a poor index of maturity, since many grape varieties change colour long before they are fully ripe. Almost all varieties become sweeter and less acidic as they mature. Tasting an occasional grape is a good method of determining when grapes are ready. Another good maturity indicator is seed colour, which changes from green to brown as grapes mature. |
| An important parameter of ripeness is sugar level in berries. A refractometer, a relatively simple device, is commonly used to test sugar level in must using the following procedure; squeeze a grape on the side of a viewing prism, look through the viewer and a little scale gives you a convenient reading of sugar content. For an accurate measurement, a correction for temperature is calculated. This figure should be compared with acidity and pH readings performed on the same must. Regular testing of these parameters will provide a good idea if the grapes in the vineyard in question are ripe. |
| Total acidity (often called titratable acidity) and pH are also important harvest parameters because they affect both flavour balance and wine stability. Titratable acidity measures the quantity of grape acids (mostly tartaric and malic), while pH is a measure of the strength of the acidity. Normally, titratable acid decreases during ripening and the decrease is greater under warm than cool conditions. A meter with a pH sensitive electrode is used to measure juice pH. Juice and wine with lower pH tend to have better colour, microbial and chemical stability. If the pH is too high, the wine may lack crisp and fruity flavours. |
| These days, most winemakers pay much more attention to what ripeness really means. Just as statistics don't always tell the whole story about an issue in the news, sugar levels or other means of measuring ripeness don't really tell us everything about how a wine will turn out. Today, overall ripeness involves much more than acid/sugar ratio, Brix levels, pH, titratable acidity and the "numbers". |
| When to pick is probably the single, most important winemaking/grape growing-decision. >From the point of picking, the parameters of quality are set, and any manipulation of the fruit or must after this point has a relatively small impact on ultimate quality. But when opting for more than just sugar ripeness, the winemaker must find the optimal balance between pure sweetness and maturity of flavour. There is a fine line between structure factors versus flavour and ultimately, both are vital to the final wine. This fine line of balance is a harmony of flavour and aroma, body, alcohol and dry extract. Therefore, today's winemakers and viticulturalists spend significantly more time in the vineyard prior to harvest. |
| Although individual harvest strategies are as different as the wines they make, all winemakers have the same goal in mind – creating a wine that exhibits balance of all its elements. Whether or not it is possible in a given year, this challenge makes winemaking and grape-growing the exciting, stress-filled yet rewarding job it is. |
| For the actual process of harvesting, two methods exist – manual and mechanical. Manual harvest is, of course, more labour intensive and more expensive. Individual grape bunches are cut at the stem, then placed into small, durable containers and transported to the winery. Manual picking enables the workers to select individual bunches according to ripeness, and to avoid grapes affected by rot or disease. In Cyprus manual harvesting remains the only option, since vineyards have steep slopes, narrow rows, and no trellis system. |
Wine News and Information |
| The British government, with their recent Licensing Act, have decided that wine classes cannot be given on premises that don’t have a licence to sell alcohol. This would mean that every little classroom and church hall at which evening tasting classes for instance are given would have to painstakingly apply for a licence (expensive in both time and money), as well of course as every one of the premises used by such bodies as the Wine & Spirit Education Trust. The trade association is currently doing its best to fight back. |
| The World Wildlife Fund has called on the wine industry to “choose cork” in order to save the environment. It predicts that by 2015, 95% of wine bottles will be closed with alternatives to cork. Annual cork production will go down from 300,000 tonnes to 19,500 tonnes. At present, the cork industries of Portugal, Spain, Algeria, Italy, Tunisia and France maintain 2.7m ha of land and provide income sources for 100,000 people. |
| Whether this will have any effect is a moot point, as more and more wine producers turn away from cork in favour of closures that offer less chance of taint. The cork business needs to seriously address the issue of cork taint – TCA – and traceability. Andrew Jefford, who has written extensively on the subject, said, "The industry will always take quality control as the most important issue. Producers will go for screw-cap regardless of the environmental considerations if they think it is the best closure." He added, "While red wine producers are still very uncertain that screw-caps are the future, for short-term storage wines cork has already lost the battle. No amount of environmental pleading will change that." |
| Clues to understanding why we all perceive wines differently were unveiled by an American scientist at the Masters of Wine Symposium in Napa. Speaking at the June gathering, Dr Charles Wysocki said wine is "tasted" principally by smell. Humans have only a few hundred stimuli for taste, but can distinguish thousands of different smells. Wine aromas, however, are not the same for everyone and are, quite possibly, as unique to each individual as a fingerprint. |
| Sparkling wines come in various shades of white, pink and red, in both vintage and non-vintage versions, any of which can be made from either single varieties or multi-grape blends. |
| Wysocki demonstrated, using an audience of wine professionals from around the world, that putting the same aroma in differently labelled bottles produced radically different perceptions. If a pungent, mouldy, cheese-like aroma was labelled "food", the audience tended to rate it as pleasant. If it was labelled "body", it was considered unattractive. The interpretation of a smell is also highly dependent on the context in which the smell was first experienced and its consequent associations. "Perception is reality, and olfactory reality varies across people," said Wysocki. |
Monolithos Monthly News |
| The never-ending job of caring for the vineyard continues. The vineyards are sprayed every two or three weeks against pests. In Cyprus, August is the period in ripening where fruit growth ceases and coloration commences. This is the beginning of the ripening phase. So the fruit loses its green colour and slowly begins to soften. With harvest around the corner, sugar, pH, and acid levels are regularly monitored. Grapes in July are very tart from the high acid level. In August, the acid gradually converts to sugar from contact with sunlight. The lack of rain during the summer months on the southern slopes of the Troodos mountain range provides an ideal condition for the development of the flavour and quality of the grapes. |
| At the winery, everything is ready for the harvesting season. Wine sales have been rising beyond expectation and we are now out of stock of 2005 Santa Monica Rose. However, Monolithos still Rose offers a good alternative. |
| If at any time you are passing near the village of Pachna and wish to visit the winery or purchase any of our products, Martin Wood will be pleased to meet and assist you at his "Fig Tree Villa" in Pachna, so do not hesitate to phone him at 25-816212 or 99-165995. |
| We thank you for your continued support. Take care, and always remember: |
| Wine ….. the intellectual part of the meal. (Alexander Dumas) |
| Regards from all of us here at Monolithos. |
