Vintage 2011: Malvasia
Before I bring you the latest ‘news’ on my 2011 production, I feel it would be wrong of me to gloss over my Vendange Hative Malvasia and the Blood of the Abandoned.
Firstly, the Vendanges Hatives: after stopping the fermentation (with the addition of Sulphur) and then bottling, the resultant juice was relatively sweet and ‘pretty good’ (at least that’s what Isabelle Legeron MW told me – the rest of the unbiased tasters remained tactfully silent when I opened a bottle but, in retrospect, they obviously knew nothing about wine). Could it be that Isabelle was being overly kind? Surely not.
Nonetheless, several weeks later, the juice decided it had had enough and began to ferment as much of the left-over sugar as it could – this despite the presence of the Sulphur which obviously decided that discretion was the better part of valour and let the yeast do its worst. I found all the bottles had blown their corks and had turned into a volatile, highly alcoholic – but still sweet – joke on the theme of an Italian Vin Santo (oxidised ‘n’ all). It’s now on ullage in a demijohn acquiring ever-more VA and looking like a candidate for a joke on the theme of Balsamic Vinegar. I wouldn’t mind so much if I hadn’t gone to all the effort. It’s heartbreaking, but it’s my fault for not being thorough enough.
As for the Blood of the abandoned (95% late-harvest Malvasia and 5% late-harvest Tempranillo): it was – and remains – an absolute dog. The VA (Volatile Acidity) was quite high and hence a little off-putting but that was nothing compared with trying to taste it. Despite trying to stop the ferment, the yeast (AWRI 1503) was not to be held down and of course fermented through to dryness which gave around 15% alcohol (possibly more – I could never bring myself to measure it). Tasting a volatile, hugely alcoholic rosé was just too much – it was so brutal I couldn’t once bring myself to swallow it – I’d have probably come out in a rash. It was an angry gorilla in a tutu.
This year, I’ve got about 60 litres of Malvasia settling in tank at 25 Brix – a brutal potential alcohol of 15-16%. It’s going to get the works too: enzymes, alcohol-reduction liquid (water), cultured yeast, acidity correction and so on. If I can promise one thing about the outcome: Natural Wine it wont be.
