Bubblegum and Banana

We're picking our Syrah tomorrow morn at Gentilini in Kefalonia, and I have a cunning plan...

 

I've always been interested in carbonic maceration (cabmac), and I've pitched an idea to the powers that be, which allows me to run a bit of an experiment using the technique on our Syrah.

 

Cabmac is used widely in Beaujolais, its a technique that preserves and enhances the fruity flavours in red berries, whilst slightly altering the pH and lowering malic acids. Its achieved by not crushing your grapes and inoculating the juice with yeast as is the normal way of producing alcohol (yeast convert sugar into alcohol), but instead leaving the grapes on their stems, in whole bunches, and dumping them in a tank absolutely rammed full of CO2, then sealing the tank and leaving it for around a week. The grapes are starved of oxygen and enzymes inside of the unbroken grapes start to convert the sugars into alcohol as well as esters (fruity flavours). They'll only achieve around 2% abv during this process, but its all about that subtle fruity edge. The grapes will eventually disintegrate and will be crushed and inoculated with yeast in the normal way, but it should have a subtle hint of raspberry and cherry, and even banana and bubblegum in some cases!

 

The whole process should be finished by the time I'm done in Greece, and I'll ask the guys here (nicely) to cold and heat stabilise the wine for me, then ping me over a few bottles to glorious Blighty at around Christmas time!

 

Presents sorted. No refunds. 

Feeling hot, hot, hot!

Hi from Kefalonia!

 

I've been here for 3 weeks now, and have only just gotten used to the heat! Bloody hell its hot in the Med in August.

 

My first day here involved me landing, then meeting the guys at a nice restaurant on the bay, then unloading 7 tonnes of Sauvignon Blanc, in the midday sun. I've had to do similar unloads on a regular basis since and have never experienced effort like it!

 

Aside of the heat, a few other things that need getting used to are the early mornings (heat stops us from picking past 11am, so 4 or 5am starts aren't uncommon), wasps/hornets/devils-with-wings etc, and the language barrier. Luckily I don't have to pick too often, I'm more involved with the winemaking process, and the winemaker here is English, softening the language barrier as well.

 

The wines we're making are all white at the moment, made from Robola - a local gem, and also a bit of Muscato and Sauvignon Blanc. I've been putting my lecture slides to good use most days and have learned a lot about the potential pitfalls and logistics behind actual winemaking. Reds are arriving tomorrow, and should involve some barrels and some Syrah, my fave!!

 

I've got a couple more weeks left, so not too long until I saw goodbye to sodden feet, cut hands, great beaches and great food.