Keplinger wine making process, how to do?

[NorCal]

I've read all I can about Helen Keplinger and really intrigued on her wine making processes.

Key points:
Single vineyard
Native yeasts
Cold soak 3-5 days
30-40 day ferments
Free run juice
Neutral barrels for 18 months, undisturbed

http://www.vinography.com/archives/2013/05/keplinger_wines_napa_current_r.html

How are 30-40 day ferments achieved? Mine were done in a week. How do you keep wine in a barrel (hers are 600l) without racking, topping, SO2?

 

[berrycrush]

... so to make good wines you actually need less equipment: Skipping the carboy, primary straight into barrels; and no wine press, only free run. Interesting.

 

[LeChat]

I've read all I can about Helen Keplinger and really intrigued on her wine making processes.

How are 30-40 day ferments achieved? Mine were done in a week. How do you keep wine in a barrel (hers are 600l) without racking, topping, SO2?

Well, they use native yeast and they likely moderate the temperature. It likely takes 30-40 days to complete fermentation.

 

[Deezil]

A 30-40 day ferment would require a particular yeast strain, a cool fermentation, and a staggered nutrient addition schedule. I haven't got a ferment to last longer than 2 weeks, but that's 'at home'; I almost made it half way to the 30-40 mark, but that was a white wine too.

I don't see how you could do that with a warmer ferment like one would with red grapes, which is what she's working with.

And your best bet on leaving a wine in the barrel that long, would be to leave it saturated with CO2, in a cold environment where the temp didn't fluctuate.

But even then, it's high risk..

 

[sour_grapes]

Well, the article does not assert that the actual fermentation takes 30-40 days to complete. Just that she lets it macerate that long:

Her winemaking regimen qualifies as somewhat cutting edge in California, but wouldn't raise an eyebrow in Spain. She cold soaks her grapes for three to five days and lets everything ferment with native yeasts (with the exception of 1 or 2 lots that don't make it on their own). The juice macerates on the skins for 30-40 days and the free run juice is drained to neutral 600 liter oak barrels where it sits undisturbed until blending and bottling. Most wines spend about 18 months in barrel before being blended and then bottled unfined and unfiltered.

 

[NorCal]

So, post fermentation, leaving it on the gross lees for a month or so?

 

[sour_grapes]

That is the way I read it. Take it with a grain of salt, of course!