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12/01/2010

Farming for Bubbly

Like all great wine, California sparkling wine begins in the vineyard. And while there are many similarities between growing grapes for still wine vs. sparkling wine, as any wine grape grower will tell you, there are also some important differences.

Although there are no hard and fast laws or rules in California governing what varieties can be used to make sparkling wine, generally speaking the most common are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Meunier (in Champagne, the law dictates that only Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier can be used). These varieties are known to grow best in cool climates where the grapes ripen slowly over a long growing season, developing concentrated fruit flavors. For this reason much of California’s sparkling wine comes from the state’s coolest coastal growing regions, including Anderson Valley in Mendocino, Carneros in Napa and Sonoma, and Central Coast regions such as Arroyo Grande.

Probably the biggest difference with grapes grown for sparkling wine is that they are harvested at significantly lower Brix (i.e. sugar levels) than grapes used in still wines. Whereas a typical range for harvesting still wine grapes is between 24-27° Brix, sparkling wine grapes are usually picked somewhere between 18-20° Brix. So everything the grower does throughout the growing season is aimed at getting the grapes ripe -- i.e. ensuring flavors are fully developed -- at a lesser degree of sugar.

This can be particularly tricky with a red grape such as Pinot Noir. Viticultural techniques commonly used to ripen Pinot Noir grapes for still wine, such as opening up the vine canopy and pulling leaves to expose the grape clusters to the sun, will typically result in grapes that have too much color and too high a sugar level for sparkling wines. When you’re trying to make a white sparkling wine using red grapes, like Pinot Noir, you want as little color as possible.

“Grapevines are like solar panels,” says Lino Bozzano, vineyard manager of Laetitia Vineyard and Winery in Arroyo Grande. “They’re designed to take sunlight and turn it into the energy that ripens grapes. But when you’re growing sparkling wine grapes, you need to slow that photosynthetic process down.”

At Laetitia, some of the ways Lino controls the color development and rate of photosynthesis in the Pinot Noir vines is by creating shorter canopies and a leafing technique called “tunneling.” He allows more leaves to be left on the exterior of the vines to protect the fruit from too much sunlight, but pulls leaves from the interior – the crop zone -- so that the clusters get some dappled sun and a good flow of air. The result is the vines that produce Pinot Noir for sparkling wine have canopies that are shorter and much bushier than their still wine counterparts; the grapes ripen slowly in this environment, developing the signature red strawberry character that indicates they’re ready for harvest.

Another factor in growing grapes for sparkling wine is the grapes’ acidity level. While sparkling wines are higher in acid than still wines, it’s important that the grapes have just the right acidity level at harvest; if the grape acids are too high (a risk when picking fruit at lower sugar levels), the resulting wine will be too acidic. One way that growers control acid levels in sparkling wine grapes is through irrigation. Whereas grapes used in still wine receive very little water in the couple of months leading up to harvest, grapes used in sparkling wine sometimes receive more as a way of lowering the fruit’s overall acidity level.

As with still wine, the techniques for growing grapes destined for sparkling wine are highly dependent on the growing site – the climate, the soils, the geography – and each grower must take the time to learn what works best in his or her particular vineyard. The key is finding the right balance, and learning to adjust to the vagaries of each new growing season. Getting it right is a cause for celebration – ideally with a toast to California’s fine sparkling wine tradition!

Grapes grown specifically for sparkling wine do best when grown in cool climates, allowing them to ripen and mature slowly.