How to make wine one sip at a time

 

By Gaebrielle Gomes

The chill of fall has taken over the sweltering heat of summer, and many Essex County vineyards are harvesting ripened bunches of grapes for wine production.  What goes into the meticulous process of making wine and what does it take for a winemaker to perfect the fruits of their labor?

Rori McCaw, winemaker at Cooper’s Hawk Vineyards, considered the business after her grandfather saw her potential for wine making at a young age, noticing how good her senses of smell and taste were. He suggested she study to be a winemaker. She studied the trade for three years before becoming an assistant winemaker at Colio Estate Wines and studying under one of Canada’s few grandfather master winemakers, Carlo Negri.

“There’s not very many people enrolled and accepted in (the program) and probably only 10 per cent of the graduates become winemakers,” said McCaw.

One of the key attributes to being a successful winemaker is knowing you have the right skills for the trade, such as a well-developed palate and a good sense of smell. Lacking these two crucial skills may pose a problem for a young aspiring winemaker. Interest and passion are not enough to be successful at this job.

“It’s not something you can learn, it’s something you just have to have,” said McCaw. “Have you seen American Idol? A lot of people have interest and passion for singing and they really believe their voice sounds great… But they don’t sound great. It’s the same thing in this business.”

Not only is sense of smell and taste large component of the trade, it involves dirty manual work too. According to McCaw, college barely covers the skills to work the different machinery used in today’smethods of producing wine. In bigger wineries, there are much larger tanks and many different machines for different processes in wine making. McCaw had to learn to use these when she worked at Colio.

Part of that work is pedology, or the study of soils. Grapevines take up to four years of growing and nurturing before grapes are acceptable for wine production. In order to properly nurture them, you must know the different elements and nutrients in the soil.

After harvesting the ripened grapes, the processes for making white wine and red wine are very similar with just a few differences. For white wine, grapes are pressed and separated from the skins right away. The juice is then clarified and is cleaned as much as possible before fermentation begins. For red wines, the winemaker harvests the grapes and lets them sit and ferment in their skins for 10 days before pressing. McCaw prefers to use natural methods to have the purest juice.

Making wine at home is very similar. McCaw says it is a “hit and miss” concept. You either make a batch of homemade wine that turns out or you have a batch that doesn’t. McCaw doesn’t recommend going to a “Make Your Own Wine” store or buying wine making kits from a store.

“It would be like picking a fresh apple off of a tree and biting into it, or having an apple flavored drink instead. It’s artificially flavored apple. Which one would you have?” said McCaw.

Weather conditions during the growing season can change the flavour of wines from year to year. Last year’s Merlot may not taste the same as this year’s Merlot. McCaw embraces the change and different flavors to come out with unique wines every year.

Essex County holds a few events and festivals dedicated to food and wine from the region throughout the year. It gives locals a chance to sample wine from Ontario, what McCaw calls “the most amazing place in the world to grow grapes.”

“I really like the events. It makes up for the hard work from people just saying how much they love the wine. It’s a wonderful thing.”