The Pressing Truth - Priorat Fermentation Revelations & Piemonte's Langhe sub-region
- the last ah-ha moment & "sub-sub-region"
Today let’s start with your last winemaking ah-ha from your time at Gratavinum winery in the Priorat wine region of Spain! The suspense has been killing me!
You are so keen! Indeed, my time there taught me so much about winemaking! Here is the third and last ah-ha! (Click here for ah-ha #1 and ah-ha #2!)
After fermentation, the wine is eventually drained from the fermentation vessel. What remains are the solids made up of skins, seeds, and sometimes stems. It is funny how during my studies on wine production, I formed certain false mental images.
Ah-ha #3: Post-fermentation solids are significantly more voluminous and drier than I expected.
I had assumed that solids after fermentation would be broken down into little bits and would mostly be entrained in the drained wine. I thought the action from punch downs, pump overs, and carbon dioxide gas (CO2) movement would disintegrate a significant portion of the grapes.
But as it turns out, once drained the fermentation vessel was more than 50% full of solids.
Shocking!
To me too! I also thought that the solids would be saturated with liquid, like a sponge that has not been wrung out. But as you see from these pictures, the solids are quite dry. This makes the next winemaking stage of pressing the grapes very labor and time intensive, due to the sheer volume needing to be shoveled out from the vessel. Another surprise.
Basket presses are considered a traditional method of pressing grapes. The wine flows through the space between the slats of wood and collects in a tray at the bottom, before it flows into a catch basin below. This catch basin is connected to a pump to transfer the wine to an ageing vessel.
It is also wild how much these solids compress and how much juice was remaining in them. These pressed solids are now called pomace. The pomace “cake” will be composted. The pomace “cake” was extremely compacted, such that it required considerable strength to break it down. I did it once, but then decided it was not time efficient and left the hard labour to Eric!
I am not sure that ah-ha moment was worth the anticipation. I need some wine to cope with the disappointment of not being a total wine nerd after all. Get to the featured wine already.
Piemonte (Piedmont in English) in northern Italy was our next stop. Piemonte’s best vineyards lie between the Langhe and Monferrato hilly areas. We spent all our time here. Langhe is home to Piemonte’s most famous wines of Barolo and Barbaresco, made with 100% Nebbiolo grapes.
The Langhe area, located in southeastern Piemonte, is also a wine sub-region that you will see on labels along with the grape variety. Within Langhe are also smaller partitions with more specific wine laws than the larger Langhe sub-region.
Sounds like “sub-sub-regions!”
Yes, sort of. Barolo and Barbaresco are such “sub-sub-regions”. The representation below paints the best picture. All the sub-sub-regions exist within the greater Langhe sub-region.
Barbera d’Alba makes Barbera wines.
Obviously.
Dogliani and Dolcetto d’Alba produces Dolcetto wines.
50% obvious.
Barolo, Barbaresco, and Nebbiolo d’Alba produce Nebbiolo wines, with the best sites dedicated to the most prestigious Barolo and Barbaresco, capable of ageing in the bottle. Typically, these best sites are south and southwest facing to allow the Nebbiolo grape to fully ripen. It is a grape that needs a long season to ripen. Though it buds early, it still ripens very late compared to other grape varieties.
The perfectly ripe grapes are the ideal situation for the highest quality wines, but there are different styles of Nebbiolo wines which take advantage of lesser sites. For example, Langhe or Nebbiolo d’Alba sub-region wines generally are made from these lesser sites, or from younger vines which have less concentration of aromas and flavors than older vines.
Sounds like plebeian wine.
Hardly. This is why I am emphasizing that it is a different style and also at a lower price point - which is a bonus!
I tested such a wine on my girlfriends this weekend with a pasta dinner. It pretty much evaporated! Some Nebbiolo aficionados may find it too light in tannins compared to a Barolo or Barbaresco, but again it is intended to be a different style of Nebbiolo.
The 2022 G.D. Vajra Langhe Nebbiolo is made with 100% Nebbiolo grapes from young vineyards.
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G.D. Vajra Langhe Nebbiolo, Piemonte, Italy 2022
Style: Medium Body Old World Red
Varieties: 100% Nebbiolo
This elegant wine has crunchy red cherry, strawberry, raspberry, and hints of herbal notes. It also shows complexity of chocolate, cinnamon, and earth, accompanied by whispers of cedar and leather flavors. The tannins start with a slight grip which dissipated quickly.
Best pairings: Veal Parmigiana, Agnolotti with tomato sauce, Roasted Poultry, Sausage pizza, Hard cheeses: Parmigiano-Reggiano or Pecorino.
Serving Temperature: 14-16 degrees Celsius
Serving Tips: Enjoy
Price: ~$32 Cdn
I have compiled all my wine recommendations in one place. I will do my best to keep this up to date. I also include the link(s) to the article in which the wine was featured.
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SOURCES:
Appellation: Langhe DOC - Consorzio Barolo e barbaresco (2023) Consorzio di Tutela Barolo Barbaresco Alba Langhe e Dogliani. Available at: https://www.langhevini.it/en/the-appellations-protected-by-the-consortium/langhe-doc/ (Accessed: 05 November 2024).
Harding, J. and Robinson, J. (2023) The oxford companion to wine. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
MacNeil, K. (2022) The wine bible. New York, NY: Workman Publishing.
Map of roero docg mega (2024) Consorzio del Roero. Available at: https://www.consorziodelroero.it/en/general-map/ (Accessed: 05 November 2024).
Wine & Spirit Education Trust (2021) D3: Wines of the World - An accompaniment to the WSET Level 4 Diploma in Wines. Version 1.2. London: Wine & Spirit Education Trust.
Zetabi (no date) Langhe Doc Nebbiolo, G.D. Vajra. Available at: https://www.gdvajra.it/en/langhe-nebbiolo-doc (Accessed: 05 November 2024).
It was a worthy aha moment! Go Eric on the hard labour!! A great story as always and the sub-sub region map is excellent!