Making Roussanne This Year, Anyone Have Experience W/ It?

I’m buying some Washington roussanne, about 1 ton, to make a single-varietal wine. Any tips, tricks, things to watch for? Much appreciated!

Oh and also making petite verdot this year, from Washington fruit. Perhaps that calls for a different thread though.

I only have 2 vintages of Roussanne experience, we barrel ferment in neutral french oak and small tanks in the cold room.
On the vine, we saw Brix shoot up pretty fast during ripening … Now we are in a hot climate in West TX that might not be a problem in Washington.

Hey Benjamin, thanks for chiming in. I’m planning a mix of steel and 2-3+ year old French barrels. Last year the fruit from WA came in at over 25 brix, which causes me some concern because I’m aiming for a low alcohol, fresh style. The area of WA that the vineyards are in does get pretty hot.

I’ve been making roussanne from washington since 2002; a couple of sites, both fairly warm. Biggest threat to the wine is too much sun exposure on the fruit, not enough and you end up with a simple mono-dimensional wine, too much and the phenolics and almond paste blast you. Uniformity is challenging, as sometimes you get nasty sun blasted and green berries on the same cluster. No skin contact, no so2 , and watch your press tumbling, all in an effort to balance phenolics and extract.

Where’s it coming from? One of my favorite varieties, not without its challenges. The 2002’s are drinking spectacular.

The fruit is coming in from the 6 Prong Vyd. Last year it came in with these numbers: 25.1/0.63/3.27, I think I’d like to see the brix levels a bit lower though, maybe by a degree or so. The pH looks good.

Press tumbling? Should I use a basket press instead of a drum press? I like the computer-controlled drum press because I can set it to max out at a relatively low pressure per cycle.

What about M-L? Yes/No?

Thanks James!

We are still experimenting with picking decisions, we have had some high PH issues with it … Doesn’t look like a problem from your numbers.

Our program has been 80% neutral barrels and 20% in tank, aged on the lees with batonnage. I have been planning to do partial ML every year but didn’t for PH reasons. If you are fine with partial ML, I would recommend trying it on some barrels and assembling at the end.

Any suggestions on yeast strain? I’m ok with partial ML, in the range of 20-30%, but perhaps I need to do more research on how much is considered “good” for the juice.

W15, it is a slower fermenter, good for keeping barrel fermentation going at the right speed

Skip the yeast, go feral. Forget about aromatics, think texture, that’s what roussanne is all about. If the texture is right the aromatics will fall in line. You’re working with such a small amount that I wouldn’t try to break it up into a lot of different techniques,styles, like using too many spices in a dish. Just pick early, watch the sun exposure, minimize bitterness during pressing, and if the fruit is good it will be all there.

James I don’t know if I can realistically go feral, the winery I’m making this stuff at doesn’t have a temperature-controlled barrel room and previous experiments with pinot noir and native-ferments has lead to a lot of VA issues. My worry is that because I cannot control the temps as much as I’d like, I’d run a big risk with just letting a native ferment take off. What do you think?

Without temperature control for your whites, I would be afraid that an inoculated fermentation would get hotter than a feral fermentation, but perhaps the problem is that it gets too cold? Ever place is different, at my place the only problem ferments I have had in the last 5 years are with commercial yeasts. Could always get something feral kicked off a few days before picking and then use it as an inoculation. Good luck.

Great ideas James, I really appreciate it. With the native yeasts do you ever have nutrient issues?

Beau, I have no advice to offer you other than I want some of it when it is finished!

What have you done to enhance texture ?