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Pinot Noir
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| Pinot Noir clones being evaluated at Geneva, NY. Year is year that formal evaluations began. Source indicates our source, not original. In many cases orginial source is obscure or in doubt. | ||
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| Pinot Noir clone | Year Clonal Evaluation Started | Source |
| Geneva | 1985 | unkown |
| Gamay Beaujolais | 1985 | FPMS |
| Blauer Spätburgunder | 1985 | Germany via Ag. Canada |
| Clevener Mariafeld | 1985 | Switzerland via FPMS |
| Pinot Meunier | 1985 | Dr. Austin Goheen, Univ. Calif., Davis |
| FPMS 29 (Jackson) | 1985 | FPMS |
| Espinette | 1985 | Saanichton, BC |
| Pernand | 1985 | FPMS |
| Pomard | 1989 | FPMS |
| 2A | 1989 | Switzerland via FPMS |
| FPMS 13 (Martini) | 1989 | FPMS |
| Clone V | 1989 | Burgundy? |
| Clone 7 | 1989 | K. Frank, Hammondsport, NY |
| Espiquette 236 | 1989 | France |
| PN Oregon (Ponzi) | 1989 | Ponzi vineyards, OR |
| PN Canada | 1989 | Burgundy? |
| Clone 113 | 1991 | Burgundy via Oregon State Univ. |
| Clone 115 | 1991 | Burgundy via Oregon State Univ. |
| Clone 10/18 | 1991 | Burgundy via Oregon State Univ. |
| Calera | 1992 | Calera region, California |
Culture
Vines are grafted to Couderc 3309 rootstock and planted at 9 feet x 6 feet (row by vine spacing), in the vineyards of the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station at Geneva, NY. Post length (24 foot) plots of 4 vines are replicated at least 3 times. Vines are head pruned and cane pruned. They are trained to a vertical trellis using low arched canes and moveable catch wires (Figure 1). Several methods are used to minimize the impact of winter cold injury on performance. These include multiple trunks and double pruning wherein extra canes are retained during dormant pruning and those not required for fruiting are removed following bud break. The goal is for each vine to have 27 shoots per vine. This is equivelent to 4.5 shoots/foot of canopy.
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Wine Evaluation
Vinification
Fruit is hand harvested into 30 lbs plastic crates and stored 12 to 24 hours at 10°
C before processing. Visible bunch rot is selected out in the field and at the stemmer. Grapes are destemmed without crushing. The majority of the berries is broken during destemming. Musts are weighed and sugar concentration determined by refractometer. Based on experiments with chapatlization of Pinot Noir must to various sugar concentration (19° to 24° Brix) we determined that a final alcohol concentration of 12 to 13% (w/v) most complements the fruit, acid, and tannin balance of our Pinot Noir wines. Therefore, when sugar concentration of the must is below 22° Brix, cane sugar is added to increase it to a minimum of 22° Brix. Acid adjustments in the must are usually not necessary since pH and titratable acidity (TA) are generally acceptable. Sulfur dioxide is added after destemming to the must at 50 mg/L.
Fermentations are carried out in 120 liter stainless steel, upright drums. Initial wine evaluations for clones in the 3rd to 5th growing season is sometimes done in 10 gallon stainless steel drums. Musts are skin fermented unless special qualities are tested such as suitablility of the clone for production of sparkling wine (pressed before fermentation) or to test effects of must pasturization of bunch rot affected grapes on wine quality. Musts are inoculated with pure culture yeast (Lalvin strain EC1118, Lallemand, Inc.) after rehydration to manufacturer's instructions. Fermentations are at ambient temperatures (18°-25°C). Must temperature typically reached 30°-35°C in the cap during day 2-4 of fermentation. Total length of fermentation was typically six days. Drums were loosely capped. The cap of skins was punched down one to two times daily until the sugar concentration reached <1% residual sugar when the wine was pressed and filled into 20 liter glass carboys, fitted with fermentation locks. Carboys were transferred to a 16°C ferentation room and left to complete alcoholic fermentation. After completion of alcoholic fermentation, the wines were racked and transferred to a 20°C fermentation room. They are then inoculated with a bacterial starter culture to induce malolactic ferentation (MLF), and topped up. Different malolactic stater cultures were used in different years (vino, Condimenta; MCW and X-3, Lallemand, Inc.) but in each year the same strain was used for all lots of the Pinot Noir clonal study. After completion of MLF (residual malic acid less than 0.1 g/L, checked by enzymatic or HPLC analysis), the wines are racked and sulfited (30 mg/L free SO2), and pH and TA are adjusted when necessary. In most years pH of the Pinot Noir wines after MLF increases to as high as 3.8-4. In thoses cases wines are adjusted with tartaric acid to a a pH of approximately 3.5 and TA was adjusted to a minimum of 6 g/L. For tartrate stabilization, the wines are tranferred into a cold room (-2°C) for 2-3 months. After cold stabilization the wines are again tested for pH, TA, and free/total SO2. If the wines have not clarified by this time, they are returned to the cold room. Clear wines are bottled (750 ml, natural corks) without filtration using a nitrogen pressure system. Free SO2 before bottling is adjusted to 30-40 mg/L.
Tasting
The bottled wines are stored at 14°C for at least 4 months before tasting. Typically the wines are tasted 14 months after harvest, in some cases they are tasted again two to three years after harvest. The wines are evaluated by an expert panel of four to eight tasters. Wines are presented blind, rated for overall quality on a 10 point scale, and much attention is given to describing the characteristics of fruit aromas, structure and overall balance.
Cold Hardiness
In addition to recording winter survival, bud
cold hardiness has been directly measured several times using
differential thermal analysis. The most complete assessments were
in mid-winter of 1987/88 and in early winter of 1992/93. Because
the 1992 growing season weather was very poor (cold and rainy),
the 1992/93 data reflect the extent to which bud hardiness was
attained in a poor growing season.
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© Copyright 2000 Robert Pool