desired in red wines, such as layers of dark chocolate, black tea, almond, tobacco or leather, but they must be developed with care by using methods such as barrel aging or micro-oxidation. The usual remedy for high pH is tartaric acid, the acid which almost uniquely comes from grapes. A typical addition of one g/L will drop the pH by about 0.2 pH units, but try it on the bench before you do your treatment. It should not affect the titratable acidity (TA) because potassium bitartrate (cream of tartar) precipitates and leaves the TA almost unaffected.


Oxygen is both the friend and foe of the winemaker. In the early stages of colour extraction, oxygen assists the stabilization of anthocyanins and the development of more acceptable tannins.


A common method for saturating must with oxygen is délestage in which the fermentation is removed from one vessel to another instead of being punched down for skin extraction. A more recent and more controllable method is to directly inject oxygen into the must via micro-oxidation. Be advised that timing is everything when oxygen is present in wine. Also be aware of pH and the fact that oxidation reactions proceed more rapidly at higher pH. Other methods are available for red wine development, such as copigmentation in which the skins of complementary varieties create a balance of flavonoid phenolics that enhance colour development. White wines generally don’t benefit from oxygen as much as red wines. Yeast requires oxygen after inoculation in order to expand the population but carry out the fermentation anaerobically with no oxygen requirement.


A white wine technique that is now seldom used is hyperoxidation. In this method, the white juice is aerated before fermentation in order to cause as much browning as possible. This ties up the phenolic compounds and proteins which precipitate and can be racked from the juice. The resulting wine is more delicately flavoured and has a lower requirement for sulfite. Without going into details I have outlined methods to adjust wine flavours during extraction and fermentation. There is also an arsenal of commercially available wine components to change tannin structure, modify flavours and compensate when things go wrong. Define your destination and choose your path. — Gary Strachan is listed on LinkedIn.


24


Looking Back


KELOWNA PUBLIC ARCHIVES PHOTO NO. 3519 By Wayne Wilson


y roughly 1920, the foreshore at Summerland was lined with all the trappings of a new and burgeoning orchard economy. This photo, taken to promote the community, shows the extent of infrastructure in place at the time. The CPR’s SS Okanagan was the company’s second sternwheeler launched on the lake and its north- south schedule helped solidify regular and reliable freight and passenger service in the Valley. In addition to sternwheeler service, the tree fruit industry relied increasingly on rail barge services. Here, the dimensions of that service begin to come into focus with shoreline barge-slips backed by ample warehouse facilities. Summerland was J. M.


B


Robinson’s second Okanagan land development scheme (along with Peachland and Naramata) and the community was typical of rapid orchard development during the


first couple of decades of the 1900s. In all valleywide, 40,000 to


50,000 acres of


grazing land, hay flats and grain fields were subdivided into orchard lots.


On the one hand, the valley turned from brown to green with all the development. On the other hand, communities such as Summerland, with its industrial- type foreshore, took on a look and feel as well as the rhythms and patterns of a modern agricultural economy.


In a time when first impressions count for so much, new immigrants and new investors to Summerland were greeted with a powerful image of successful agriculture and its supporting infrastructure. If you have photographs or documents of the Tree Fruit Industry, please contact the British Columbia Orchard Industry Museum at 778-478-0347. — Wayne Wilson is the former executive-director of the B.C. Orchard Industry Museum and the B.C. Wine Museum.


Providing Canadian Grapevine Solutions ONTARIO


BRITISH COLUMBIA Frank Whitehead p. 250-762-9845 c. 250-878-3656 frank@vinetech.ca


Wes Wiens/Tina Tourigny p. 905-984-4324 wes@vinetech.ca tina@vinetech.ca


British Columbia FRUIT GROWER • Fall 2012


NOVA SCOTIA Michael Lightfoot p. 902-542-1571 c. 902-698-6909 michael@vinetech.ca


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