Worldbeat

Wines & Vines, Feb, 2003 by Larry Walker

Traditionally in Portugal, grapes for port have been crushed by foot in large stone or concrete lagares, open fermentation tanks. The Symington family, owners of Graham's and other port houses, recognized that foot-crushing does contribute certain elements to the wine that are lost in mechanical crushing and commissioned an engineer to develop a "robotic" lagar. The first prototype was tested in 1998. The robotic lagar simulates conventional foot treading and gives greater control over the winemaking process. The robotic lagares were so successful that Graham's now has seven new mechanical lagares.

The lagares hold about 17 pipes of must (one pipe is about 145 gallons), the same size as the traditional lagar, which gives a high skin to juice contact. The lagares are equipped with four silicone "feet," made of the same material as the silicone used in rubber bungs. The human foot creates a force of 1.7 pounds per square inch when stomping the grapes.

The rectangular-shaped "feet" press on the grapes and create friction on the floor of the lagar that ruptures the cell walls to give color to the wine. They do this (as does the human foot) without crushing the grape seeds, which would release too much tannin.

Once the grapes are crushed, the robotic feet are reprogrammed to go halfway down into the lagares so that the skins will be pushed back into the must, a process similar to punching down the cap. Because of the large surface area and the open-top lagares, a micro-oxygenation effect is simulated.

The feet and the lagares are fitted with cold or hot water jackets to regulate the fermentation temperature, which has always been a problem with traditional methods. An additional advantage is that lagares are not labor intensive, a great benefit in the Douro Valley, where finding labor can be a challenge.

Graham's winemaker, Peter Symington, is pleased with ports produced by the robotic lagar. "Early results are encouraging," he said in a statement.

The Symington family has also experimented with piston plungers, similar to those used for making table wine in many areas. The plungers, however, do not get as much extraction and produce wines of rougher tannins.

In tasting ports from the 2000 vintage produced by the three methods, the wine made by traditional foot treading and by the robotic lagar were clearly better than the plunger-produced wine, which seemed more like a tank sample of a table wine--intense fruit, but with unresolved tannins. The robotic lagar, on first tasting, had a jammy intensity, like a young ruby port. The traditional port, on first tasting, had more depth of flavor and balance than the robotic. However, when they were retasted three days later, the robotic lagar had come more into balance and moved toward the flavor profile of the traditional foot-crushed port.

2000 has been declared a vintage year for ports by Graham's and other leading port houses. Trade and media have generally praised the vintage, which will be the first vintage port made by robotic pressing.

The Symington family, which also owns Dow and Warre ports, has invested almost $60 million in the past few years in the port business. The Symingtons have also invested heavily in table wines from the Douro, including a joint venture with Bruno Pratts of Clos d'Estournel to produce a wine called Chryselqa, a world-class table wine made from Douro grapes ordinarily used in port.

Fosters Leaps Into Europe

The Beringer Blass wine division of Fosters, the giant Australian brewer, has taken a step into the European market by securing a 51% share of Kangaroo Ridge, an entry-level wine from New South Wales. The wine is already available in Europe at under $5 a bottle.

Sales in 2002 were more than 250,000 cases, with key markets being Germany, France and Holland.

Kangaroo Ridge gives Fosters a real opportunity to plug a major gap in its global wine strategy, though it will be up against tough competition on the continent. Established Australian brands like Lindemans and Jacob's Creek are already a formidable force on European supermarket shelves. Kangaroo Ridge also presents a real challenge to California exports to Europe.

Kangaroo Ridge founder John Geber, who has been spearheading his export campaign since April 2000, says the signs are positive. "Consumers have taken to the style enthusiastically,' he told just-drinks.com. "But one bloke lugging a swag of samples around Europe can't make the most of the opportunity, so I'm happy to have Beringer Blass's help to reach more customers." Geber will continue to manage the business on behalf of the partnership.