How to create the best wine cellar

Bodegas Santalba wants to give you some pieces of advice about how to create the best wine cellar. You just have to follow some simple rules and the wine will develop in the best way to increase the qualilty during its ageing in bottle. 

- Temperature: Between 11ºC and 16ºC is the best temperature to give the wine a correct evolution. In case were bellow 11º the evolution will be very slowly and above 16º very fast..

- Humidity: Between 60% and 70%. In case were higher fungus will appear in the cork and bellow 60% the wine could be evaporated through the cork.

- Light: Keep the wine in a place with light enough to read the labels, as less as possible.

- Smell and air circulation: Keep the wine in a place with no strong smell like the kitchen or in contact with chemical products. Air circulation is a must to prevent fungus.

We hope you find it interesting and we will continue giving you recomendations and facts to use in your home and enjoy our family wines as better as possible! 

Wine process - Part II

We continue with the wine process and as we told you in our last post, with the FERMENTATION, one of the most important points during the elaboration process.

The grape juice needs to overcome two different fermentations, the alcoholic and the malolactic.

ALCOHOLIC FERMENTATION
The alcoholic fermentation is the process when the sugar turns into alcohol.
That is with are needed the yeasts, microorganism that we can find naturally in the grape skin (kind of white dust you can find out side the grape skin).

The oxigen is the responsable to start this fermentation, because of the yeasts need it in their growth period.
However, at the end of the fermentation the quantity of oxigen must be smaller to keep the ethyl alcohol and get the acetic acid. 

From the alcoholic fermentation, we obtain heat energy and we have to control the temperature because if it increase too much,(25-30 ºC) the yeasts could die and the fermentation will be stooped.

Another product from the alcoholic fermentation is the gas, carbon dioxide and it cause the bubbles and the boiling effect, and of course the characteristic aroma from the fermentation. There is a video from our tanks during this period, it is amazing! More than 30.000 litres... 

                       
This boiling effect makes the grape skins go to the top of the tank (solids) and create the "hat". This "hat" protect the grape juice from bacteria and another microorganism from the skin and also is from we get the tanins and the color, aromas and  another susbtances like Resveratrol located in the skin.

Wine process - Part I

After to show this grafic on our Social Networks, some friends have been asking about it and that is why we want to explain you our "know how" of Rioja Wine Process. We hope you will enjoy it and please, if you have any question, ask us

As you know, all the process starts in the vineyards, after the hard work done during the year around the 10th of October, the HARVEST starts in Bodegas Santalba. Depends on the year, the climate for example will be an important factor to get different quality. The Consejo Regulador from D.O.Ca. Rioja will calificate the harvest after some tests and facts as Excellent, Very Good, Good, Satisfactory and Average.

All the grapes are not from the same vine and vineyard, so they will have different features. For example, if they come from very old vineyards, like the grapes we use for our Santalba Single Vineyard (http://www.santalba.com/vinos/?acc=vinos&fam=8&idv=17&idc=8 ) they will have "special" characteristis to survive a long ageing process into the barrels and bottles. That is why not every year we have these special wines. 

 In the picture above the text, you can see the grape process falling down into the machine,  where the grapes will be separated the fruit from the "green" part by the destemmer. The green part will be rejected and the grape, quite broken goes to the tanks where the grape juice in touch with the grapes will do the maceration.
After this, we send the grapes to the press. This process now is done by very modern machines but the traditional way to press the grapes were like the picture, done by people in half barrels, just walking above them. 

Now starts a very important moment in the wine process the FERMENTATION. We have two different the ALCHOLIC and the MALOLACTIC and we will explain the differences between them soon.

TASTING COURSE IV - BODEGAS SANTALBA

 

We continue with our tasting course and we will try to be a professional sommelier.

In this point we will go step by step, sense by sense analyzing the wine

Depends on the experience each one can choose the best order and follow its own routines:

Sight eye, Smell, Taste, Touch and Hearing Senses

Sight eye

It is the first sense, and we look 3 important characteristics: Colour, Intensity and cleanliness.

The wine should be looked in the glass, first settle and through the light trying to appreciate the cleanliness, colour and brightness…

Later round the glass and look the wine, a fluid wine is like water and a dense one like syrup.

After shake it, we will see “tears” on the glass’s wall and this will be more or less alcoholic % and glycerine content, very relevant in this part of the tasting.

The Colour should be analyzed tilting the glass 45º and above a white background to see better the colours. The colour is very close to the age of the wine. If lighter and brown it is older than blues and violet.

Have a look to the different colours depends on the age:

The cleanliness depends on the transparency of a wine and the decants, clarified and filtered.

We will continue soon with another sense and different points to be a professional sommelier and to do a taste with friends!

Cheers!

TASTING COURSE III - BODEGAS SANTALBA

Hello friends, then, we continue with the tasting process and the technique to be a professional somelier /taster.

1. First we open the bottle and fill the glass about 1/3.

2. We look at the wine and use the light or a white background to check the aspect , smell, lightness, …etc.

3. We should shake the glass very slowly and hold the glass by the bottom.

Smell the wine to get the volatile smells.

After that you should shake strong to get the heaviest. You should repeat this a few times to see as much as possible

4. Now you have to introduce a small sip and keep it in your mouth for a few seconds (5-6) to warm the wine and give it a temperature around 35ºC.

Alter this, you have to move the wine around all your mouth to impregnate the taste buds.

5. With the wine in your mouth you have to suck up some air and pass it through it. The air will be expel it through the nose.

This process is called retro-nasal and the wine smell it is similar to the smell that you get in the glass but usually you get some news because of the warming in mouth.

6.After you should drink or expel the wine. The aromatic and mouth sensations do not disappear after it. Some of them keep in because of the persistence. As much time as it keep it, the qualities of the wine be better. In some wines of high quality this is around 10 seconds.

This is also linked with a well-balance wine, when you have a long persistence and this is group and balanced is used by the professional sommeliers and tasters this expression.

During the tasting process we use the 5 senses and each one have to use them as better as possible but my advine is to shake very fase and smell it quickly to get all the aromas and do not lose but we will continue in our next post.

Keep an eye and we will inform you soon about the next step in the wine tasting. We are close to be a professional.

Cheers!

TASTING COURSE II - BODEGAS SANTALBA

We continue with our tasting course

Then, when we are ready, we will start with the tasting:

• From the lightest to the hardest
• From the weakest to the most alcoholic
• From the driest to the sweetest



VIÑA HERMOSA - BODEGAS SANTALBA



Firstly we should start the tasting with whites, continue with the roses and finísh with reds, starting with the younghest and continue with the aged ones. If there is any sweet, we will leave it for the end. 

The glass do not have to be filled more than the 1/3, reasons:

Example about the quantity

• To shake it without problems
• To smell properly the aromas that the wine dislodge
• To see the colour because if we have too much wine, we can not see the colour clearly reflected in the other side of the glass, table, hand... 

We wish you are taking notes about these advices and you will use them in future tastings… Soon, we will post new secrets about tasting…

Cheers!