Why our PF white is in a class of its own

Why does our Preservative free white wine taste like nothing you have ever experienced before?

Can we make wine that tastes good without using sulphur dioxide?

The Short answer:
In our style of PF white wine you are trying something quite new. We approach fermentation from a different angle. The outcome is a white with a unique flavour. It is softer in the acid dimension. The original grape character is less pronounced. However, the stronger the character in the original grape, the more it will appear as a part of the finished wine. We have well flavoured grapes and we think that shows.

The long answer:
At this stage there appear to be alternative routes to produce preservative free white wine:

1. Allow the wine to go through whatever yeast and bacterial fermentations are possible. Having got that out of the way, bottle the wine. The wine should be stable.
By comparison with white wines produced in the usual fashion such a wine will show the influence of malolactic bacteria to a much greater extent. There is a second, subtler advantage of this choice. The MLF reduces the level of stale smelling SO2 binding compounds such as aldehydes and pyruvic acid. Sulphur dioxide binds up these compounds and that makes the wine appear fresher. Paradoxically, if sulphur dioxide is used prior to fermentation to control yeasts and moulds in damaged grapes there will be much higher levels of these compounds in the wine after yeast fermentation.

2. The alternative strategy to produce a sulphur dioxide free wine would involve close filtration and sterile bottling after the yeast ferment thereby seeking to avoid further fermentation. This would produce wines that more closely fitted the conventional mould and should probably be explored. However, without sulphur dioxide in the bottle, the possibility of contamination by moulds and bacteria on glass, in the air and on the cork would be very high. The result could well be a high degree of random bottle variation and a commercially unacceptable product.
My guess is that the first of these alternatives will produce a wine that will maintain it's typical character longer. It produces a stable product less subject to bottle variation.

The consequences of this choice:

Malolactic fermentation is conducted by some of the same bacteria involved in the making of cheese and yogurt. The bacteria produce potent flavours in the process of converting malic acid to lactic. Neither the wine industry nor the dairy industry is fully aware of all the habits and proclivities of these bacteria. As we are aware that their numbers keep growing even after all the malic acid is gone, we guess that they are working away at some other substrate. We don't know which one though. Close observation suggests that some of the characteristic buttery, diacetal flavours appear most strongly late in the ferment after malic acid has already disappeared. It's a jungle in there and we haven't yet acquainted ourself with the habits of all these strains of bacteria.

It is very unusual to allow complete malolactic fermentation in white wine making. A proportion of wood matured Chardonnays are sometimes allowed to go through malolactic ferment. In these cases the greater proportion of the wine will not experience the fermentation and will retain its fresh grapey character. In addition, yeast lees and oak flavours make strong contributions to the flavour of Chardonnay. Consequently, the malolactic flavours are relatively hidden, overlaid and truncated. Not so with our PF White that has been produced in stainless steel. It's thoroughly infected, wholly fermented and exhibits the malolactic character in abundance.

The malolactic fermentation has another benefit that you may find strange at first. The wine will taste softer. The palate impression will be longer and smoother. That is because the rather hard tasting malic acid has been converted to the softer tasting lactic acid. You cannot make a great red wine without malolactic ferment and those who produce the great Chardonnays of Burgundy would probably say the same about their own wines.

The upshot is that in PF white is presenting flavours that may be new to you. Flavours are more aligned with what you might experience in dairy products like cheese and yoghurt and less like the white wines that you are used to. The wine will appear softer in the acid dimension. The original grape character will be less pronounced. However, the stronger the character in the original grape, the more it will appear as a part of the finished wine. We have well flavoured grapes and we think that shows.

This is frontier stuff. There are very few producers making preservative free wines. There are many more trying to be organic in the vineyard than there are trying to be natural in the winery. It's all part of the rich texture. For my money, the latter is the more direct approach to reducing the use of what might be called 'doubtful chemical' inputs.

Summing up
As indicated above, were we to place our trust in filtration we could perhaps produce a white and a red free of sulphur dioxide without malolactic fermentation. Such a wine would be fruitier and firmer. We favour the malolactic as the secure approach because bottle variation due to random infection would be much less. Additionally wines that all go through the malolactic require much less sulphur dioxide than wines that do not, needing an addition of 50 p.p.m. at bottling rather than twice that level. I reason that if we choose to finish the wine at a stage in its evolution where the least amount of sulphur dioxide is required to produce a given level of free preservative then, by bottling at this stage the need for it will be least apparent.

PF White 2009

Secondly, sulphur dioxide is quite insidious. The more one uses prior to fermentation, the more one needs following it, because, as sulphur dioxide binding compounds are formed during fermentation they are grabbed by the chemical and persist in greater amounts in the finished wine.

And, are you allowed to like the wine? It's really a question of personal taste. If you don't like it, rest assured, its taste is not due to sloppy wine making or lousy grapes. Actually the reverse is the case.

Erland Happ