German wines, fermentation

I'm no expert, especially at tech stuff, but always assumed it was probably addition of sulphur (dioxide, I think) - lots of Prum wines have a very sulphury nose when young. But I think its also legal to add juice (süssreserve, I hope I got accent right). Dale

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It´s not an accent, it´s a diacritical ;) or, really, the two dots over the u is a marker for a trailing e (an umlaut). We have that in Swedish (ä and ö). Sorry about that. At one time, my nick was Umlaut Lymebranch.

As far as I know, it is not legal to add süssreserve to anything above the level of QbA. I think you are right about the sulphur.

Sulphur is right. The "süssreserve" was a common method of adjusting the final sweetness of a wine (adding "sweet reserve", sterilized grape juice) and, afaik, was and still is legal for QmP's too. That usage was pretty widespread as it made it quite easy to make a nice wine (without having to follow fermentation in order to stop at the right moment, I believe) but was frowned upon by top wine makers and discerning drinkers. It seems to me that you see less of this practice nowadays. Anders

Hello, im a german sommelier and my english is not so good, but i will try: the german winemaker can use the süssreserve for all Quality wines he made( Kabinett, Spätlese, Auslese), but good producer dont do that. The problem is: the most german wines are sell in the world were made by winemaker with low quality ambition. Ernie Loosen ist one of the best winemaker. Dry wines with high alcohol will be made only with natural sugar( QmP). The fermentation stops naturally or with sulfides. There are limits by german law. And you cant taste it, because the wines will be tasted bei law. Best wishes "Nils Gustaf Lindgren" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:WbuVb.82023$ snipped-for-privacy@newsc.telia.net...

Bassically; the normal procedure is to measure the specific gravity/taste and depending on what you want (dry, off-dry, etc.) you then stabilise the wine, as in halting fermentation. Adding Sulphur IIRC is more for the preservative properties to prevent the wine spoiling. Without looking it up, I think the potassium metabisulphite (which I guess is a kind of sulphite?) and you throw in your bentonite or what not to help clear the wine.

There are several techniques employed to achieve this: (1) Use of a slow, alcohol intolerant strain of yeast such as Epernay II (aka Côtes de Blanc). Not only does the slow fermentation tend to preserve the fruitiness of the wine, but these types of strains are also sensitive to cold shock. (2) Chilling the fermentation (~0°C) when the target Brix is nearly reached. This stops the fermentation dead in its tracks. The yeast is then allowed to settle and the wine is separated from it by racking and sent to step #3. (3) Sterile filtration. This step effectively prevents the wine from resuming fermentation by removing _all_ yeast cells from it.

The wine is normally sulfited prior to filtration, but that alone is insufficient to prevent refermentation. Addition of sorbate in conjunction with sulfite would obviate the need for sterile filtration by preventing the reproduction of yeast cells, but that is regarded as an inferior method because many people object to the flavor of sorbate.

Tom S

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Hello Tom; Of these, version 1 would mean that you could not use wild strains of yeast then. All three have this in common that they eschew the addition of chemicals etc, which I feel distinctly queasy about ...

Thnaks you, and thank you all for taking an interest

Nils Gustaf

"Anders Tørneskog" skrev i meddelandet news:7fxVb.32536$ snipped-for-privacy@juliett.dax.net...

Apparently, I am mixing up chaptalisation, i e, adding saccharose, and süssreserve, which is sterilized grape juice from the same grape and the same region. The latter is allowed even in QmP, the former only up to QbA. Sorry about that.

Nils Gustaf

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Hi, Nils Gustaf -

I was afraid I'd misstated the above. Actually, steps (2) and (3) are _both_ essential to the process of producing quality sweet wines that are shelf-stable. Step (1) (using a slow fermenting cultured yeast strain) is optional, but is more predictable in its outcome and easier to control than the use of "wild" yeasts.

I intentionally omitted the practice of fermenting to dryness and sweetening with sussreserve because that is not the method used for the production of the highest quality wines. A wine made using sussreserve would also require sterile filtration or the addition of sorbate and sulfite prior to bottling to assure shelf-stability, so there's little to gain by employing the technique.

Tom S

Not really. Their house strain (wild yeast, whatever you want to call it) may already have these characteristics.

Chances are they still use "chemicals" (sulfite, fining agents) some where in the process, just not to stop the fermentation, primarily because they aren't very effective for this use.

Andy