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Fining, Filtration and Other Witchcraft
There's a ton of
chatter about the evils of fining and filtration these days. And then there's the wild yeast versus commercial yeast thing,
the use of enzymes, tannin additions... oh my! If you ask us, winemaking is full of choices. And those choices sometimes benefit
from the use of the occasional voodoo tool.
So here's where we stand. As a general rule,
we avoid fining and filtration wherever possible. Our winemaker tends to lightly fine his whites (he likes'em clear), cringes
at the thought of fining his reds (swears she hasn't had to do it), and in general REALLY dislikes filtration. But we try
to avoid that whole "never" thing.
Donna's winemaking style is centered on experimentation. As a result, she
tries lots of new things. She definitely mixes it up with commercial yeasts. She's even run trials on tannins to gauge
their anti-oxidative effects to lower the use of SO2.
In the end, we still lean the old fashioned way. We're fortunate to have amazing
vineyards and fruit that can allow us to limit our intervention. But we'll continue to push the limits of our knowledge. Why?
Sometimes it's more important to know what not to do...
Terroir
Ahh, terroir. We love the concept. In fact, some of our favorite juice is terroir-driven. But we want to make
the best wines we can make, period. If that means blending, we blend. If that means a wine that singularly expresses its vineyard,
terroir it is.
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