2019: A Pictorial Year in Review

Recently, I uploaded some photographs and it took me back to what we were doing this past year in the vineyard, so I thought that I would share it with you. We thank all of our two legged, four legged, and winged friends for their contributions to our 2019 season.

Malic Acid in Grapes: Part 3 The Importance of Acidity

I am back to doing more digging into the role of malic acid. I have blogged about tartaric and malic acids in the following posts:

• Malic Acid in Grapes: Part 1 Our Titratable Acid Conundrum
• Malic Acid in Grapes: Part 2 Chemical Structure and pKa

In the first blogpost, I wrote about the conundrum we faced when our red grapes were harvested at a very nice level of Brix, but the titratable acidity was very high. In the second blogpost, I wrote about the chemical structures of the two most prevalent acids in grapes and how they respond in a juice/wine environment based on pH.
In this blogpost, I will try to further elaborate on the roles that both malic and tartaric acid play in the ripening grapes.
Why is acidity important?:

• it influences the ageing potential or the shelf-life of wine
• it determines the physical, biochemical and microbial stability of wine
• it ultimately determines wine quality in terms of the perceived organoleptic and aesthetic character

Without acidity, a wine can be very flabby and unbalanced. With the appropriate levels of acidity, a wine can become sublime. But knowing what the right level of acidity is, is a tricky business.
The principal organic acids in grapes are L-tartaric and L-malic acid. L-tartaric acid is often found at higher concentrations than L-malic acid and is the stronger acid of the two. I have already blogged about the Two Stages of Grape Berry Development. During the first stage of berry development, there is the rapid storage of L-malic and L-tartaric acid in the vacuoles leading to an increase in size of the grape berry cells. During the lag phase between stage 1 and stage 2 of berry development, berry acidity reaches a maximum concentration. The concentration of L-tartaric acid is relatively constant, while L-malic acid is the only high proportion organic acid that is actively metabolized throughout the ripening of grapes.
It is this metabolism of L-malic acid that is important to us in trying to understand what happened this year when our Brix level was high and our titratable acid was high in our Cabernet Sauvignon and our Cabernet Franc. Stay tuned for more about malic acid metabolism.
References:
1. H. Volschenk , H.J.J. van Vuuren and M. Viljoen-Bloom, "Malic Acid in Wine: Origin, Function and Metabolism during Vinification", South African Journal of Enology & Viticulture, 27(2):123-136, doi:10.21548/27-2-1613.
2. Crystal Sweetman, Laurent G. Deluc, Grant R. Cramer, Christopher M.Ford, and Kathleen L.Soole, "Regulation of malate metabolism in grape berry and other developing fruits", Phytochemistry, Volume 70, Issues 11–12, July–August 2009, Pages 1329-1344.

How to Build a Cult Brand

Marketing is one part of the business that we know the least about and recently I came across this article, How Do You Build a Wine Brand That Achieves Cult Status? Quietly. I believe in "quiet", I am a proponent of "quiet", so the article sucked me in. Here was the advice contained therein:

• For a brand to be memorable, its product has to evolve from vintage to vintage, but maintain a consistent and recognizable signature.
• The people curating your wine must understand what the brand is bringing and distinguish the brand's distinct approach to the craft.
• Consumers associate wine with their memorable dining experience, so have your wine served at special restaurants.
• It’s essential to embrace the other brands in our industry.
• Millennials are now the largest consumer of wine in the world. They care about craft, sustainability, and above all else — a wine that will be memorable to share with friends.
• In the wine category, consumers want to learn with every glass, to further inform their palate and to also connect the dots between different regions, varieties, vintages and food pairings. As a result, we add the most value when we’re giving our fans what they want—when we teach them about wine. The goal is to share insights (big or small) in every place, whether on our website, on social media, in our tasting rooms and even on our bottles.

The above points are what I gleaned from the article. Most of the bullet points are what my husband and I discuss when we talk about how to market our wines. I'm not sure the article addressed how "quiet" this strategy is, but it is worth noting.

2018 Chateau Yvonne Saumur-Champigny L’ile Quatre Sous

We are on a quest to understand how Cabernet Franc is made and have gone to one of the sources of where this grape has been grown, the Loire. I have blogged about the 2016 Melaric Clos de Messemé Saumur Puy Notre Dame crafted by the husband and wife team of Aymeric Hillaire and Melanie Hunin.
We tried this expression of 100% Cabernet Franc, the 2018 Saumur-Champigny L’ile Quatre Sous. The wine was clear and looked dark purple in the glass.
The grapes are grown and hand harvested from a one hectare plot of vines ranging from 15 to 50 years in age. Native yeast is used in the fermentation which is done in concrete vats for 3 weeks without pumpovers to limit extraction. The wine is aged for 8 months in concrete vats. Bottling is done with filtering or fining and no additions unfined and unfiltered besides minimal sulfur dioxide. 500 cases of this wine was produced.
We enjoyed this Cabernet Franc. We find it interesting to know that this is a wine that has been fermented in concrete vats as opposed to oak or stainless steel. It is eminently drinkable for it's youth. This wine can be procured for less than $30.00. We are enjoying our continuing education on how Cabernet Franc can be fermented in different ways.