Brett-Wary Winemaking in the Custom Crush World Alison Crowe Garnet Vineyards Plata Wine Partners

Crushing on Someone Else’s Pad (and living with their bedbugs)  Operate assuming Brett is present – we have to make peace with & manage it.  What are the facility’s sanitation and Brett- monitoring SOP’s and what is included in pricing?  Know thy neighbors and be a good cellar citizen yourself. “Do unto others”….  Write client/brand contracts that protect yourself- AND your wineries  Know client/brand style parameters and expectations and plan accordingly.

Brett-Wary In the Cellar (beyond high SO2, low pH, low temp)  Top only with your own wine lots.  Target final RS <0.3 g/L on all ferments, do not overfeed fermentations.  Create microbially-balanced environment  Limit used barrels from “strangers”.  Make blends >3 months before bottling, monitor against Brett “bloom”  Pre-bottle filtration is your friend.  Try non-coopered oak.  Provides Brett “food” but not a permanent home.

Stay Brett-Aware- vigilance=winemaking flexibility  Get early baseline of Bot-infected, stuck/sluggish ferments for 4EP/4EG.  Monitor suspect lots quarterly for 4EP/4EG creep. Taste. All wines present differently.  Run Scorpions™ +plating for viable/non- culturable and culturable cells if you see an increase in 4EP/4EG, & on all purchased wine.  Lower plating result than Scorpions™ points to currently inhibitory conditions, but stay vigilant.  The more you know….

Resources  Adhesion and biofilm production by wine isolates of Brettanomyces bruxellensis By: L. Joseph, G. Kumar, E. Su, and L. Bisson In: American Journal of Enology and Viticulture. 58(3):  The wine microbial consortium: A real terroir characteristic By: V. Renouf, C. Miot-Sertier, P. Strehaiano, and A. Lonvaud-FunelIn: International Journal of Vine and Wine Sciences, 40 (4)  Yeast and bacteria analysis of grape, wine and cellar equipment by PCR-DGGE By: V. Renouf, P. Strehaiano, and A. Lonvaud-Funel In: International Journal of Vine and Wine Sciences. 41(1):  Sterile Filtration -- Science vs. Myth by Steve Roberta, Graduate Student Department of Viticulture & Enology University of California, Davis September 1994  Evaluating the effects of membrane filtration on sensory and chemical properties of wine By: Bonahan, Strekas, Boulton, Heymann and Block. Department of Viticulture & Enology, University of California, Davis. Research summary presented by Dave Block at UC Davis 2/24/11  How does Brettanomyces Enter Wine? Bibiana Guerra, Wine Business Monthly, July  Etslabs.com