WTF Series: What In The Holy Heck Is Whole Cluster Fermentation?!
Last week, we did a post on Carbonic Maceration - we hope you had a great time learning about it, and we've decided to keep the info coming all month long in February! We're referring to it as our What The Fermentation? (WTF) series.
This week, we're going into another aspect of fermentation that is related to Carbo: Whole Cluster, or Whole Bunch, Fermentation.
In a lot of winemaking these days, the berries from a bunch of grapes are destemmed before being pressed. But in some wines, the entire bunch - stems and all - are pressed, and the stems add flavor compounds to the resulting juice, and hence the wine.
What kind of flavors? It depends on the state of the stems when the grapes are being harvested. Green, underripe stems will impart herbal, vegetal flavors; dry, woody ripe stems will impart spiciness and earthy flavors.
Not everyone is a fan of whole cluster, but it has a long history and tradition in winemaking, and some styles of wine benefit greatly from it - fruit-forward styles like Syrah, for example, or a juicy Carbonic wine get grounded by the earthiness of this kind of fermentation. Other styles - like Oregon Pinot Noir or Gamay, which are pretty light-bodied on their own - achieve depth. While the conversation about whole cluster fermentation is ongoing from winery to winery and region to region, it's clear that this is an important fermentation style, and that it isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
Want to learn more?
