Thanks. I got to write that book because, well, it takes one to know one. Who do you think is the guy I talk about that made the mistakes and had to close his winery? [suicide.gif]
You’re too modest, Thomas. I, too, liked the book very much.
BTW, best response ever of an author to someone saying “I read your book” was Robin Williams’ character in Good Will Hunting: “So you’re the one!!”
Ever think about giving the winemaker/winery owner thing another go, Thomas?
Yes, when Williams let out that line I was the only one in the movie house who knew exactly what he meant! Oddly, of my three books thus far, the Idiot Guide is the more profitable. Go figure.
Give it another go? Not bloody likely, Nate. The flesh is willing, but the bones are getting old. Besides, I’m no idiot…
“Don’t sell yourself short, Judge. You’re a tremendous slouch.” 
Old bones, huh? Sounds like you just need a bubbly, buxom young Assistant Winemaker. That’ll breathe some life into them bones.
Just joshing. Not a great time to be sticking one’s toes back into that water.
Hmm. Maybe I could take some of my retirement money and…oh wait, Citicorp has already relieved me of that money.
Nah, I’ll just write. It’s the only thing that I can do and not feel let down when I don’t get paid
I figured “Thomas” was you. Names not changed to protect the guilty, apparently. I take it “John” is JohnZ, right?
Yep.
Thomas,
Neural oak power is used to bind with off odors like smoke taint…
this info will help on the action of oak neutral powder…if you add toasted wood powder tannins than they would swing the wine to the toasted profile…
To add color density you could co ferment a red wine with some white to grab more color…Larry talked about the stacking of tannins this way…
Smoke Taint & How Some Winemakers Win The Battle
First, the press will have the public think the worst has happened to all the wineries…NOT TRUE…look…
Quote:
A number of sources are reporting that the smoke from this summer’s wildfires in California may have tainted the 2008 winegrape crop. Megafires from Santa Barbara to the Oregon border poured smoke into the prime Cal winegrape growing regions for three solid months, with probable deleterious effect to this year’s wine vintage.
see link Click On Me Click On Me
I am always on the lookout for some great thinking…with this past year 2008 and over 2,000 wild fires smoke is an issue, especially post- verasion grapes when the grapes become like magnets to all the outside influences, they suck them all in…yep they do …what are they sucking in…?… AWRI (Australian Wine Research Institute) says that “the taint is an aroma or flavor that a sommelier might describe as gamey or spicy”…
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wines & Vines Jan 09 by Thomas Ulrich
Vines absorbed these severed compounds, storing them until the plants transported the carbohydrates and volatile compounds to the ripening fruit, or the grapes absorbed the compounds directly.
So how many times did people say the grapes breath in the terroir that being everything the grapes and vines come into contact with, even the hand of the vineyard manager and winemaker…thus true ‘sense of place’ changes each year just a bit from the basic foundation…don’t think that just because you had smoke taint one year the next year you won’t have a problem, you will as attested by experts in the article…this is that ‘sense of place’ like it or not for those years…
Australian scientists know due to experience how long the problem lasts…
Quote:
scientists attribute the smoky aroma in part to guaiacol (Gu) and 4- methylguaiacol (4Mgu) ,compounds also identified in wine that are aged in toasted oak barrels. Both compounds take shape when heat decomposes lignin, an organic polymer present in vascular plants.
Quote:
Rick Davis and Todd Quigley figured out how to treat the Chard must when the compounds are not as bound as they are when the juice is fermented into wine…they used PVPP (polyvinylpolypyrrolidone) and isinglass, pressed the juice into a settle tank, clarified it with the fining agents, then they added yeast hulls to replace suspended solids that polymers and proteins had separated from solution.
For the reds PN , etc.they did the above but also used oak neutral chips in the red wine to bind with the smoke taint compounds… also fermented at a lower temp…
The other way I won’t get into too much is to use a RO machine and run the wine through intense charcoal filters until you strip the wine of the taint…IMHO I believe you strip the guts and glory of the vintage out leaving you with a hollow vintage…
So we see you can’t paint a dismal view on the vintage with smoke taint…I say know your producer and winemaker, as they are the key to a successful vintage …the lesson is don’t paint a broad picture of an area and draw conclusions that the whole vintage is tainted because it’s not…
What this actually does is back up my definition of that sense of place that I posted several times …I have been notified that my definition is being used to teach in Europe …I was also notified that an Oenologist in Italy had come to the same conclusion as I did as to the definition of ‘that sense of place’…
Australian scientists know due to experience how long the problem lasts…
Quote:
scientists attribute the smoky aroma in part to guaiacol (Gu) and 4- methylguaiacol (4Mgu) ,compounds also identified in wine that are aged in toasted oak barrels. Both compounds take shape when heat decomposes lignin, an organic polymer present in vascular plants.
Which Aussie Shirazes would you be talking about?
And what would be the “quality” on their midpalates?