When it comes to Mediterranean grapes such as Roussanne and Grenache, one Australian winemaker believes ceramic eggs are the best solution as vessels for fermentation and ageing – while dismissing concrete as “coarse”.
During a discussion on winemaking with Peter Fraser, who is head winemaker for Yangarra Estate Vineyard in the McLaren Vale, db learnt that despite the fashionable nature of concrete eggs for making wine, it’s ceramic that can be the better material. Fraser, who was declared a Winemaker of the Year by Australian wine critic James Halliday in 2016, told db that he has been using ceramic eggs since 2013, having made the switch from oak vessels 10 years ago in a search to “tighten up” his wines. In 2012, when he was considering new materials in which to age and ferment his wines, he recorded that “all the cool kids” were turning to concrete as a ideal material for winemaking, even though it meant turning back the clock. “When I was working at St Hallett [in the Barossa Valley in the late 90s], one of my early jobs was waxing the concrete tanks,” recorded Fraser, commenting that such a job was necessary because the material was porous. “At that time, we wanted to get rid of them,” he said, referring to the concrete tanks, which he said not only required a lot of work to line and clean, but also failed to yield a pristine result. “Producers stopped using concrete, because it didn’t bring clarity to their
This Article was originally published on The Drink Business - Wine
