All Yeasts Were Wild Once: Phil Plummer Explains Indigenous Fermentation

By Kevin Kourofsky

In the modern era of winemaking we understand that fermentation of sugar into alcohol is done by yeast and not by magic, though some of us still marvel at this great gift of nature. When we commence a fermentation, we routinely add SO2 to kill unwanted and unauthorized microbes and yeasts in our musts that might interfere with our chosen fermentation. We open a package of our favorite yeast, selected after hours of cogitation as to the qualities of this particular yeast, knowing that it is reliable. It is almost always from the genus Saccharomyces cerevisiae, S. cerevisiae for short. With a little amount of careful attention our yeast will bring our wine to complete fermentation in the chosen style. This yeast may originally have come from vineyards in Italy or the Rhone Valley of France or many other regions and was isolated and purified for our benefit. But does this yeast reflect the Terroir of our region or the region where the grapes originated? In Europe, winemakers routinely used the yeast on their grapes to ferment their wine. As Phil Plummer told us when he spoke about spontaneous (wild) fermentations at the 2022 New York State Home Winemaking Seminar, “We talk about Terroir but this is the ultimate sense of place.” This article will share Phil’s approach to a successful indigenous fermentation.

LET’S GET WILD: PHIL PLUMMER TALKS ALTERNATIVE YEASTS.

By Kevin Kourofsky

There is a quiet revolution going on in winemaking that may very well change how we make wine. It’s really a re-evolution of wine’s most essential element of creation, harkening back to  pre-modern winemaking without ignoring the past 70 years of increased technology. It’s how we ferment wine. The difference between grape juice and wine is yeast and how we manage that process. Though it is often said that wine is made in the vineyard, it comes to life in the vat. What our ancestors believed to be magic we now know is the action of yeast changing sugar into alcohol. In the modern age, protocols and beliefs about how we approach fermentation were created and only in small ways did the approaches vary, essentially with a “new” yeast strand mostly derived from the same family of yeasts. Abandoned were methods that allowed for a greater diversity of yeasts. Beyond here “there be dragons.”

Save The Wine! Fining For Hydrogen Sulfide Odors

By Kevin Kourofsky

Suddenly I smelt raw garlic in my wine. No, not just garlic, but rotten eggs marinating in raw garlic! This as I was punching down my lovely Malbec grapes obtained at some expense from Lodi, California. Only the day before it smelled “brushy.” Today I had a bad case of stinky wine.

How to Compose a Wine to Age: Vineyard to Cellar

By Kevin Kourofsky

When I’m in funds sufficient to buy classified Bordeaux, unfortunately an increasingly rare event, I like to put down a case for long term aging. Even in a so-so year, top shelf Claret will age beautifully for 20 years or more. One of my great joys is sharing a bottle or two with friends. There is little in the wine world to beat a well-aged Bordeaux, especially from the Left Bank. The tannins are smooth, the fruit packed with currant and cedar flavors and an aroma that will carry you like a magic carpet. But taste that same wine with only a year or two of aging and you would probably find it brutal on the palate. And as a collector friend of mine once remarked, it also can be brutal on the lower digestive system.

Vintage port is another great joy, especially during the holidays. The flavors and aromas that develop can be amazing, from chocolate to cotton candy. If you are looking for a wine to age for your child’s 21^st birthday, a Premier Cru Bordeaux should do the trick. If you want to celebrate your grandchild’s 21^st birthday, try a Portuguese vintage Port.

But how far can we amateur winemakers age our wine before they develop that unfortunate tomato on the nose quality that says we should have drunk this wine years ago? When I asked professional winemaker Jan Klapetzky how to make a wine for the ages, he jokingly wrote back: “I’m afraid first on my list would be to buy a vineyard in Beaune.” In a more serious vein he added that up to 10 years is “pretty safe.” With more aging, he felt that the wine can develop “neat flavors.” Twenty years out, though, he admitted that many wines had lost their fruit.

Finding Balance: Fining for Color, Tannin and Oak.

By Kevin Kourofsky

Our job as winemakers is to handle our fruit gently and allow it to speak, but not to shout. A wine that shouts is one that is out of balance, perhaps with alcohol that is too strong for the fruit, has too much acid, or too much oak. In a recent article in Decanter Magazine, the noted wine writer and educator Andrew Jefford summed up the challenges that every winemaker faces in crafting a vintage: avoiding what he described as “hardness.” He remarked that this concept had been on his mind since he tasted and judged numerous wines for the Decanter World Wine Awards.

Clarity in a Hazy World: Make Your Wine Shine

By Kevin Kourofsky

There is an old saying that we savor first with our eyes. A hazy, cloudy or murky wine is not an attractive wine. Wine should have a limpid, clear quality. Clarity is defined as including the qualities of coherence, transparency and purity. Fining agents are the workhorses that make that possible in wine, tools that allow a winemaker to clear a cloudy wine, balance an astringent one and help correct issues of color, bitterness and aroma. Sometimes they can even correct several problems in one application. Fining agents can be a winemaker’s magic powder. It is magic, indeed, to have a cloudy wine “fall bright.” This article will discuss fining agents to help make that happen.

Master Winemaker: Joe Diponzio Talks Riesling

By Kevin Kourofsky

Joe’s family gave up their long tradition of home winemaking in the mid-1970s. His father told Joe it was cheaper to buy the wine. Though his father tried to dissuade him from doing so, Joe decided to restart the tradition. He bought three whiskey barrels and followed his father’s recipe: “He didn’t know about stabilization or clarification or anything about fermentation, other than you crush it up, put it in a barrel and you have something to drink, whether it’s good or not.”

Let’s Talk Bottling: Corks & Closures

I have many great family memories. Alas, none of my family memories involve winemaking. My family were, and mostly still are, beer drinkers. A few friends of Italian descent have shared with me some of their fondest memories of family winemaking. These often were of uncles debating the finer points of fermentation, a big cask-of-a-barrel in the basement and a child sent to the baseman to fetch the dinner carafe of wine. The wine was made strong and very tannic. And it had to be, because carafe by carafe the wine would come out of the barrel and air would go in. Nothing was bottled, it was simply made to last the season!

Time To Bottle Your Wine? Five Things To Consider Before You Do.

By Kevin Kourofsky

An acquaintance of mine who made wine from time to time once offered me his winemaking equipment. I asked why he was giving it away and he told me that his last vintage consisted of popping corks, cracked bottles and spewing-fizzy wine that ruined his back-room carpet. His wife suggested that he either get a new hobby or a new wife. He is still happily married and I was happy to have some additional carboys. What happened?:  My friend had bottled his wine before it was ready.

Master Winemaker: A Conversation with Lamont Beers

By Kevin Kourofsky

Sometimes you run into a person who you instinctively know will be someone you can learn much from. Lamont Beers is one such person. In the 2019 American Wine Society Amateur Wine Competition, he took 7 Double Gold Medals, 3 Silvers and 2 Bronzes along with Best Vinifera Wine, Best Hybrid Wine, Best Native Wine, Best Dessert Wine, and yes, Best in Show categories. When I congratulated him on his success, he said, “I’m just trying to make good wine.” I think he’s succeeded.