HARD WORK

Welcome you masochistic readers to my background page on the hard work of making wine.  You are excused from reading the following unless you want a fuller appreciation of the level of labor that stands behind your drink.  You will find quite a lot of detail below.  As I am very much still and will always be learning new stuff, you may expect this page to grow and morph many times in the future.  More general discussion of things like grape varieties and climate/climate change can be found on my "What Grows" page.

I have mentioned before that wine is an agricultural product – the grapes must be planted, grown, harvested, and then processed into wine.  This is done in Virginia much like wine production any where else, and yet there are some aspects of wine production that are more singular for Virginia than in other climates.  If it is true that great wines celebrate perseverance, to paraphrase Eric Asimov, then Virginia wines must be destined for greatness as our climate and weather has always demanded perseverance and a concrete risk of hardship.  E. Asimov, How to Love Wine, Chapter 16 (2012). 

Part I.  A Year in the Vineyard.  April 22, 2024

Grape Growing Cycle.

The general grape growing cycle runs from April through October in Virginia.  Botanists have developed systems to describe stages in vine development, the most common that I am aware of is the Eichhorn-Lorenz (E-L) system (2004), which assigns an “EL” number to 47 specific growth stages of a grape vine.  Tracking and reporting EL stages helps vineyards gage how the growing season is progressing compared to past years, helps planning, and helps to contextualize vineyards within the state on a common scale.  I have bolded eight major stages that may be the most important to track.

Before exploring the stages of growth, a vineyard manager must decide how the grapes are to grow, a decision that factors in the type of grape, the site, the kind of harvesting that’s anticipated, and the level of maintenance.  One decision is to choose a system to trellis or train the vines.  Grape vine trellis systems basically promote downward or upward growth of vines.  French-American hybrids, like Chambourcin and native grapes like Norton, tend to grow downward and might benefit from a single vine “droop” trellis or a Geneva Double Curtain (GDC) system developed in the 1960’s in New York.  European grapes (vitis vinifera) tend to grow upward and might benefit from a Vertical Shoot Positioning (VSP) system or a Lyre system that separates the canopy and reduces risk of mildew (especially an issue in Virginia).  

                                                                        Geneva Double Curtain - downward

                                                                                Lyre System - upward

Photos from:   https://kingestate.com/trellis-systems-play-more-than-a-supporting-role/ (accessed April 22, 2024) and https://www.goodfruit.com/es/adaptacion-de-la-espaldera-al-terreno/ (accessed April 22, 2024).

The Growing Year.

The calendar starts with winter cane pruning around the January through March timeframe. There is an art to cutting back existing vines, leaving a few canes to produce most fruit.

 

Early April.  After winter dormancy, sap rises in the Spring.  New vines are planted.  They will take around three year to produce.  New shoots – small feathery branches – emerge from dormant existing buds on the vine; this is called “bud break” or “bud burst” (EL 4).

As May arrives, the shoots lengthen (EL 12 – shoots reach 10 cm), tiny flowers appear (EL 19), continue to develop as flowers (EL 23) which is referred to as “flower set” or just “set,” (EL 27).  This is sometimes referred to as “nouaison.”  Grape flowers are called “perfect flowers” because grapevines pollinate themselves. Cold temperatures below 50 degrees at flowering may cause deformation of berries (millerandage - clusters with vastly different sized berries or coulure/shatter - no berries).

 The pollinated flowers grow into tiny berries (EL 31 – berries at pea size) that stay green and hard until midsummer.  Between bud break and the first appearance of fruit is when the vines are most vulnerable to weather events.  Around July. the berries soften, swell (EL 34), and change color – called “veraison.” (EL 35).  White wine grapes turn yellow, gray, and light pink.  Red wine grapes turn purple or almost blue-black.  Another indicator of ripeness is the color of grape seeds or “pips.”  Dark brown pips with green traces are ripe grapes.

 September-October.  Harvest (EL 38)(See below).  

In November and December, vines lose their leaves (EL 47) and go dormant until the next season.  See, Fritz Westover, Grapevine Phenology Revisited Using Growth Stages to Improve Vineyard Management, at: https://winesvinesanalytics.com/sections/printout_article.cfm?article=feature&content=196082#
accessed, April 21, 2022. 

Weather, Disease, and Pests. 

When I asked a representative of the Virginia Agricultural Extension Service what distinguishes Virginia from many other wine-growing regions, he said without a doubt - “rain.”  Virginia tends to be blessed/cursed with ample rain.  With rainfall and heat comes higher risk of mildew and rot and diluted juice. 

Starting in early Spring, vintners must be about the vines to guard against weather events like ice, snow and frost.  Weather plays a role daily with rainfall (less so – drought), heat and frost, wind and hail damage.  Frost can kill vines/canes before they start.  Hail can destroy a canopy. Early season pruning promotes growth and helps to arrange how shoots will later benefit the canopy (foliage that can help with shade).  As the season goes on, vintners must take precautions against plant diseases and insects.  While some diseases are risks in the entire growing season, like Phomopsis, Powdery Mildew, and Anthracnose, others are more associated with early growing like Botryosphaeria canker, Downy Mildew, and Black Rot. Some diseases are more associated with later parts of the season, like Botrytis and Sour Rot.  Similarly, insects vary over different parts of the season, from Mealybugs and Cutworms in the early season to Grape Berry Moths, Grape Root Borers, and Spotted Wing Drosophilia (SWD) later.  Lately, the Spotted Lanternfly (SLF) has appeared as a pest throughout the season and the Commonwealth is devoting some resources to help limit the spread of this insect. 

 

Virginia Extension Training on Eradicating SLF August 2022

Timing of actual harvest needs to consider that vines probably have been sprayed to combat disease and pests and be allowed time for residue to dissipate so workers are protected.  Further, if there has been a rain, the vintner will need to wait for maybe a week for the grapes to drop water.

Harvest. 

A week or two before the grapes are ripe, birds appear as if by signal to devour them.  Nets go up across the vineyard, and the urgency of harvest is at hand.  Vineyard owners test berries and clusters with increasing frequency to arrange harvest as close as possible to peak ripeness. They eye the clusters and berries for skin thickness and texture.  Have the pips and stems changed color to brown?  Does the pulp cling to the pips or come off easy?  How does the fruit taste?  Vineyard owners and winemakers also conduct scientific tests of the sugar and acid, levels of the grapes.  “Brix,” for instance, is a measure of sugar content.  Using a refractometer, a Brix at 19 – 26 may indicate ripeness depending on the varietal.  PH is a measure of ripeness in relation to acidity: the higher the pH, the lower the acidity.  Most wine pH’s are between 3 and 4, with tart and crisp whites at the lower end of pH (3.0-3.4) compared to reds (3.4-4.0).   

    Sugar.  Remember that in fermentation, yeast converts sugar in the grape juice to carbon dioxide and alcohol.  As a measure of sugar, BRIX can indicate the level of alcohol you might see in the finished wine by applying a factor of .6 to the BRIX measure.  Thus, a BRIX of 20 indicates a future wine of 12% alcohol if all of the sugar is converted. 

    Acid.  A high pH of 3.5 – 4.0  indicates low acid and a soft round wine.  Wines in the 3.3 – 3.6 range have more structure.  Acid also helps protect the wine from microbial spoilage.  Total acidity or “TA” is another measure of acid.  Most table wines are .6 to  7% TA.                                                                           

Each varietal has a different ripening profile depending on the grape itself while factoring-in soil, climate, weather events, and the depredations of plant disease and animals, noted above.  In general, white wine grapes ripen faster than red wine grapes.  The more robust the grape, generally, the later it will be harvested.  For example, one would expect that Sauvignon Blanc will be harvested sooner than Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir to be harvested sooner than Cabernet Sauvignon.  See data from the Virginia Winemakers Research Exchange, reported in the Winter 2022 edition of Grape Press, accessed at https://virginia vineyardsassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022.

The months-long growth process ends with a frenzied harvest or “crush.”  Since grapes do not continue to ripen after they are picked, unlike lots of other fruit, berries must be harvested quickly once they are at their ripest.  I believe that most Virginia wineries harvest by hand.  The smaller wineries cannot afford to lose grapes to a clumsy mechanized picker and want to avoid harvesting bad grapes as a non-discriminating machine harvest might do.  The stems are cut by small clippers, and the fruit is put into buckets that can hold 10 to 20 pounds of grapes.  Experienced pickers can harvest up to 4,400 pounds per day, but the total amount depends on the size of the vineyard and the yield of the particular varietal being harvested.   See, Virginia Wine Guide, “Behind the Scenes: Chardonel Harvest” at https://www.virginiawineguide.net/mash/zephaniahs-chardonel-harvest, accessed April 21, 2022.  Harvesting is physically very demanding, hot, and buggy.  Clip one cluster of berries and the bees will be upon you immediately and stay with you all day.  Wineries large and small may use the H-2A guest worker program to recruit experienced workers for this hard job.  Vineyard owners need to be both farmers, chemists, and, it seems, immigration specialists, as well. 

We are just getting to the part where wine is made. If you are thinking that this life is a hard and uncertain one, full of risks, you are correct.  I note that there is even an AgriStress Helpline offering free psychological counseling to farmers, established by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Part II.  Wine Production.  March 16, 2024

There are a great many books and articles describing the wine production-fermentation and aging process in detail.  For those wanting the crib notes, quite simply, the process is this: yeast is added to grape juice and turns the concoction into alcohol and carbon dioxide gas.  If the gas escapes, as with an open vat, then the wine is still.  If the gas is trapped, you will have sparking or petulant wine.  The rest is a matter of style and control.

I wanted to focus on Virginia wineries and how they do it.  Depending on whether a white or red wine is being produced, the grape’s journey diverges once it comes off the vine.  The essential difference being that for red wine, the juice is fermented with the grape skins or “must,” while for white wine, the skins are removed before fermentation begins. 

After picking, the white grape clusters go immediately through a crusher-destemmer machine to remove stems, seeds, and skin, leaving only the juice.  These grapes can also go directly into the press.  Either way, white wine grapes go very quickly from vine to fermenting vat when yeast is added and fermentation starts.  Red grapes need more attention.  Generally, stems and leaves are removed by hand to manage tannins.  Clear red grape juice is pressed off and acquires its red color and tannin by contact with the skins for several days.  (Note that grapes like Chambourcin have pink or red juice.)  Yeast is added and fermentation begins.  Sometimes weather forces harvesting before grapes are quite ready and additional sugar must be added.  This is called "chaptalization" and is legal in Virginia.  Va Code Sec. 4.1-100 ("wine").   During fermentation a cap of dead skins forms at the top of the vat and has to be “punched down” or "pumped over" two or three times a day for contact with the skins and to prevent accumulation of CO2.  This process could be up to three weeks until wine is ready for pressing and barreling, depending on the wine and the winemaker.  

After the initial fermentation, the winemaker may decide to initiate "malolactic fermentation" or "Malo"  to convert malic acid (think green apples) to lactic acid (think milk).  The result is a creamier mouthfeel and buttery flavor, and a less crisp wine.  Typically a bacteria is added to start this process.

After fermentation, dead yeast, called "lees" drop to the bottom of the tank where the wine is left in contact with them for some time.  This is called by its French term: "sur lie" or "on the lees."  The goal is to produce a creamier mouthfeel - used mostly for white wines. 

 

Only once the wine is through fermentation(s) and barreled or put into temperature-controlled tanks for aging can the vintner and winery owner rest for a while.  See, Julianne Winkler Smith, “Crushin’ It: Fall Grape Harvest in Virginia,” September 2, 2020, accessed at https://savorva.com/crushin-it-fall-grape-harvest-in-virginia/ on April 21, 2022 (This is a good recent layman’s survey of harvest and production at five Virginia wineries).

Yeast      March 20, 2024 

Yeast is a major tool for the winemaker.  One writer characterized winemaking as “a dance with yeasts.” M. Kramer, Making Sense of Wine (2003) p 80.  Wine may ferment with yeasts naturally occurring in the vineyard.  Some "non-interventionist," "minimalist,", or organic winemakers may go that way.  However, “most commercial wine fermentations are inoculated with a pure culture of a single commercial yeast strain rather than allowing a natural or wild (noninoculated) fermentation to occur.”   The dominant commercially available species of yeast responsible for alcoholic fermentation of wine is Saccharomyces cerevisiae.  Evidence for the production of fermented beverages by Saccharomyces yeasts, mostly S. cerevisiae, dates at least as far back as 7000 BC, making it one of the world's oldest biotechnological processes.  Chandra L. Richter, Barbara Dunn, Gavin Sherlock, Tom Pugh, Comparative Metabolic Footprinting of a Large Number of Commercial Wine Yeast Strains in Chardonnay Fermentations, 13 FEMS Yeast Research, 2013, Pages 394–410 (June 2013) accessed at https://doi.org/10.1111/1567-1364.12046, October 14, 2022.  Wine makers use a yeast or a combination of yeasts that have been engineered to release or enhance particular properties in the wine.  There at least 65 yeast strains of S. cerevisiae alone, as well as strains of non-Saccharomyces.  For example from CellarScience, CITRUS® wine yeast promotes citrus, lime, passonfruit, and floral aromas in white wines; Red Star Premier Rouge® is good for Cabernets and Zinfanfel wines.

 

Part IIA.  A Digression on Oak and Oak Barrels.

 

Another tool for many winemakers is the use of oak barrels instead of stainless steel refrigerated tanks to ferment the wine.  Time for a detour into barrels and barrel making. 

White Oak – a short tutorial.

One of the continuing debates among wine makers is over the use of oak barrels for aging wine and among different attributes of French versus American oak.  First let’s be clear that we’re talking about white oak (Quercus Alba), not red or black oak.  White oak in comparison has tighter grain which minimizes evaporation and leakage and imparts flavoring to the wine.  See, https://pasowinebarrels.wordpress.com/  accessed December 23, 2021; Woodweb, https://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Red_Oak_White_Oak_Black_Oak_and_More.htm,accessed May 9, 2022. 

In France, oak from the different national forests are considered to impart distinct flavors to wine with which they come in contact.  For example the Allier forest produces softer tannin, as you might expect to complement a smooth pinot noir wine produced in the same area of Burgundy.  Trees from Limousin in Bordeaux have more pronounced tannin useful in Cognacs.  See, Jonathan Cristaldi, Wine Barrel Crash Course: 10 Types of Oak Winemakers Love, Food and Wine, May 3, 2018, https://www.foodandwine.com/wine/wine-barrels-oak, accessed May 9, 2022.

It does not appear that American oak has the same distinctiveness between a forest in Virginia and one in Missouri, for example.  American oak, however, is considered by some winemakers to be harsher and more tannic than French oak.  American oak may have aromas of coconut, banana and vanilla.  It is less porous than French oak so there is less oxidation of the wine as it ages.  Because of differences in species and how they must be cut, only around 25% of a French oak tree can be used for wine barrels, compared to at least 50% for American oak.  It takes longer for the French to grow a tree than the Americans.  One might think that with the more efficient use of the raw material and the absence of overseas transportation, American oak would be the preferred wood for wine barrels.  However, it appears that most winemakers prefer French oak barrels even though the cost difference between French and American barrels is significant. See, Rethinking American vs French Oak, Enology International, November 1992,  accessed at http://www.enologyinternational.com/oak.php, May 9, 2022; Kreston Wine and Spirits: https://www.krestonwines.com/main.asp?request=ARTICLES&article=16&

There may be some lingering prejudice against American barrel making.  Until the early 1980’s, American oak barrel making was oriented primarily to Bourbon and whiskey distilleries.  We did not have the cultural and historic lineage that the Old World has.  See, https://nadalie.com/nadalieusa/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Nadalie-American-Oak.pdf  accessed December 23, 2021. Quality and technique has improved over the years to the point that, while it may be that most wine maker still prefer French oak, a growing number are using American white oak. 

America oak is grown primarily in the states of Virginia, Missouri, Kentucky, Oregon, Ohio, Minnesota,, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, as well as in California.  See, https://wordonthegrapevine.co.uk/oak-in-winemaking/  and https://www.winemag.com/2019/07/11/are-there-benefits-to-american-oak-over-french/

accessed December 23, 2021.  Virginia is a key producer of white oak for wine barrel making.  In fact, the hills of the Virginia Piedmont are home to magnificent stands of white oak that produce some of the best stave wood in the country.  See, https://tonnellerieo.com/forest-to-barrel/french-and-american-oak/  accessed December 23, 2021. According to the cooperage, Nadalié USA, white oak from Virginia’s acidic soils of sandy loam add finesse and mid-palate structure to wines with vanilla and coconut flavors.  See map at: https://tonnellerieo.com/forest-to-barrel/french-and-american-oak/#overlay-15-virginia

The 2021 report on oak production from the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) indicates that white oak production has been in the below-average or poor range since 2018.  This should be cause for concern for proper forest management.  See, 2021 DWR Acorn Production Report, https://dwr.virginia.gov/wp-content/uploads/media/2021-Acorn-Production-Report.pdf  accessed December 24, 2021.

A Visit to a Saw Mill. 

To get a better gauge on this important crop, in February 2022, we visited the Ramoneda Brothers Stave Mill in Culpeper where Vic Ramoneda gave us a tour of the operation…

 

Ramoneda Brothers offers a wide variety of white oak barrel staves and heading material for the cooperage industry and their wine and distillation customers. The family run business has been in the U.S. for over 100 years, originally based in New Orleans and in Virginia since the 1950's.  They are a trusted supplier to Tonnellerie Ô Cooperage near Napa Valley, California, and export also to Spain, Portugal, and Australia., among other customers. 

Vic is in the process of winding-down the operations and liquidating his inventory in preparation for selling the business.  He is facing a future where the next generation does not want to take over the business, and those interested in forestry and milling can find more lucrative work closer to the larger cities, like Washington, DC. 

It takes between 75 and 90 years for American oak to grow to harvestable size.  (It takes longer for French and Eastern European oak.)  He is concerned with sustainability, but feels that if we are intentional in our practices, we’ll be alright.  Trees are growing faster than they are being harvested.  Vic works with a number of lumber companies.  Most of his inventory does not come from the National forests. 

Once the trees are cut, the mill saws them in stages until they are in rough staves.  The higher quality wood goes to wine staves.  Around 32 staves are used for each wine barrel.  Lower quality and shorter staves go to the Bourbon industry.  In addition to staves, Ramoneda Brothers makes the pieces for the barrel heads which are shorter flat blocks that are assembled into heads by the cooper.  Any of the wood that is not suitable for wine, Bourbon, or heading material is sold as “chipping stock.”  It is not uncommon for wine makers to use chipping stock – oak wood chips – to get that oak-aged taste without having to buy expensive oak barrels.  They simply drop wood chips into the fermenting tanks.  If a wine label states that the wine is aged in oak, without mentioning oak barrels, then there is a good chance that wood chips were used. 

After the staves are cut, they have to be dried out or “seasoned.”  Air drying stave takes about two years.   There is a push and pull between the mill, that doesn’t want to dedicate space for drying staves for the cooper, and the cooper who doesn’t want to transport green starves (heavier than dry staves) and have them take up space drying on their property.  Ramoneda Brothers has some staves drying on their property, but much they hold is subject to this negotiating point.  Micro flora can influence flavoring to the extent that some cooperages will advertise barrels using staves seasoned in specific locations. 

With the growing time of American white oak and the seasoning time for the staves, the industry is subject to great volatility.  First there is the problem of lead-time.  When staves are ready to be sold, there may be an economic downturn that puts people off of wine and reduces the demand for barrels and their raw materials.  In 2008, for example, the recession took the demand for new barrel staves to zero for a time.  Currently, the demand is good and business is brisk.  Some buyers even agree to buy green staves in that market.  Second, there is the continuing prejudice against American oak in the wine trade.  French oak is still the prestige barrel material.  This prestige may provide the French mills some insulation from volatility.

Part II B.  Bottling. November 16, 2023

Bottling can happen anytime, but my impression is that it tends to happen in January and February, a down-time for most wineries in terms of tourist activities.  Bottling is the last chance the winemaker has to ensure the product is good and makes it to buyers in the best condition.  Bottling thousands of cases of wine is a big undertaking, usually several days of concentrated manual labor.  Moving pallets of empty bottles to be filled, sealed, and placed in cases for shipping, storage, or sale is a cacophonous physically demanding exercise, but one that is absolutely necessary.

I participated in one bottling day in February 2022 when Potomac Point Winery in Stafford County bottled its Petit Manseng, Chardonnay, and its “custom” non-label White (the White reserved for weddings and other special events).  This was the first bottling cycle for Potomac Point’s new wine maker, Hope Nastri.  She was understandably anxious that it all go right.  Her team successfully kept the production line moving by choreographing the movement of empty bottles to the line, putting bottles into case boxes, cataloging the filled cases and removing them from the production floor. 

Some wineries invest in all of the needed bottling equipment; some share botting equipment cooperatively with other wineries; some out-source bottling via a custom crush arrangement (see the Pricing page for a discussion), some do hand-bottling, and some engage a mobile bottling service.  Hand-bottling is the slowest, most laborious method and has perhaps the highest risk of introducing unwanted elements into the wine.  See, Dianne de Guzman, “This is the crazy way most wineries bottle their wines.  And it involves a big rig.” SFGATE April 21, 2021, https://www.sfgate.com/wine/article/04-2021-Napa-mobile-wine-bottling-big-rig-vineyard-16104708.php accessed on February 3, 2022. 

Many Virginia wineries employ a third-party mobile bottling truck that runs the bottling operation from the inside of a semi-trailer.  The company, Wine and Beer Supply, from Ashland, reportedly services some 200 Virginia wineries.  See, Joan Tuponce, “Company’s wine bottling service is booked until 2021,” Virginia Business, April 29, 2019, accessed on February 7, 2022, at https://www.virginiabusiness.com/article/companys-wine-bottling-service-is-booked-until-2021/ 

Once it is going, the mobile bottling operation sterilizes the bottles, moves them through a nitrogen generator that works to remove the oxygen inside the bottles and thus reduce spoilage. Next, the wines move to a filler where wine is pumped into the bottles and leveled.  Filled bottles are moved down the line, where either a screwtop or a traditional cork are added to seal the bottle. For cork, the bottle goes through a capsule machine, where the capsules are dropped onto each bottle before being spun in a machine that fits each capsule to the neck of the bottle. Next, each bottle goes onto a pedestal, where machines rotate the bottle 180 degrees to apply the winery’s front and back labels perfectly onto each wine.   These big rigs can bottle between 3,000 and 3,600 cases a day.

                                                                      Innards of a Bottling Truck February 2022

It is the winery’s responsibility to supply bottles, corks, screwtops, and labels and to keep those supplies coming so that the production line is continuous. One thing wineries may consider doing more in the future is to use lighter-weight bottles.  Reducing weight not only saves energy in making bottles but in transporting them to market.  Some studies show that the cost of bottles may be almost half of the wine's total carbon footprint.  It has been reported that the Sustainable Wine Roundtable (SWR), a coalition of wineries, distributors, and retailers based in London, has reached an agreement to lower the average bottle weight of a standard 750 ml bottle from 550 grams to below 420 grams by the end of 2026.  See, Dave McIntyre, Winemakers are introducing lighter bottles - some plastic - to go green, Washington Post, November 15, 2023 p. E11.

Once the bottles complete their circuit through each station of the big rig, they return to the back of the truck, where a couple of winery staff (or in my case – volunteers) will carefully pack up the bottles into cases. 

During the production, putting filled bottles into cases resembled at times that episode of I Love Lucy when Lucy could not keep up with the chocolate on the conveyer belt.  Unlike Lucy, who tried to keep up by eating the chocolate, we could not just drink the bottles.  That’s a shame.  For hours, we seized wine bottles by their cold necks, still wet from filling, and marching relentlessly down the line.  The February air was filled with wine must and freezing fog in the early morning.

One of the benefits of volunteering is that you get to try the wine that’s being bottled as well as perhaps the winemaker’s trial and errors.  Hope’s Petit Manseng was floral with no residual sugar.  It will be a great wine to have this summer.  Volunteers normally get a nice lunch out of the endeavor, and Potomac Point served us a wonderful bacon and crab pasta which went along way to easing those sore muscles.