Martin Moore talks of winter cellar work … and hangovers

In the cellar the red and white wines are daily vying for our attention. With the first of our three Sauvignon blancs out in the market, the pressure has eased slightly. The Sauvignon blanc in the Rhinofields reserve range, as well as our single-vineyard Biesjes Craal (Dutch for a reed paddock or corral) Sauvignon blanc, have been blended and are being prepared for bottling at the end of the month. The 2005 Rhinofields Chardonnay 2005 is also out of the barrel. With the successful 2004 as a tasting reference, it was relatively easy to blend the 2005 to the same standard, while retaining its unique characteristics. 

Chilling out in the cellar
Before we bottle any of our whites they first undergo cold stabilization to ensure the wines do not become cloudy or develop unwanted sediments once in the bottle. We chill the wine to -4ºC (do not try this at home) when small crystal nuclei are formed around which bigger crystals grow. These crystals are potassium acid tartrates which, although soluble in water, are only partially soluble in wine due to the alcohol. At very low temperatures the potassium acid is converted to potassium salt – the little crystals you sometimes find at the bottom of a bottle of wine. After cold stabilisation the wine is roughly filtered to remove the crystals. Bottling takes place after a period in which the temperature is allowed to rise again.  

A daunting task
Attending to the reds is taking up most of our time at the moment. After extensive tastings we have selected those reds of the past vintage that will undergo barrel maturation. As always, the trick is to find space for them. Some of them go into the vats now emptied of the 2005 vintage, while the rest go into the new barrels delivered to the cellar over the past few weeks. Selecting the right wood is crucial to the success of any barrel-aged wine.

And it is a daunting task, for you have to decide what characteristics you want in the wine, for that determines the type of oak you choose, the density of the grain, the degree of toasting and, very importantly, the cooper. For the overall quality of the barrel he produces can also play a decisive role in the end product. Oak and barrel making together form a massive topic. There are about 400 species of oak of which about 20 are suitable for wine maturation. And of the wood selected for barrel-making only about 5% is suitable for high-grade barrels. I shudder to tell you this, but according to what I have read the average age of French oak trees harvested for barrel-making is 170 years! One cringes at the thought that something of such a venerable age has to be cut down for our enjoyment, even if the harvested trees are cultivated for this purpose. All we as winemakers can do is to put such precious wood to the best possible use.

That darned hangover again!
The many responses I had to my comments on hangovers and their causes in the February newsletter were a great comfort, just knowing I am not the only one suffering on occasion because of indiscretion. However, what also struck me is how many people still blame sulphur for their suffering – despite my saying that in all my reading I have found no medical or other evidence to support such a view.

Apart from being tried and proven over a period of 2 000 years, sulphur is today used more judiciously than ever in the preservation of wine – and still the belief persists. The problem, I guess, lies in the description of sulphur as a preservative, and with the present accent on fresh, preservative has become close to a swear word, almost as bad as chemical (now there’s one damned out of hand without even a suggestion of discriminating between good and bad!).

The problem is, of course, that we cannot do without sulphur for that is what enables us to age wine so that we can enjoy all the subtle pleasures maturation brings. Organic wines, to be certified as such, have to be produced without the use of chemicals (there we go again), herbicides, etc while no preservatives may be added in the cellar. Which means that such wines should really be sold with a sell-by date as they cannot last.