Do “flashed” wines suffer PTSD?

So far this vintage has turned out really well.

Aromatics are a little less than what w’d like, so big fruit wines like viognier and gruner are not as exciting as they have been in the past.

However, the acidity protected the quality of the grapes, while the long hangtime (some fruit wasn’t harvested until November!) created fascinating depth for our more complex wines. Riesling and pinot noir are tasting incredible.

This is only my fourth vintage, but I would say it has been the most interesting. Not every wine will turn out great this vintage, but there is the potential for some wines to be truly special.

Really, what I’m trying to say is this: “If you are faced with a vintage like this, and try to change the wine so the numbers fit into a box…well, that wine might taste good. But it won’t reflect the essence of the wine. It won’t show the unique character of the vintage, or the style of the winemaker. It will never be something truly special.”

Gab: from your mouth to God’s ears.Keep us posted.

The yield is actually less than normal post-flash. Approximately 10% of the yield is lost in this process. That is where the “Flash water” comes from. This water is full of pyrazines and other undesired compounds. The yield is actually more like 155 gallons per ton, not 180 as you stated. I do not recall saying it improved quality in “most” grapes. It improves quality on not only rotten grapes. Even ripe grapes can have pyrazine issues. This machine has a proven track record from independent labs of removing pyrazines.

Ed,

There are approximately 100 of these units world wide. EVERY major winemaking region has them as well as China, Russia and other countries. They may not choose to tell the public they have them..but trust me, they do.

I am a winemaker and I have ran quite a few lots through this process in the past few years. I make the above comments from my personal experience and not from what I may have heard from a few people.

I am sure what he meant is what I was talking about above. Reps have been out there looking for fruit to make offers on. Just because they have to go to a third party for service doesn’t change that.

It costs a lot–hundreds of dollars a ton–so their offers are very minimal–150 to 250/ton based on what it is and level of rot. So basically they are buying appellation fruit, after flash, trucking, etc. for maybe 500-700/ton. But flash gives huge yields too–they reported 180 gallons/ton on cabernet. So that keeps their cost down too.

Like I said, we had to accept the “best” offer based on our crop insurance. I can tell you that, even appellation bottled, this is going into $8-15 a bottle stuff. Ultimately, I think they were making up for their own lost volume, not trying to get a bargain per se.

But I have seen grapes through this–it doesn’t “improve quality” of most grapes. Only terribly rotten grapes that would make undrinkable wine otherwise. I am told it does same for terribly unripe grapes. I heard a report of carignane in the langudoc picked at 17 brix and flashed.