racking, at the same time as the wine is sulfited.


Sulfite increases the efficiency of bentonite removal of unstable protein, and if the wine is chilled at the same time, the bentonite particles assist the formation of bitartrate crystals for cold stability. A typical dose of bentonite would be 300 mg/L or 225 mg. If this amount was in a typical five per cent suspension, this would be a 4.5 mL addition of 50 g/L of rehydrated bentonite for a 750 mL bottle. A litre of bentonite with 50 grams is easily prepared, even with an inexpensive digital kitchen scale and a pan of hot water. Similarly with sulfite, a litre of solution can be prepared with (say) 100 mg per mL and each bottle treated with (say) one mL of solution to stabilize. Don’t forget that KMS has slightly more than 50 per cent available sulfite. I round to 50 per cent in the calculation in order to compensate for volatile and oxidative losses. To add 100 mg/L would require (100 X 2) =200 g/L stock solution of KMS. A treatment of 0.75 mL per 750 mL bottle should deliver 100 mg/L of sulfite.


Microvinification of red wines can be a bit more complex. I’ve used various sized buckets with a 1/4-inch hole in the lid for a fermentation lock for the skin extraction stage. To work with the system above will require about two kilos of grapes. Larger volumes are easier because it’s easier to find larger containers and the risk of oxidation is less in a larger container.


On the other hand, if you want to test an oxidative red wine strategy such as delestage, microvinification is easier than transferring must from one tank to another.


The objective of microvinification is to simulate the wine performance that would occur in commercial practice, so you can’t skip steps and expect the process to give you meaningful results.


At the Summerland Research Station (now PARC) we evaluated about 300 grape variety trials per year during a 12-year


microvinification trial. Most of the varieties now being grown in B.C. had their first wines produced by microvinification during the 1980s.


22


Providing Canadian Grapevine Solutions ONTARIO


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


Alexandre Jacquel p. 905-984-4324 alexandre@vinetech.ca


QUEBEC


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


British Columbia FRUIT GROWER • Winter 2014-15


p. 902-740-2493 ian@vinetech.ca


NOVA SCOTIA Ian Kaye


KELOWNA PUBLIC ARCHIVES PHOTO NO. 3742 Rail barge at Gellatly Bay wharf, Westbank, circa 1915.


Looking Back By Wayne Wilson


F


rom shortly before World War I and continuing through the 1970s, tugboats hauled rail barges on Okanagan Lake – north to Okanagan Landing and, a few years later, south to the Kettle Valley Railway at Penticton. It wasn’t until the 1920’s that a rail line was built south from Vernon to Kelowna. For well more than 50 years, these barges were a vital part of the rhythm and pattern of lake traffic that hauled freight into the valley and, more important for the tree fruit industry, took the harvest out to an expanding world market. Smaller centres with no direct connecting rail service relied just as heavily on the rail barge schedule.


The image here is of one such centre – the wharf at Gellatly on the west side of Okanagan Lake south of Kelowna. Flanked by a scattering of warehouses, workshops, and


outbuildings, settings like the Gellatly wharf came alive at the harvest.


Today, all that remains of these


transportation hubs are random pilings in some of the more secluded bays along the shores of Okanagan Lake.


Together with abandoned irrigation flumes and a few older packinghouses and cold storage buildings, they form what might be considered ‘relic landscapes’ that give clues to the region’s longer and stronger connection to the tree fruit industry. If you have photos or artefacts of our rich agricultural heritage, please contact the B. C. 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.


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