Extended Maceration And/or Cold Soak

[vinlibervin]

I was wondering if anyone had experience with extended maceration (EM) or cold soaking in a home winemaking context.
It seems from a google search that not everyone is convinced of the benefits . I am obtaining some hunter valley Shiraz grapes this year and was wondering whether anyone has any experience and / or advice on fermentation techniques.
Last year I obtained cab Sav and my wine is lacking in body / mouthfeel and so I want to avoid that this year. I must say that I got the grapes last year from the markets so I am hoping that may be a significant cause of the problem however it may be my fermentation technique which did not extract enough from the grapes

 

[Greg.L]

You don't say how much you will be fermenting. Normally, with the small volumes of a ferment at home say 100kg, extraction is not a problem. The surface area/volume ratio comes into play to give a very high relative area of contact between the skins and the juice. I find with that sort of volume a week is very sufficient to give good extraction of fruit and flavour, even up to half a ton. A normal commercial volume is at least 2 tonnes and then getting enough extraction can be an issue. I have heard of places doing up to 6 weeks, but it's only worth a long time on skins if you have really good fruit. Some places use dry ice to protect the wine while its soaking. The place I work at has 2500L fermenters and only does 7-10 days, seems to work pretty well.

Greg

 

[vinlibervin]

You don't say how much you will be fermenting. Normally, with the small volumes of a ferment at home say 100kg, extraction is not a problem. The surface area/volume ratio comes into play to give a very high relative area of contact between the skins and the juice. I find with that sort of volume a week is very sufficient to give good extraction of fruit and flavour, even up to half a ton. A normal commercial volume is at least 2 tonnes and then getting enough extraction can be an issue. I have heard of places doing up to 6 weeks, but it's only worth a long time on skins if you have really good fruit. Some places use dry ice to protect the wine while its soaking. The place I work at has 2500L fermenters and only does 7-10 days, seems to work pretty well.

Greg

Sorry - 300kg.
I was thinking of doing a saignee to try a rose but also to increase concentration etc.

 

[kirem]

Cold maceration is a no-brainer in my books. I can't think of a situation that a cold maceration is not beneficial in red-winemaking. If you have the cooling available then go for it. At home the best idea is to chill the grapes and then crush them cold. If you have the space it is a lot easier to bring a small volume of grapes down to a low temp compared to must (at home).

Extended maceration is all about building a better tannin structure. I have done extended maceration and think it adds a lot to some wines. It's an advanced technique and for a new winemaker, I wouldn't suggest it. I believe the problem you will find is knowing when is the correct time to press off the skins. Dependant on the variety, quality and what was in the grapes to start with, the tannin profile will continue to improve over weeks or months to a point and then it will become harsh. Knowing when the tannin profile is not improving any more is the key. It is also a huge micro risk to leave a wine on skins and you will have to play close attention to remove any ullage and keep the skins submerged.

In my experience young extended maceration wines look inferior to wines that have been pressed dry, so if you decide to give the technique a go, you will need to give the wines some time in the bottle. Typically the wines have less fruit expression and look dull in comparison, but have superior tannin structure. A good experiment would be to use the two techniques and compare and then you have blending options.

Enology notes would have to be the most valuable internet resource I have found, you will find answers and more questions to just about anything you care to think of regarding wine.
enology notes

If you are using Hunter Valley Shiraz, then you will need to encourage brettanomyces to get the true Hunter terroir

Sorry - 300kg.
I was thinking of doing a saignee to try a rose but also to increase concentration etc.

Great idea, then you end up with more wine styles from the one 'effort'.

 

[Greg.L]

Sorry, I was thinking of extended maceration after fermentation. Reds are traditionally fermented soon after pressing, most of the extraction happens by the action of the alcohol and the yeast. Cold maceration produces a lighter style wine I thought.

 

[kirem]

Reds are traditionally fermented soon after pressing, most of the extraction happens by the action of the alcohol and the yeast. Cold maceration produces a lighter style wine I thought.

Extended maceration is after fermentation, ie don't press off skins until well after fermentation is complete. Tannins continue to go into solution, condense and polymerise; the tannin structure of the wine changes.

I take it that's a typeo, Reds are fermented before pressing.

Extraction of different components of the grape occur in different solutions. ie some components are soluble at the beginning of fermentation before any alcohol is present and some are soluble when alcohol is present and yes some enzymes produced by yeast assist with extraction or modification.

Cold maceration essentially gives the 'water' soluble components more time to go into solution.

 

[Greg.L]

I take it that's a typeo, Reds are fermented before pressing.

Yes sorry I meant crushing, just a typo, only champagne style reds are pressed before fermenting!

I know at Jasper Hill they do a long maceration, Ron Laughton says he tastes the wine until he feels the tannins have developed enough. But thats a fairly special circumstance, just copying a place like that won't give you a wine like Jasper Hill. They don't use any cooling AFAIK. I'm not good enough to tell by taste when tannins are ready, I reckon 300kg would get plenty of extraction in a week, but the fun of wine is playing around. I just don't think cooling is standard if you want a full bodied red.

Greg