Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/81015
WINERY SOIL & CELLAR Some wineries replace the heads twice, once to fill the bar- rels and then again for emptying and pressing, if they choose to fer- ment with the barrel on its side and rotate the barrels for extraction. Some barrels have been produced for red-wine fermentation and have doors in the heads that can be used for filling and emptying. Fermenting in wood, especially in small vessels such as barrels, results in lower yields in gallons per ton of grapes, due to evaporation. For less oak contact and larger vat sizes, winemakers are using puncheons to diversify their oak fermenting and aging strategies. Although originally an English wine cask term used to describe a barrel of about 318 liters, it is now used generally to describe barrels larger than the standard 225-liter barrel, most commonly 400 and 500 liters. Winemakers who like the early integration of oak through barrel fermentation, but do not want to overwhelm the wine with oak char- acter, can use puncheons in lieu of barrels. Since 2000, OXOline has pro- duced modular barrel stacking racks that can be used to rotate barrels and puncheons being used for fermentation. Since the barrels rest on rollers, they can be rotated throughout fermentation for extrac- tion and during sur lie aging. The French word cuve means tank or vat, yet is often used in the United States to refer to wooden tanks that have seen renewed enthusiasm. Although wood tanks have been used for centuries, the global winemaking trend moved away from them since the 1950s. Wineries switched to more inert and impervious materials, includ- ing stainless steel, for better qual- ity control. Although concrete and fiberglass have also been used, steel had the added advantage of rapid heat transfer, which can facili- tate heating and/or cooling, espe- cially when accompanied with the now-standard glycol jackets. Now many wood tanks are con- structed with cooling coils, which help maintain fermentation temper- atures in the range desired by the 34 VINEYARD & WINERY MANAGEMENT SEPT - OCT 2012 WWW.VWM-ONLINE.COM