Nice Brew

Kian Tavakoli, winemaker for Crushpad, explains when you do, and when you don’t want to think about including whole clusters in your fermentation. For some varietals, in some years, it can enhance aromas, and other desirable characteristics in a wine. In other years the stems are simply too green to include any whole clusters… Doing so would give your wine green tannins that can make a wine harsh.
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The balance between pH and acidity is a delicate one that you must pay close attention to as you are making wine. The ripeness of the fruit and type of grape varietal will dictate how you have to work with that fruit to produce a wine that meets your desired style goals.

Depending on the style of wine you want to make, and the varietal of grape you are working with, you have a few choices when it comes to fermenation vessels. And when you’re working with small batch winemaking, it is critical to make the right choice. For white wines it’s important that you ferment in the type of vessel that will help you achieve the style you want. For reds, it’s a little more straight forward. Crushpad winemaker Chris Nelson explains it all.