Sneak Peek into the 2010 Borealis

The months of January and February can be a little slow for some wineries, particularly those that focus on Pinot production, nurturing their barrels in a cozy cellar while the winter months drift on.

However, here at Montinore, January and February are busy, with a grand focus on getting some of our freshly produced whites ready for a prompt March bottling.

What’s the big deal in getting white wine ready for bottling you may wonder? Well, since the inception of our attractive ‘Northern Whites’ blend called Borealis came about in 2008, we have to get creative at an early stage, usually in early December, starting with preliminary blending sessions between the four varieties that contribute to the blend, namely Muller Thurgau, Gewurztraminer, Riesling and Pinot Gris.

The blending of the 2010 Borealis comprised of four intense tasting sessions, before we finally achieved the right balance. Of course, we also had to prepare ‘mirror’ trial blends of the Pinot Gris Estate, Gewürztraminer, Almost Dry Riesling and Muller Thurgau, that is, what these wines would taste like once we had made the Borealis.

So, by the 23rd December we had agreed on the blends, and then physical movement of the wines to create the Borealis in reality, took place in the winery over the Christmas and New Year period.

After allowing the blend to meld together into the first week in January, we have now made an addition of Bentonite, an all natural clay like substance which will aid with protein stabilization. Proteins can make wine cloudy; the Bentonite attracts the proteins and pulls them out of the wine.  This process helps with the clarity of wine. Of course, we conducted trials in the lab before making a real-time addition to the wine. Any addition made to our wines is decided by lab analysis and winemaker prowess.

After a settling period of about ten days, we will start to cold stabilize the wine, achieved with the use of jacketed tanks and four to five weeks of 30-32 degree temperature. This process enables excessive potassium bitartrate also known as tartrates  (the crystals you sometimes see at the bottom of a glass of wine) to precipitate or fall out from the wine, coating the internal surface of the tank, and ensuring future precipitation does not happen in the bottle.

Following on from this, the wines will be racked or pumped off the Bentonite and filtered prior to bottling thru a medium known as Diatomaceous earth. Diatomaceous earth is a commonly used all natural silica mined from ancient sea beds.  For the volume of Borealis and the other whites we will be finishing, this process will take about seven days, as long as everything progresses smoothly.

During this period, we will start to receive our glass, corks, foils and labels, no mean task when you consider we will be aiming to bottle 7500 cases of the Borealis alone! Immediately prior to bottling beginning in mid-March, we will spend three days preparing and sanitizing our in-house bottling line and pre-bottling filter, so that everything is clean and in tip-top condition ready for the bottling journey to start right on schedule.

So, busy though these times are for the winemaking team in the darkest of winter months, may we also share our intense enthusiasm with you all as we work earnestly on the first of the 2010 white wines. Keep a close eye on our website and Facebook for release details of the Borealis, Muller Thurgau, Gewurztraminer and Rose:-Three tasty whites and a stellar Rose to get your spring started with a bang!

-Winemaker Stephen Webber