nigel groundwater
nigel groundwater
AFAIK the use of man/machine cryoextraction in the production of the great sweet wines including Sauternes has always been controversial due to its 'unnatural' connotations.
IIRC it was Lur Saluces stated intention to use the process in the production of Yquem in 1987 that provoked Hardy Rodenstock [who was already vying with his erstwhile friend the Comte to be the foremost expert on Yquem] to criticise him bitterly for using such a 'horror machine' - thereby provoking the beginnings of one of the many cracks that started to form in his previously high reputation through the loss of one of his prime supporters and 'authenticators' of 18th and 19th century wines of which Yquem was a key example.
Used first experimentally in Sauternes at Chateau Rayne-Vigneau sometime in the early 1980s, cryoextraction is now apparently used by many as a means of concentration through water removal a la ice wine - only artificially and more quickly without the reliance on Mother Nature. I believe the initial experiments were aimed at dealing with excessively wet vintages where dilution and fruit loss through grey rot might be mitigated by the technique rather than a desire to introduce a new dimension per se.
However it is perhaps unsurprising that the same furore would arise from its use in making the great sweet wines of the Loire.
IIRC it was Lur Saluces stated intention to use the process in the production of Yquem in 1987 that provoked Hardy Rodenstock [who was already vying with his erstwhile friend the Comte to be the foremost expert on Yquem] to criticise him bitterly for using such a 'horror machine' - thereby provoking the beginnings of one of the many cracks that started to form in his previously high reputation through the loss of one of his prime supporters and 'authenticators' of 18th and 19th century wines of which Yquem was a key example.
Used first experimentally in Sauternes at Chateau Rayne-Vigneau sometime in the early 1980s, cryoextraction is now apparently used by many as a means of concentration through water removal a la ice wine - only artificially and more quickly without the reliance on Mother Nature. I believe the initial experiments were aimed at dealing with excessively wet vintages where dilution and fruit loss through grey rot might be mitigated by the technique rather than a desire to introduce a new dimension per se.
However it is perhaps unsurprising that the same furore would arise from its use in making the great sweet wines of the Loire.