More on Saignée

I'm back to blogging about the original article I was reading "Chemical and Sensory Effects of Saignée, Water Addition, and Extended Maceration on High Brix Must" before I became distracted by the 1972 article by Vernon Singleton which I blogged about in Berry Size and Red Wine Quality. In this current study, James F. Harbertson, Maria S. Mireles, Eric D. Harwood, Karen M. Weller, and Carolyn F. Ross took Merlot grapes which were harvested at 28^o Brix and subjected the must to the following five different treatments:¹

• (1) Control---water addition to compensate for a high Brix must
• (2) High ethanol---water addition to achieve 26.8 Brix
• (3) Low saignée---juice runoff with an equal volume of water addition to target 24.1 Brix
• (4) Low saignée plus extended maceration---similar treatment to (3) but with 20 days extended maceration
• (5) High saignée---approximately 32% saignée with water addition to compensate

Full disclosure: Before Natalie pronounced the word "sonyay" I was pronouncing it "sag-knee", no there is no sagging knee in saignée. The study compared the above 5 treatments with respect to the phenolic/tannin extraction in the wine followed by a sensory evaluation. The phenolics/tannins are located in the skin and seeds of grapes. The wide range of tannins in wine compared to the fruit suggests that winemaking plays the greater role in determining the final tannin content in the wine.
Anthocyanins, which give red wine their color is a flavonoid type of phenolic. The positive charge on the anthocyanins means that they are more likely to be extracted in an aqueous environment, such as at the beginning of fermentation. Tannins are more ethanol soluble and consequently, they are extracted from the grape skins and seeds as ethanol levels rise.
In this study, anthocyanin, tannin and iron reactive phenolic content were measured at press and again at 185 days. The most tannic wine was (4) the low saignée and extended maceration treatment. it was also significantly less smooth and more drying than the other treatments. The conclusion also mentions that treatment (3) low saignée with an equal volume of water addition did not yield higher concentrations of phenolics or greater aroma or flavor attributes. This is clearly a paper that I need to read again and again in order to understand the final results. I may need to update this blog in order to clarify the conlcusions. Stay tuned.
Reference:
1. James F. Harbertson, Maria S. Mireles, Eric D. Harwood, Karen M. Weller, and Carolyn F. Ross "Chemical and Sensory Effects of Saignée, Water Addition, and Extended Maceration on High Brix Must", Am. J. Enol. Vitic., December 2009, 60:450-460.