17. Wines with RS

Question 1

What are four ways to concentrate grape must?

Answer 1

1) drying grapes on vine
2) drying grapes off the vine (called “passito”)
3) noble rot
4) freezing the grapes

Question 2

What are conditions required for Noble Rot?

Answer 2

• grapes must be fully ripe before development of rot
• grapes must be grown in a region that has humid, misty mornings (allows rot to develop on grapes) and sunny, dry afternoons (slows development of rot, allows water to evaporate)

Question 3

What is cryoextraction?

Answer 3

Picking grapes in autumn and freezing them at the winery – similar effect as ice wine (and cheaper) but can’t put it on the label

Question 4

What are the two most common ways to stop fermentation?

Answer 4

1) chilling below 10 degrees C
2) adding a high dose of SO2 to inhibit the yeast
(wine is then racked off its sediment and sterile filtered to ensure fermentation doesn’t start again later)

Question 5

What is the easiest way to produce a wine with RS? What are the benefits of this?

Answer 5

• blending in a sweet component
• dry wine can be stored until ready to be bottled then sweetening component blended in (dry wines are less susceptible to microbial spoilage)
• winemaker can trial – lots of control
• can increase final volume of wine

Question 6

What are 3 things that can be blended into a wine to make it have higher RS?

Answer 6

1) sugar
2) RCGM – more neutral, less is required
3) unfermented grape juice (sussreserve) – gives grape-juice-like character