Sticky Fingers

October 07, 2005 by Craig Camp in Working with Wine

My arms are covered with sweet, sticky grape juice up to my elbows. I can't believe how sweet it is as I lick my dripping fingers. This is the experience of hand sorting grapes before they are destemmed and enter the fermenter. It is a great experience as it really brings home to you that wine comes from grapes. The finished product has little to do with the flavors of the fresh fruit (except in a very general way), so for the consumer the wine in their glass is only intellectually associated with the fruit it came from.

This only reinforces my dislike of over-oaked and over-manipulated wines as these characteristics only further separate the finished wine from the vineyard from which it came.

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