Creating brett

So this may seem a bit insane, but I'm trying to figure out how to introduce a bit of brett into the mix. I like a tiny bit of brett in wine and am thinking of brettifying some wine for blending purposes. Is there a straightforward way to encourage brett to form?

Sure.

Buy almost any French red, and use it to top up your wine. :-)

Be aware that it's hard to stop. Filtration is the only sure way, though sulfites can help keep it in check at approapriate pH levels.

Dave

**************************************************************************** Dave Breeden snipped-for-privacy@lightlink.com

Thanks, I just dropped them an email.

Very true on the French wine front... but it is quite good is small doses.

So my uninformed thought was that I would create a super-brettified wine, stop the brett but keep the stink, and then blend before bottling. The wine I'd blend it into is going to be high pH (3.7 to

4.0). Is this feasible?

...Michael

How will you keep it from all turning into super-Brett wine in the bottle? Can you sterile filter?

My guess is that no reasonable amount of SO2 is going to inhibit Brett at that pH, so if you don't filter your wine, it's all just going to be Brett soup.

Dave

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Can I sterile filter the super-brett wine before blending? Will that keep the brett funk but eliminate the brett from spreading?

That should work, but bear in mind that if you handle Brett anywhere near your wine or equipment you'll eventually end up with it _everywhere_. Are you sure you want that?

Tom S

No.

It should, yep.

Dave

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may I say that I have never heard of this term --- "brett" It is totally beyond my knowledge. An "Americanism" or some remote vintners term?

Its the flavours that arise from the presence of Brettanomyces yeast. It is one of those yeasts that survive well in finished wines and is found all over the place. It generally bites you on the axxx when you neglect your pH and SO2 regime for too long.

There is a school of thought that a little adds a complexing flavour, but everyone agrees that high levels are revolting (though not as revolting as mousiness).

The term would probably be defined as a piece of trade jargon.

Rob L

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Brett is wine and brewing industry jargon for Brettanomyces, which is derived from Latin for British yeast. I believe it was originally isolated as a brewery contaminant from British beer. Warren Place

No disrespect intended, but you would have to be off your nut to willingly introduce Brett into your winery. It is as resilient as Saccharomyces, can ferment at sugar levels so low that most analytical methods cannot detect them, and only requires a tiny amount of sugar to produce a significant quantity of off-flavours. Once it has been in a barrel, it is almost impossible to get rid of. And while the smokiness of Brett can be attractive at low levels, some of these compounds are also obtainable through toasted barrels.

I'm a little bitter about Brett right now however, as I've recently poured about NZ$200 of Burgundy down the sink. The wine had been bought directly from some recommended small producers, shipped home to NZ, then kept at some expense in a wine storage facility. It was rotten with Brett. Curiously, the only bottle of Burgundy that had no Brett, and still had lovely fruit and supple tannins, was the cheapest, from a producer that looked dodgier than all the rest combined.