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Pinot Blanc Help

Just picked some Pinot Blanc from my dear neighbor and was wondering how to vint' this grape. Don't know anything about it, expect a little from the archives.

It is 21 Brix and 0.70% TA. The seeds are mature brown, most of the stems are also. The skin has a wonderful tannic quality to it. If I chew the skins beyond the tannic I pick up a bitter quality that is not dis-pleasing but I think I would like to avoid in the wine. Might require more aging to smooth out.

So I'm thinking, can this be made into a fat white that needs aging and maybe will pick up some complexity on the shelf? Or am I fooling myself? I was thinking of cold soaking on the skins to give up some flavor, maybe even just until bitterness just shows ( a few days) then press and pitch yeast. Maybe even fermenting on the skins 'till

1.030SGthen pressing.

Is this asking too much from this grape? What do ya'all recommend?

Steve noobie Oregon

Reply to
spud
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Sounds perfect to me... I think Pinot Blanc is a relative of Chardonnay. Are you thinking of a cold soak or 'warm' soak, as in around 50 F or around 70 F? (Cold soak can mean a lot of things...) I'm thinking of doing a warm soak this year on some reds, I've never heard of that on a white. I would not ferment on the skins but that is me.

Joe

spud wrote:

Reply to
Joe Sallustio

Hi Joe:

Thanks for the response. Yeah, I don't think I'd ferment on the skins either.

Will crush tonight and let it sit for a day then taste and decide.

Take Care Steve noobie Oregon

Reply to
spud

I agree with Joe; I can only think of bad things when I think of leaving the skins on the juice. With that strong acid, I'd think of just crush, press, and vinify. I had a wonderful Italian Pinto Blanc on Saturday afternoon - crisp, with a subtle, almost floral fruit nose. I would want to ferment cool and slow, and try to preserve that kind of quality.

Good luck!

Reply to
Ric

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