Friday, June 30, 2017

Chardonnay Fermentation Comparison with Four Yeasts

Last year, we fermented about 1 gallon of Chardonnay from the very few fruit that grew and used the yeast that we used for fermenting Chenin Blanc, QA23. Our Chardonnay turned out to be exceedingly tart tasting which we ascribed to the malic acid that was not converted to lactic acid since we did not do any malolactic fermentation.
This year, my husband has instructed me to do some research into how we ferment Chardonnay since we will (fingers crossed) have a decent amount of grapes to do the "experiment". I do believe that the right yeast can lead to the appropriate flavor profile that the enologist is trying to achieve. I came upon an article in WineMaker called Same Grape Different Yeasts that I think is a good start on figuring out which yeast we will need to order.
Chardonnay is a very versatile grape and can lead to various styles ranging from big, buttery examples to crisper, more “steely” types and this difference is due to the fermentation conditions that were employed. In this article, Chardonnay grown in four different regions were used and fermented with three different yeast strains.
I have summarized the article in table form here:
Region CY 3079 ICV D47 EC1118
Stellenbosch, South Africa Produced a very fruity wine Showed greater complexity with both fruity and buttery aromas Produced a wine with mixture of tropical fruit, vanilla and butter
Alexander Valley, CA Fruit with more stone fruits such as peach and apricot and no citrus aromas Showed buttery, caramel notes Produced nice mixture of nutty, fruity and honey notes
Abruzzi, Italy Fruity and spicy, with vanilla and herbal notes Fruity and floral
La Rioja, Spain More toasty and spicy notes Represented by vanilla and honey aromas, as well as peach
The conclusion reached by this experiment was that regardless of the origin of the Chardonnay, yeast strains showed similar trends that would enhance fruitier aromas, as well as more toasty, vanilla-like aromas. I have a lot of research ahead of me that I need to do before harvest!

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