Fermenting must (photo taken at the start of fermentation)

I questioned myself the other day, at what point do I stop writing about grape ‘must’ and start writing about wine? Well, I now have the official answer…..

Apparently it is all to do with density – as the sugar is converted into alcohol the density drops, and then, at the point that the density is less than that of water, it becomes wine rather than ‘must’, or so I am told.

As at today’s date the fermentation is slowly reaching it’s conclusion, as the sugar is almost completely converted into alcohol (and CO2). Typically, when the sugar concentration is around 2g per litre or less then the wine is deemed to be completely dry, and the fermentation finished. For most palates a ‘residual’ sugar of less than 5g per litre is actually quite difficult to detect, but more than 5g can give the impression of a slightly richer wine (the average consumer can easily be seduced by this hint of sweetness). However, one of the downsides of this can be a potentially unstable wine as the remaining sugar can trigger a secondary fermentation in the bottle (done deliberately in the making of Champagne). Of course, in our region, an off-dry wine would simply not be typical of Albariño.

We are still not able to relax during the fermentation, this is a very critical time for us, as we constantly monitor and adjust the temperature according to the level of activity in the tank and the changes in density. If we simply allowed the fermentation to run out of control then we would most likely end up with a fat, flabby wine with a very short shelf life – the exact antithesis of what we are looking for, and nothing to do with Albariño.

The paddy fields of Galicia

I think I wrote in one of my previous posts that the 2006 harvest was the earliest ever for our Bodega, and also that one of the factors that helped us to decide the start date was impending bad weather. With hindsight I can truly say…….. what a good decision!

Unlike last year, the latter half of September has been very, very wet and if we had picked on the same dates as in 2005, then we would have had real problems. The sad thing is that there are some Bodegas still trying to pick even at today’s date, a nightmare scenario for any grower or winemaker. No doubt there will be some variation in quality this year – in effect a vintage of two halves – those who picked before the rain, and those who picked after.

In our own Bodega our wine continues to ferment slowly under strict temperature control (I have to find out the exact point in it’s vinification that you stop referring to the grape juice as ‘must’, and start calling it wine – no doubt Angela will know) and the only problem that we have encountered recently is to our power supply. It would seem that when our own bodega and our nearest neighbouring bodega are functioning at full capacity then the local transformer has difficulty keeping up, and we suffer occasional power cuts – so much for 21st Century technology (perhaps the Spanish should allow the Germans to buy their power generating Company after all!)

Footnote: The word “paddy” is derived from the Malay word ‘padi’, meaning rice.

Angela and her able assistant

Day eight was merely what I call a ‘mopping up exercise’, mostly waiting for our suppliers to gather the last few grapes from their vineyards. Simple as this may seem, it’s actually quite complicated owing to the capacity of our presses.

We have two Vaslin/Bucher pneumatic presses, one with a minimum capacity of 3.000kg and the other with a minimum of 4.000kg, and to load less than these quantities risks serious damage the press. So if we are left with an odd 1.000kg at the end of the last day, then we have a problem. The last few hours therefore, are spent anxiously trying to calculate the outstanding kilos and how this will dictate the loading of the last few presses. It’s actually quite a tricky puzzle – like sudoku with grapes.

Anyway, the picking is over for another year, and now the serious work starts in the bodega with our vinification. We can be thankful that we have harvested in generally good weather, and that every grape has arrived at our door in a perfectly healthy condition. It’s now in the hands of Angela, her very able assistant….. me!

P.S. Did you notice me slipping in another song title?

Grape reception – spot the difference (no prizes)

Seriously though, we have worked around the clock, and kept grapes moving through the cellars at a rapid rate. The photo above was taken at one of our peak moments on Saturday evening – believe it or not there are actually four people working behind these pallets loading grapes that have just arrived into the presses. Pretty much every grape so far has been pressed within two hours of arriving, and many much less than this – if possible they go direct.

By the end of the weekend we should have ‘broken the back’ of this year’s campaign, and should be past the halfway point, simply because of the weekend volumes….. and who said that Sunday was a day of rest!

P.S. I lied about the caravans….. it’s actually only 4km!