Innovative barrel now at Fairview
2007-08-16
THE Fairview Wine and Cheese Estate outside Paarl has once again pushed the boundaries by introducing a more hands-on method of producing a selection of its award-winning wines.
In an age of automation, Fairview has implemented a roto-barrel system that will actually increase the winemakers’ involvement in the wine production.
The use of large stainless steel roto-tanks during the fermentation process is a familiar sight on established wine farms for big volume wine production.
Although this process yields large quantities of wine, the more intimate relationship winemakers used to have with their wines has been sacrificed.
It is for this reason that Fairview has transformed this concept to a smaller, more handcrafted format.
A small manhole has been installed in a number of 500 litre French oak barrels. These barrels are housed on specially produced cradles, which incorporate a set of castors, allowing the barrel to be rotated.
The rotation of the barrels allows the grape skins and juice to be thoroughly mixed. This maceration improves the infusion of oak flavours at an early stage.
The roto-barrels also allow the winemakers flexibility as they are able to choose between using the manual punch-down method or rotation.
Fairview’s roto-barrel was the brainchild of Fairview winemaker Erlank Erasmus. According to Erasmus, the roto-barrel has the advantage of being a sealed system.
“Being a sealed system ensures better hygiene, while alleviating issues around volatile acidity and oxidation. Another advantage is that it allows the winemaker to leave the wine on the skins for longer, inside the sealed unit.
"This means that the wine can benefit from better extraction of flavour and colour from the skins, resulting in a better quality wine,” says Erasmus.
Fairview Wine and Cheese Estate has been using this system for some of the fruit for Fairview’s Single Vineyard Shiraz’s (Beacon, Jakkalsfontein and Solitude 2007).
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