By Britany Asseff The wine industry remained virtually unchanged by the technology boom of the last century, and that is undeniably part of wine’s traditional appeal. Moldy caves, dusty shiners, and “funky” aromas hearken back to a romantic past and have made winemaking synon- ymous with tradition. Enter a generation of innovation. Director of Operations for Palmaz Vineyards Christian Palmaz, whose father invented the heart stent, says their five-level, fifteen-story, gravity flow winery is “a marriage between technology and romance.” He casu- ally but confidently admits that “There’s a very short list of what I can actually control... cleanliness, mis- takes, the winemaker making exact blends...,” and he thing that doesn’t fit the description gets blasted with a jet of believes the future of high-quality winemaking hinges on the air into the junk pile. “You get at least as good quality sorting, application of food-grade standards, like isolation and quar- at well over two times the speed,” says Thomas. “That means antining: “Because of the higher pH in new world wines, they I can spend less time on the crush deck and more time in the are more susceptible to imperfections than ever before. I don’t vineyards.” want to take flaws in winemaking and coin them as style,” says Palmaz. One might think scientific farming methods, and multi-million dollar facilities equipped with mathematically-designed com- The Palmaz winery’s multi-level fermentation dome houses a puter sorting and fermentation, would eliminate flawed wine... carousel of twenty-four stainless steel fermentation tanks – they don’t. Nature still corks or creates notable flaws in a sig- one for each of their twenty-four vineyard blocks. The only one nificant portion of bottled wines. of its kind in the world, it guarantees isolation, and begins the gravity flow process by rotating directly beneath the sorting So are screw caps the answer? Not for the Palmaz family, who table to “bring the tanks to the grapes.” despite a philosophy that employs the highest of tech are sticking to tradition and believe that “a two-cent closure has A proprietary touch-screen computer regulates fermentation, no place on a bottle like theirs.” Thomas agrees, “As of yet, making tiny temperature changes every minute, in each tank, there’s nothing better than a good cork and nothing worse to pre-set specifications. Rotating tanks and computerized fer- than a bad cork.” Thomas works with Cork Supply USA and mentation might overshadow the romance of this “marriage” hires certified “sniffers,” people capable of detecting TCA (cork until Palmaz explains that he uses technology to enhance the stink) at one part per trillion, to test every cork before insertion human touch, not diminish it. “Face time makes great wine. into the bottle. This system helps the winemaker achieve a certain level of control, but gives her enough time to be there using the only Human “sniffers”? Isn’t there technology better capable of instrument she should be using…a glass.” handling this seemingly simple task? “Sensitive humans come Charles Thomas, Director of Vineyards and Wine Making for up with the stats until there is a machine that can do it bet- Quintessa, is another “Eno-Tech” revolutionary and one of the ter,” says Thomas. “Right now there isn’t a machine sensitive first to re-implement the gravity flow method. While gravity enough.” flow nods to the simple and artistic nature of the past, the high Palmaz and Thomas agree that the human touch is irreplace- technology of optical sorting has further enhanced the quality able, and that the goal is to make a wine free from defect and and integrity of Quintessa’s fruit. that reflects the characteristics of the vineyards it’s sourced Optical sorting allows winemakers to select the size, shape and from. “Technology is helping us be more exact and precise in color of the desired berry, and then the machine photographs our decisions,” says Palmaz, “but nothing beats the human the grapes and debris rumbling down the conveyer belt. Any- hand and eye for quality.” 7
NVLife Jan-Feb 2013
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