In The Winery


SLURP:The 30-second wine lab


Here’s what you need to conduct some simple tests to find and, hopefully, fix flaws.


By Gary Strachan I


like to wear a carpenter’s apron in the cellar. Not the heavy split cowhide ones that have a hammer hook and a heavy belt, but the cheap cloth ones that have a cotton ribbon tied at the back; the kind you might get for free at a lumber yard. This gives me a place to store a heavy six-ounce wine glass, the reagents for a Ripper method free-sulfite test kit, pocket pH meter, and a tape measure. A spray bottle with sulfite is optional. A can of beer isn’t a bad option either.


The most important item is the wine glass. It’s not fancy, but a heavy- stemmed six-ouncer with a fused rim is both durable and functional. Sample tank or barrel samples with 30 to 50 mL in the bottom of the glass. Rotate the glass, discard the first sample and draw a second sample. Allow the wine to rest in the glass for a few seconds, especially if the cellar is cool. Lift the glass to assess the nose, but don’t rotate the glass this time. This is your first orthonasal assessment, a snapshot of the most volatile components in the wine. The compounds you are most likely to encounter in this picture are often spoilage indicators. Ethyl acetate smells a lot like nail polish remover and should ring alarm bells if you encounter it.


Early after the end of fermentation, or if you have a stuck fermentation, you’ll probably encounter a rotten egg


British Columbia FRUIT GROWER • Summer 2015 29 smell,


hydrogen sulfide. If


treated quickly by aeration it may go away, but if it’s left untreated it can form


mercaptans (natural gas


GARY STRACHAN


Essential items for the 30-second lab — apron, wine glass, pocket pH meter, sulfite test kit, spray bottle and tape measure.


smell) or disulfides (rubber tires, garlic).


Other flaws might be oxidation, geranium, horse barn, armpit, sweaty socks, peanut butter, rancidity etc. I won’t go into how to treat these, but we have ways.


The next orthonasal evaluation is after you gently rotate the glass to coat the sides (same sample). This increases the surface area of the wine and encourages the evaporation of less volatile wine components. This


increases the partial pressure of these components in the glass headspace to the point at which we can detect them by nose.


For red wines you would typically pick up berry notes, oak, and phenolics. For white wines you would typically smell tree fruits. Unless you have a great memory, you might wish to take notes of the quality (which fruit?) and the quantity (how strong is it?).


Now the SLURP. Imagine hot tea or


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