Its Getting Cold...

I'm referring to the 2009 white wines that are cold stabilizing, not the frigid outdoor temperatures that we have been getting in the Bay.

Cold stabilizing is the process of chilling the wine to near or below freezing temperature in order to get tartrate crystals to form in the wine so they may be removed. This is done as a step to help clarify the wine before it is bottled. It will also lower the acid levels in the wine, since it is the tartaric acid crystallizing. Here is a link for info regarding the cold stabilizing and clarification process with wines: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_stabilization.

That's right, we are preparing to bottle our 2009 white wines next week! Well, not all of the white wines, only the ones that do not see oak. So, we will be bottling our Viogner, Sauvingon Blanc and Muscat Blanc. (some of the Viogner and Sauvingon Blanc did see neutral oak during the primary fermentation in order to help the mouthfeel of the wine). It is exciting to see the grapes that you helped turn into wine being bottled, and it is cool that it is such a short process for these wines. When talking to the head winemaker, he stated that for these particular wines it is best to bottle them early in order to capture the bright fruit and aromatics.

I cant wait to try some of the 09's!