cold-soaking

[joeyz6]

Does anyone know what cold-soaking does? Seems to be a Pinot thing.

[Innkeeper]

It is the same thing as pre-macerating.

[Kcwhippet]

It's essentially letting the grapes and stuff just kind of sit there for awhile under cool temps before innoculating. That way you are supposed to get much better extraction of color, flavor components, etc. from the skins, seeds, pulp, stems, etc.

[Innkeeper]

Administrators explain things more clearly than moderators.

[glenora]

Joey--

From a winery's perspective. This is something that we do with some of our more delicate flavored varieties when we are looking for more varietal flavor in the wine--examples of varieties that we consider for this process include Riesling, Gewurztraminer, and on occassion Chardonnay.

The way we do it--the grapes are havested very early in the morning when they are cool (hence cold). They are then de-stemmed and crushed and placed in a tank where the juice from the cushing can be in contact with the skins (soaking). Depending on a few variables the soaking period can last from 12-24 hours after which the grapes are pressed.

Hope this helps!

Gene

[wondersofwine]

And winemakers explain things best of all!

[Thomas]

Only a few short centuries ago we called it skin contact...

Cold washing is what every young man learns is necessary after the first rebuff, but we called it a cold shower.

[joeyz6]

Thanks for the responses. I guess I understand now. It's essentially an additional maceration prior to crushing (like IK said) to get extra flavor extraction. What would be a reason NOT to cold-soak?

Also, I was under the impression that early-morning picking was done because the grapes are firmer when they're cold, so they don't break and start spontaneously fermenting. No?

[Thomas]

Yes, joeyz, grapes are picked while cool so that they do not start fermenting before you want them to, but I don't think that has anything to do with cold washing. That is a separate operation and decision.

[wineguruchgo]

Just a little side note:

Every grape has their own yeast cells on it. It's a gift from Mother Nature. Some are good yeasts and some are not.

Grapes, when left to their own devices, will begin to ferment when they are ready. Crushed or uncrushed - although uncrushed will take a lot longer because the yeast cells don't have the readily apparant sugar level of the crushed grapes.

Cold soaking, done more with white wine than red, is a primary way to prevent the yeasts from beginning until the winemaker is ready allowing more fruit extraction when going to press.