In a fairly recent development, the Wineries of Indiana's Northeast (of which we are a member) has started an Instagram page to display our artistic creative side (besides all the wine). We hope to update it every couple weeks with a rotating post by one of the 7 members. If you are already a Instagram follower, we are WineTourIN and if you'd like a crash course/introduction, you can find it at this link.

Wine can be very simple, you like it or you don't. Yet, what is it that you like or don't like, and perhaps as important, why? In an attempt to remove some of the barriers and answer questions you may have, assistant winemaker and Biology degree-holder Tyler Daniels is game to break down general wine-related concepts, continuing this month.

Saignée is Fun to Say
 

  One of the major challenges for a wine maker is managing the components of the juice even before its fermented. Before the wine is fermented, many decisions have to be made such as determining what type of color, mouth feel, and the wines ability to age. These characteristics are a direct relation to the amount of phenolic compounds that are dissolved into the juice from the skins. These phenolic compounds are much more soluble in ethanol (created during fermentation) than in juice so as the wine ferments more and more phenolic compounds dissolve. Once fermentation is finished the wine has gained almost all of the phenolic compounds it can from the skins. Sometimes the result is not enough phenolic compounds and this can result in a thin red wine that lacks in color and mouth feel.

                The Saignée method of winemaking is a method of increasing the ratio of skin contact to juice in an attempt to increase the concentration of phenolic compounds. In this method the some of the juice is removed from the must solution. This juice is called runoff. The skins and seeds are left in the original must that is to be fermented. This reduces the concentration of juice in the must solution which as a result increases the skin to juice ratio. Once the juice is then fermented, the result is a wine with increased phenolic compounds. This allows a winemaker to increase the color and mouth feel of the wine as well as allow it to age longer. As an added bonus to this method the runoff that was collected can also be fermented into a light bodied low phenolic compound rosé. One such example is Red Zinfandel and White Zinfandel. By using the Saignée method, a winemaker creates a darker, heavy bodied red Zin as well as a thinner white zin from the runoff.

Sacchi, Karna L., Linda F. Bisson, and Douglas O. Adams. "A Review of the Effect of Winemaking Techniques on Phenolic Extraction in Red Wines." American Journal of Enology And Viticulture 56.3 (2005): 197-206. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.