- Welcome, everyone to
We

dnesday Nite at the Lab.

I'm Tom Zinnen.

I work here at the UW-Madison
Biotechnology Center.

I also work for UW-Extension
Cooperative Extension,

and on behalf of those folks
and our other co-organizers,

Wisconsin Public Television,

the Wisconsin Alumni Association

and the
UW-Madison Science Alliance.

Thanks again for coming to
We

dnesday Nite at the Lab.

We do this every Wednesday
night, 50 times a year.

Tonight, it's my pleasure to
introduce to you Nick Smith.

He is the brand new
enologist here at

UW-Madison in the
Department of Food Science.

He was born in Lionel
Lakes, Minnesota,

and went to the University
of Minnesota for his

undergraduate on the
Minneapolis campus.

Then he got his enology training
at Oregon State University,

worked for a couple of
years in California,

came back to the Twin Cities

to get a master's degree
in food science

on the St. Paul campus,
and then in April came

to Madison to be,
as far as I know,

the first dedicated
enologist here at UW-Madison.

I think it's a great
time to be thinking about

grapes and wine
here in Wisconsin.

Please join me in
welcoming Nick Smith

to Wednesday Nite at the Lab.

(Applause)

- Thanks, Tom.
Good evening.

Happy you all could
come out tonight

and talk about some
Wisconsin wine.

Occasionally I have a
little trouble switching

to Wisconsin since for so
many years I said Minnesota.

(Laughter)

Forgive me if I make a
little slip up there.

As Tom mentioned, I
am the first dedicated

enologist here at
University of Wisconsin,

part of the brand new
Fermentation Sciences program,

which I will introduce
shortly here.

Kind of a rundown of what
we'll talk about tonight.

I'm going to introduce
myself a little bit, although

Tom did a very good
job of that already,

as well as the new program
and the new project

that we have going here at
the University of Wisconsin.

We'll talk a little bit
about Wisconsin grape

and wine history, move on
to some industry statistics,

and then kind of go
into discussions of
cold climate grapes,

what makes them
unique, how those

uniquenesses impact
wine production

and what I study and
research and work with the

industry on improving,
talking about a bit about

quality and what
that really means,

and then talking about
the research that we have

going on here at the
University of Wisconsin,

both of what I'm doing
and a bit of what the

horticulture department
is doing as well

as the genetics department
here, right above us actually.

So it's a brand new position.

I started March 28th.

So I've only been
here a few months.

So it's part of the
Fermentation Sciences program.

Dr. Jim Steele is the
chair of that program.

We're getting that
started so I'm basically

the first employee of
that program as well.

So they're doing a lot
of research on beer

and wine production up there.

What makes this interesting
is this position

was started by an initiative
from the industry itself.

It is not a university based,

they did not sponsor
it initially.

The Wisconsin Vintners
Association, along

with the Wisconsin
Winery Association,

the Wisconsin Grape
Growers Association,

got together, teamed up,

and wrote a grant to
fund this position.

And we got funding
for several years

to get the position started.

What's fascinating
about this from my

perspective, having
worked in other states in

the industry, is that
the first one on there

is the Amateur Wine
Association out of Milwaukee.

So to have an amateur
wine association be one

of the biggest supporters
and proponents of

our program I think
is pretty amazing.

And they've been very
helpful in getting

this all started and organized.

So the position itself
main focus is on

improving the quality
of Wisconsin wine.

So my main objectives
are to go out,

meet with wineries,
address quality concerns,

do analysis, as well as
formulate research to

help improve the overall quality
of Wisconsin wine and grapes.

My background, as Tom mentioned,

is I originally got my
undergraduate degree in

finance and marketing
from the University of

Minnesota's Carlson
School of Management,

ended up continuing on in
food science for a while.

During that time, I spent
a year at Oregon State

studying food science,
finished up that year,

and the headed south
into California where

I started an
internship a year ago,

10 years ago in August of 2015.

That's when I kind of
got full on into wine.

So I worked at a facility
that used to be owned

by Ste. Michelle Wine Estates
out of Hopland, California.

Finished my internship
there and got a job,

position at Beringer
Vineyards working as a

wine chemist doing
lots of lab analysis.

Before I actually went out west,

I actually did research
at the University of

Minnesota for the
enologist who was there.

She informed me that
there was a position

opening up at the
University of Minnesota,

applied for that position,
and eventually moved

back to the University
of Minnesota about 2006

to do research wine
production there.

I was the research winemaker

and wine analyst for
the breeding program.

Briefly between here
and University of

Minnesota I did go
back and do commercial

wine production and
cider production at Four

Daughters Winery and Vineyard
down in Rochester, Minnesota.

And then when this
position opened up,

I applied and accepted and
shortly thereafter moved here.

So it was a very
quick succession.

Before we talk about
Wisconsin wine history,

we're all here tonight
so I'm assuming

most of you are wine consumers.

Is that correct?
(Laughter)

All right, so, next
question is, how many of you

are actually avid consumers
of Wisconsin wine?

A very good show of hands.

Great. I ask those
questions in Minnesota

and don't always get
the same response.

So that's good.

They've been growing
grapes for quite a long

time on some level in
Wisconsin since the

1840s when Agoston
started the vineyard not

far north of here,
what eventually would
become Wollersheim.

And the first commercial winery
in the state started in 1867.

So we're going on
close to 50 years

of having commercial wine

production in the
state of Wisconsin.

Wollersheim started in 1972.

They're prominent
because they are

the largest winery
here in Wisconsin.

There's been several
viticulture areas that have

been named and
established in Wisconsin

viticulture areas are
areas recognized by the

federal government for
having very specific

wine growing, grape
growing characteristics.

So it's good for marketing
and differentiation of

the wineries and grapes
grown in those areas.

University of Wisconsin
didn't really start

getting into grape
research probably around

2000, 2005, 2008
when they started

establishing vineyards
at the agricultural

research sites around the state,

one of which is over
here in west Madison.

And then in 2015, just
shortly not long ago,

that's when I came on board.

So that's kind of the
history of Wisconsin wine.

A little bit of statistics.

Currently, there are
actually about 110 wineries

licensed in the
state of Wisconsin.

So you can see from
several years ago, that's

quite an increase
of over 20 wineries.

We're growing roughly five to
10 wineries every single year.

That's been consistent for
the last five or 10 years.

Up to probably 700-plus
acres of grapes.

I would say probably
more than that.

It's a little hard to get
a good estimate since a

lot of small growers don't
report how many acres they have.

You can see in the last
13 years, they've more

than doubled the size and number

of grapes grown
here in Wisconsin.

The five largest wineries
are Wollersheim, Door

44, Parallel 44, which
are the same business,

Danzinger Vineyards,
Door Peninsula and Elmaro.

A couple wineries that
I've kind of gotten into

recently are Dancing
Dragonfly and Villa Bellezza.

I think those will
probably move into the top

five here pretty soon.

We should be proud of
some of our wineries,

particularly Wollersheim Winery.

It's one of the largest
independent held

wineries outside of California,

including Oregon and Washington.

So I think it's about 13th.

They're producing 100,000
cases, roughly, every year.

We'll talk a bit about
cold climate grapes.

Some of you are
probably familiar

with these particular varieties.

Worked a lot with
these varieties

when I was at the
University of Minnesota.

Marquette had just gotten
introduced when I started there.

So I'm probably one of
the few people who has

the most experience of
actually producing that grape.

So the cold climate
grapes, these hybrids,

they're an interspecific
cross between either

Vitis labrusca or
Vitis riparia and

the typical wine grapes
of Vitis vinifera.

Vitis vinifera are
your Chardonnays,

your Merlots, and
your Cabernets.

Vitis riparia is also
known as river grapes since

that's where it
predominately grows are in

rivers along the riverbanks.

Very small berries, small
clusters, dark juice,

high acid, very high
sugar, herbaceous flavor.

I talk about these
characteristics because a lot

of this genetics get
carried over into our other

varieties that we're
trying to grow now.

These are the type of
things that we have to

learn how to handle when we
try to make these into wine.

On the other side there's
labrusca varieties

which tend to be a little
bit lower in sugar, but

they have a very
specific flavor profile.

The University of Minnesota
has relied a lot on

Vitis riparia for its
cold climate genetics.

Whereas, Elmer Swenson,
who I'll mention again here

shortly, since he's a Wisconsin
based grape breeder, he

used a lot of labrusca based.

When we think of hybrids we
think of them in kind of one

general camp, but there's
really two sort of separate

angles that they can take.

And the challenges that they

present aren't
quite all the same.

So you can see the Vitis
riparia is grown pretty much

native throughout
the Upper Midwest

and Canada and down
into even Texas.

You can see from
this picture maybe

just how tiny and scraggly
those grape clusters are.

So they're kind of
hard to deal with.

Very tiny berries.
Lots of pigment.

It takes a lot of picking to get

any real production
out of those.

So, in terms of breeding and
varieties you might see here

in the Wisconsin market,
MarÈchal Foch and LÈon Millot...

are things that are grown
quite a bit here in the

southeastern part of Wisconsin.

Wollersheim grows
a lot of these.

Botham Vineyard grows both
of these pretty extensively.

And they've been around
since 1910 or in the 1910s

when a French breeder
named Eugene Kuhlmann

produced those varieties,

and they've been very
popular ever since.

They're kind of the basis for
cold climate wine production.

And in Minnesota and north
and west of here, they don't

grow as well as they do here.

So other breeders, including
the University of Minnesota,

have been working on
trying to improve on those

and create other
varieties that are better

suited for these climates.

The University of
Minnesota has been working

on grapes for a very
long period of time,

started breeding
roughly in 1905,

and started coming out with
their first round of grapes

that they released
in about 1944.

I highlighted Bluebell
there since that's one

you occasionally do see
wineries producing in the wine.

I don't know if the other three
really even exist anymore.

I think they might
actually be extinct.

But the initial
emphasis of the program

was on table grapes,
juice, jelly production.

It wasn't until about
the '70s or '80s when

they actually shift
focus and put more energy

and effort into actually
wine grape production.

Their first wine grape was
released in '96 called--

which many of you who
have been to wineries

around the state
have probably seen.

They're actually hinting that
they'll release a new variety,

at least when I was still
working there they hinted at it.

I don't know what the
current status of that is,

but hopefully they'll
have that out soon.

On top of the
university breeders,

there's been a lot
of private breeders.

There's a lot of people with an

interest in growing
these varieties.

So way back even in the 1870s,

Lewis Swelter created
numerous varieties,

but one of his
biggest ones was Beta,

which would have been
one of the most popular

varieties grown in the Upper
Midwest prior to Prohibition

and was actually
pretty widely grown

in both Minnesota and Iowa.

David MacGregor is
a private breeder.

He came up with Petite Amie,
which isn't necessarily

very popular here in Wisconsin,

but you do find some
of it in Minnesota.

After that, of course,
is Tom Plocher.

He created the Petite Pearl,
which is becoming a popular

grape grown, or a very
interested variety,

here in Wisconsin.

It's a relatively new
variety so we don't know

a great deal about it.

We got some of those grapes

from the research
center this year.

So we'll get some new
information on those.

And he's planning to
breed at least a couple

new varieties here this year.

One of the other
major universities

that does grape breeding
is also New York.

I mention them mostly because
of varieties like Traminette.

You might see those
in local wineries.

Traminette is not cold
hardy enough for Wisconsin,

but they do grow in
Illinois and Arkansas.

So you occasionally do see them

in tasting rooms
around Wisconsin.

I can't talk about
Wisconsin grape

breeding without mentioning
Elmer Swenson, who many consider

the godfather of grape breeding,

especially the
Wisconsin supporters.

It should be noted, though,

that he did work for the
University of Minnesota

for about 10 years,
and while he was

there they joint
released two varieties.

Edelweiss, which is a
common grape variety that

is turned into wine,
particularly here and Nebraska,

as well as Swenson Red.

And he created a whole slew
of other grape varieties.

He also produced and released
St. Pepin, a popular one,

and Brianna around
here and a few of those

other varieties
you might see when

you're out and about
in tasting rooms.

So, what's the general
differences between
these varieties?

Well, one is color.

In terms of red
grapes, the color

intensity and the pigmentation

is very intense compared to,
say, your average vinifera.

One of the things
that they have besides

pigment in the skins is
also their pigmented pulp.

Cabernet and Pinot
noir have a clear pulp.

Our varieties actually
have a pigmented pulp.

So when you press
these things out,

they're actually very dark
right from the beginning.

And the white grapes, they
have a bit of a yellow tint,

but they also can brown a bit.

So there's a high
polyphenol oxidase activity.

If you ever cut open an
apple or a banana starts

to turn brown, so those
enzymes also exist in grapes.

The hybrids seem to
have a lot more of those

then many of the vinifera.

One thing you'll
definitely notice

if you try cold climate wines is

that they tend to be
a lot more acidic.

Quite a bit more
than Vitis vinifera.

Titratable acidity,
11 grams per liter

to 15 to 17 grams per liter.

A majority of that is
actually malic acid,

where vinifera is
typically 50/50.

It's got an even split
of tartaric to malic,

where some of these
varieties, like La Crescent,

can be almost 75% malic
acid, which is important when

we discuss later how we
manage the acid in the winery.

So just kind of
a general summary

of some titratable acidities

just to give you an idea
that Frontenac is roughly two

to three times more acidic than
your average red table wine.

Sometimes three times as much.

So these are some of
the challenges that
we have to embrace

and work with when we're making
wines from these varieties.

But there are other
varieties out there,

other styles of wine out there

that could fit those quite well.

So, sparkling wine is
probably a good use

for some of these varieties.

One other difference is the
amount of tannin in the variety,

especially red grapes.

Very little tannins
in the finished wine.

And it's almost
completely opposite.

So, vinifera have a
great deal of tannins

and not nearly as much
anthocyanin content,

where the cold climate
varieties have a tremendous

amount of anthocyanins
and not a lot of tannins.

So theirs is kind of reversed.

A lot of people
would like to see

more tannins in their varieties.

I kind of prefer
the fact that we

don't have a lot
of tannin in that.

If we had high
tannin and high acid,

it'd be a very difficult
wine to work with,

even more than it already is.

Acid tends to increase
the perception of tannins,

as well as tannins increasing
the perception of acid.

So having both of those
would be a bit challenging.

The sugar content can vary a
bit depending on the variety,

it's parentage, and
where it's grown.

One of the challenges I
had when I was in Minnesota

is that the varieties
accumulated a lot of sugar.

So it could be a
very alcoholic wine

or put a lot of stress on these.

Don't seem to have that
issue down here in Wisconsin,

in this part of
Wisconsin as much,

but those are some of
the issues you can have.

The fact that it is lower is
helpful for different types

and different styles of wines.

And some of the
other properties,

are just for processing scape.

Some of the difficulties is

some of the labrusca based
ones have a slip skin.

So it's a very difficult pulp,

and it will just slip
right out of the skin,

which makes pressing extremely
difficult for those varieties.

But we're here to talk about
embracing cold climate wine.

So things that we do
well, these varieties

are almost all very aromatic.

Very distinct.

Unmistakeable aroma
profiles for these wines,

which I think is great
and people need to

kind of embrace that and
promote that a little more.

And things we can do with
acidic wine with low tannin

and low sugar content
is we can make things

like sparkling wine.

It's a perfect option
for our varieties as is.

As well as things like Rosé.

I mention here and up and
coming style called Pet Nat,

which is a carbonated
form of sparkling wine

but not nearly as carbonated.

So what they'll do is
they'll take wine as

it's nearing fermentation
and bottle it.

And the residual sugar
will ferment out,

much like a carbonated
bottled conditioned beer.

So it's a low
carbonated dry wine,

which I hear are quite nice.

It's an up and coming trend

I see a lot of it coming
out of Europe right now.

Dessert wines and ports also

work very well
with our varieties.

Two of the largest and fastest

growing markets
in the wine world

are Sauvignon Blanc, which
typically are dry acidic wines,

as well as Rosés, which
things like Marquette

and Frontenac can
make very nice Rosés.

Now we say that
the Midwest is kind

of like the wild west
of grape growing.

There are no limits.

There's nothing telling us
what we can and can't do.

So hopefully some creativity and

adventurous people will come
out and create some new things.

So some statistics on both
Sauvignon Blanc and Rosé.

You can see that
the blended table

market was up 33% last year.

So I think that's a good
opportunity for wineries here

to take advantage of that,
as well as to maybe embrace

some of the lesser sweet
styles, like Sauvignon

Blanc and New Zealand ones,
which tend to be dry and acidic.

I should note that while the
blush category is up 33%,

White Zinfandel was actually
down 7% over the last year.

All that is great,
but one of the things

I'm here for is to
talk about quality.

So, quality in Wisconsin wine.

My purpose is to help improve
the quality of Wisconsin wine,

identifying some of the top
quality challenges and issues.

So last, when I first got here,

I surveyed all the wineries
in the state to get an

idea the things they
thought were the top quality

challenges for the
state of Wisconsin.

These are the issues
that they brought up,

and they're the typical
culprits of almost

any wine production
area out there.

So, oxidation,
sulfide production,

volatile acidity,
quality of fruit.

A little less pressing
is just wine style,

matching the fruit with the type

of wine or good style of wine,

and just issues of fruit
growing and wine quality

So not just figuring out how
to make the grapes survive,

but how to grow the
grapes in a way that they

can actually
produce better wine.

So there's like two layers there
that we're trying to get to,

the first layer and
then the second layer.

But what is quality mean?

And that's one of the challenges
of my position is that

quality itself is
kind of a vague term,

and it varies a lot
by individual and who
you're talking to.

So someone in the
service industry might

talk about complexity, body,
weight, food and wine pairing.

The Sauvignon Blanc from
New Zealand tastes like

it should be a Sauvignon
Blanc from New Zealand,

or if the flavor profile is
off, integration and harmony

and all these terms that they

like to use for
their wine quality.

From a producer perspective,
is it free from faults?

Is it bottle stable?

Did it produce the type of
wine that I was trying to make?

That might be what producers are

looking for in terms of
what they define quality.

Here's two drastically
different types of wine.

Screaming Eagle being a thousand
dollar-plus per bottle cult

wine out of California
and Beringer producing

and $8 bottle of White Zin,

When we talk about quality,
which one has more quality?

Which is a higher quality wine?

Well, it depends on how
you want to look at it.

You might say the
Screaming Eagle,

because of its complexities and

where it's from, is
a high quality wine.

But I could easily say that
Beringer is a high quality wine

because that wine, I did
tons of analysis on that wine

so I can tell you
that a lot of effort

and research goes into
that wine production.

Very careful about it.

A lot of effort goes into it.

When you got pick up a bottle
of White Zin from Beringer

off the shelf, one bottle
could be produced last month,

the other bottle could have
been bottled six months ago,

they'll be identical
pretty much.

That's a difficult
feat to achieve.

That reproducibility that they

have should not be understated.

So it depends on what you
determine quality to be.

When you start talking
about wine faults

and things that are bad quality,

it gets to be a bit
of fine line between

what constitutes complexity
and what's objectionable

So somebody might
like a bit of a--

character in their
wine; someone else might

think it's the worst thing ever.

Where that line
is drawn is really

dependent upon you
as an individual.

Your experience with wine.
How much wine have you drank?

How many different regions have

you drank it from in
your history with that?

As well as perspective.

The example that I saw
of perspective is, say,

two individuals smell
rosemary in a wine.

One person might
associate that with

a culinary rosemary chicken or
some other food application,

but another person
might compare that with

a personal care
product, like a lotion.

So which would you rather
have your wine smell like?

So, two people smelling the
same thing are going to have two

very different ideas on whether
they like that wine or not.

And then you get
into physiology,

which is every one of us
smells wine differently.

What we're sensitive to

and not sensitive to
is very individual.

So every person's
experience is unique.

It makes quality kind of
a challenge to define.

So I refer to Dr. Bisson out
of UC Davis who defined GRAY,

which is generally
recognized as yucky.

So these are the
compounds I focus

on when it comes
to Wisconsin wine.

As we mentioned before,
here's a few examples or

some of the common examples

of issues you might
find in wine and cider.

So, sulfides, oxidation and
acid aldehyde, cork taint,

which is a compound called
trichloroanisole, or TCA

if you want to sound hip
for your next dinner party,

Brettanomyces, 4-ethylphenol,

4-ethylguaiacol, acidic
acid, ethyl acetate, VA,

and a few other things
we'll talk about.

I don't know if that is very
visible from back there,

but sulfides are not a
very pleasant compound.

They're usually a result of

stressed yeast in
a fermentation.

They start kicking out,
start out as rotten

eggs all the way down
to canned vegetables.

So these are kind of
some of the initial areas

of some wine flaws that
you might come across.

Definitely probably
not acceptable

except in very tiny amounts.

Another area that's a
problem is oxygen pressure

on the wine during storage as
well as stress fermentations.

So if the wine is stored in
an environment that has a lot

of oxygen pressure
on it, whether it is
a low grade plastic

tank where the oxygen can
transmit through the side

or a lot of head space,
ethanol can be converted

over to acid aldehyde.

Acid aldehyde at low
levels can give kind of

a fruitier aspect to your wine.

Higher levels start to
smell like rotten apples.

Further than that I
get airplane glue,

model airplane glue aroma.

(Laughter)

Nuttiness but generally
considered a flaw,

unless you're sherry
where it's expected

and needs to be in
very high levels.

So wine flaws are
always in kind of

an interesting area depending

on what you're
trying to achieve.

This is a common sort of flaw
that we find in Wisconsin

just because of
proper application of
sulfur dioxide as well

as minimizing oxygen
exposure, which,

as you get on smaller
and smaller scales

and more surface area,
tends to be a much bigger

challenge for small
wineries to maintain.

So TCA is a combination
of mold and chlorine.

So a little bit of mold
plus any sort of chlorine

in the environment, most people
think it's based from cork,

but it could be from
the winery itself.

If there's any mold and they use

a chlorinated cleaning
component, you can get winery

borne TCA as well.

Not a very pleasant compound.
It's super potent.

It's parts per
trillion sensitivity.

Like as low as five
parts per trillion

people can start to pick
up on this compound.

So like one gram in an
Olympic sized swimming pool

is what we can detect.

Cork is, you can
see where you might

get a little bit of mold
or whatever from the cork.

That's an agricultural product.

So, some unpleasant
compounds from Brettanomyces.

Brettanomyces is
a spoilage yeast.

It's present in the environment.
It's on the grapes.

If a winemaker is not in a
situation where they have

a high pH wine,
Brettanomyces thrives

well in higher pH environments.

Low pH, they don't
survive as well.

Sulfides are good
at maintaining them.

But they can produce,
and if there's

a lot of residual nitrogen left,

one of the things
I didn't mention

before was that a
lot of these hybrids

actually have a lot
of nitrogen content.

You need a certain
amount of nitrogen

content to maintain a
healthy fermentation.

In a lot of cases, depending
on where it's grown,

I've seen fruit out of
Iowa have yeast assimilable

nitrogen content, or
primary nitrogen content

that the yeast use,
at six to seven times

what the yeast actually needs.

A lot of that gets leftover
in the final fermentation.

If you're not properly
maintaining your wine,

it can feed spoilage
organisms pretty well.

it can feed spoilage
organisms pretty well.

And then you get some
pretty awful things.

Unless, of course,
you like sour beer,

then those are the things
you're looking for.

It depends in what you're into.

Another concern here in
Wisconsin and a lot of places

is acidic acid
and the conversion

of the acidic acid
to ethyl acetate,

which smells like
nail polish remover.

Acidic acid,

if you've got a lot of
oxygen present on your wine

and you're not
properly sulfiding it,
then the acetobater

can take over and
start kicking it out.

Otherwise, stress yeast,
particularly ice wines,

can get a bit of VA naturally.

It's kind of a natural
process for that.

This mousiness is typically
associated with cider.

I kind of bring it up because
it's an interesting particular

compound because you can't
smell it at the cider pH.

So until you taste it,
you won't know it's there.

So it's kind of a horrible
shock sort of reality.

The pH, and it depends
on the individual,

so if you're an individual
who has a higher pH saliva,

it raises the pH of
the wine or the cider,

and then it becomes
nice and noticeable

on the finish of your palate.

It's not the greatest way
to finish a sip of wine.

Some other common things
are protein formation.

Haze formation due to
protein instability

due to heating of the wine.

Potassium bitartrate are
obviously little crystals

you might get if you chill wine.

Wineries still put
a lot of effort

to remove those from wine.

Apparently consumers still might

mistake them for
glass particles.

It's a lot of effort to do that.

A lot of energy goes
into chilling wine down

and getting the potassium
bitartrate to settle

out of it simply for
cosmetic reasons.

You do get a little bit of
acid reduction from that.

So wineries who like to do
it kind of get a little bit,

take down their
acidity a little bit.

But, again, depending
on who you are,

sometimes hazes are good.

A couple of kind of recent,

last five or 10 years, popular

wines is a thing
called orange wine.

So it's white wine that's
been fermented on its skins.

Some of it has been fully
filtered and processed

out to look like a
clear wine, but some

of it's just left raw,
hazy, and kind of natural.

So there's a whole
group of people

that get into that.

I talked about Pet
Nat a little bit.

So you get a wine
that has sediment

in it because of
that refermentation

of the yeast in the bottle.

So the world is kind of
changing in the world

of wine of what's
considered acceptable

and unacceptable anymore.

So you can see
the orange wine on

top there is very cloudy.

That's intentional.

So in terms of
Wisconsin wine and

whether or not these GRAY
issues are more common,

it's hard to say.

I've been to wine
regions all over

the country and the world, and

I've experienced and encountered
these problems everywhere.

The typical issues obviously
are experience in both

just recognizing
what these flaws are

and how to prevent
them in production.

Expertise.

One of the things
recognizing that commercial

wine production is
a much different

animal than home
wine production,

which can be a
challenge for some

people to make
that transition and

realizing there's
a whole new world

of technology that they have to

learn how to deal
with to get better

at producing a commercial wine.

A lot of people get into the

winemaking world without
having a scientific background.

Wine production is a
very scientific thing.

So you'll get people who
are close to retirement,

decide they want to open a
winery, probably haven't had

a chemistry class since
sophomore year of high school.

It makes things a little
challenging at times.

It's a very capital intensive

and expensive proposition
to start a winery.

Having proper equipment
and laboratory equipment to do

quality wine production
can be a bit of a challenge.

So, things we do here.

Well, we have
analytical services.

So we can do some of the
higher end analysis for you.

I do site visits.

I go out and I
consult with wineries

and help them work
through their challenges.

If they wish to contact me and
work on those, we'll do that.

Otherwise, I hold workshops
and educational events

where we'll address
specific winemaking issues.

And then we're working
on some various cold

climate specific research

to improve the
quality of the wine,

to understand how we can make
wine out of these varieties.

So, horticulture has
probably presented here,

I'm pretty sure at least once
or twice, but some of the things

they're working on
is the impact of

fruit shading and sun exposure
on the quality of fruit.

So they're going
out and pulling the

leaves off and leaving some
vines very well shaded,

some vines very well exposed,

and looking at kind
of the differences of

what the chemistry of
those varieties are.

They're also looking
at trellising,

different types of trellises.

Best ways to grow
various varieties.

One type of trellis
system might not

work well with one
variety than another.

They're looking at some pest

management as well as disease
management options as well.

So on our side over in enology,

it was a pretty
easy thing to take

the fruit shading
thing and let's

make some wine out of it

and we can compare
the flavor of that.

It's hard to say whether
one is better than the other

based on your
personal preferences,

but at least we'll be able
to give these examples

of shading to winemakers
and they can make decisions

about the style of wine
they want to choose

based on the results
that we can give them.

Looking at the impact
of skin contact

and fermentation temperature.

And then I will hopefully
focus on the future of wine

and research that I was doing
at the University of Minnesota,

which was biological acid
management using yeast

and bacteria to help
manage acidity in wine

and dealing with that high
malic acid content we have here.

I guess one of my ultimate
goals is to identify

the flavor compounds
in cold climate grapes

and understand how viticulture
and enology influences those.

So we can give winemakers
a range of options

on how to make
their wine based on

how flavor is influenced.

So some of the research
we're doing right now with

an undergraduate group
doing their senior project

is actually looking at skin
temperature and skin contact

and fermentation temperature
during red wine production.

Traditional red wine
production, seven to 14 days

of skin contact before
they press it out.

Warmer temperatures, 75
to 85 degrees Fahrenheit.

And the goal there is to
extract as much tannins

and phenols and color and
flavors from the grapes.

One of the things I
mentioned earlier is

that we don't have
a lot of tannins

and we have a lot of color.

It doesn't make
sense for us to be

using standard vinifera
practices to be making wine.

So these undergraduates,
a very ambitious group of

undergraduates that we
have in the department,

were evaluating the
color, phenolic content,

and flavor differences
in two varieties of wine,

Marquette and Frontenac, and
looking at cool fermented

and ambient temperature
fermentations

at different skin contact times.

They're still in
process with that.

Hopefully we'll have those
results and we can bring it to

Winemakers for their
annual meeting this winter.

It's going to be impossible
to read, but there's an arrow

pointing at the skin and then
there's a long list of things

that we find in the skin.

That's where the
skin contact research

comes into play here is,
are all those compounds

in the skins of hybrid varieties

things we actually
want in the wine?

And is it better to do
a shorter skin contact

versus a longer skin
contact fermentation?

We know that from other
research that exposing

the fruit to more sun
does lower acidity,

gives it more
sugar, and increases

the phenolic content

and gives it a different
flavor profile.

The three varieties
that we're looking at

for this year are Marquette,
Frontenac, and Petite Pearl.

Horticulture is examining
the basic chemistry

of these things throughout
the growing season.

And we're going to take them,
we're fermenting them right now,

and we're going to look at

the flavor differences
and see if there

is a change in the kind
of hybrid herbaceousness

and vegetable character of
some of these varieties,

and whether or not
shading or unshading

is actually a positive
or negative attribute.

So in terms of tannins,
Cornell University

is doing a lot of
research on tannins.

I say there's not a lot of
tannins in the final wine,

but there's actually a
fair amount of tannins

in the grapes themselves.

An active area of research
is trying to figure out

why there's not tannin
in the final wine.

There are hypotheses, and
research indicates that

there's a grape solid, a
grape particle that during

fermentation is binding
with the tannins

and is causing those
tannins to settle

out of the fermentation.

They've done research
where they've added

tannins at the start
of the fermentation

and measured how much
tannins were afterward,

and it takes a tremendous

amount of tannins
to get any result.

So these particles are very
powerful and very active.

So research that I've done
quite a bit of back in Minnesota

and will continue to do
so moving forward here

at the University of
Wisconsin is looking

at acid management
because one of the things

that we're having one of
the biggest challenges

we have are the high
acidity of these grapes

and grape varieties,
particularly malic acid.

It's not just so
much purely sourness

that we got to worry about,

but it's the interaction of
acid with other compounds.

So the more acid we
have in there, the more

likely you're
going to taste some

of the bitterness
compounds that might

be present and the more
likely you're going to

have some astringency
because malic acid

itself has an
astringent character.

So in terms of what we have

available to us
to manage acidity,

there's really, once
it gets to the winery,

there's a couple, a few
methods we can deal, use.

So there's some
chemical methods,

and then there's using biology.

So as far as chemical
deacidification,

we have potassium bicarbonate,
calcium carbonate or chalk.

Otherwise, you can use water

and try to reduce
acidity that way,

or add a lower acid.

Grape to it.

In terms of biological
deacidification,

we have the bacteria in yeast.

So potassium bicarbonate,

calcium carbonate are
two of the main ones.

The important factor
to realize there

is that most of those only
work on tartaric acid.

They won't reduce the
malic acid content.

So if you have a variety
of lots of malic acid,

we can't really reduce
that acid very far.

And it leaves a
much higher level

of malic acid ratio
there, which kind of gives

it a more harshness to the wine.

So we're trying to
use biological methods
to reduce acidity.

We're looking at yeast
and bacteria that convert

malic acid to some
other byproduct.

So, bacteria convert
malic acid to lactic acid,

and then there's yeast that
convert malic acid to ethanol.

And we can do that, and
there are yeast strains

that have been identified
that do that very well.

There's some nontraditional
wine strains.

So Saccharomyces is the
traditional strain we use

for wine production
and beer production.

But there's a strain
of yeast called

Schizosaccharomyces pombe,

which does a great
amount of malic

to ethanol fermentation.

And then research here
potentially in the genetics

department might identify
some yeast strains and

produce some yeast
strains that can do

some biological acid
management as well.

So there are certain strains
out there that have been

identified that do some
level of acid reduction.

71B I've used in the
past can reduce acidity

by two grams per liter,

which is a significant
amount of acid reduction.

Then there's
malolactic fermentation

using malolactic bacteria.

And, besides acid
reduction, winemakers use

malolactic bacteria for flavor

and style as well as
microbial stability.

That's just one less thing
that an organism can utilize

from fermentation once
it's gotten bottled.

And there's a range
of organisms out

there capable of
malolactic fermentation.

Lots of lactic acid bacteria.

A strain that we commercially
use is Oenococcus.

So malolactic
fermentation is not

really actually a fermentation.

It's kind of a misnomer.

Most fermentations take
sugar and convert it

to an acid so it
actually increases

the acidity of what
you're trying to do.

So malolactic fermentation is
actually reducing the acidity,

and it does that using an enzyme

that converts to malic
acid or lactic acid.

Some other byproducts or
other compounds there.

It can also begin to chew
on and use to produce

other compounds.

It can break citric
acid down into diacetyl

and pyruvate and acidic acid.

I bring up diacetyl
because it's a compound

that's produced and it
masks fruity aroma in wine.

So we look at using bacteria
to manage acidity in wine.

This is a byproduct
that's a negative aspect.

So how do we manage
your diacetyl production

and malolactic fermentation
so that it doesn't decrease

the fruitiness of wine?

Especially if
you're going to use

it on Rosé or a
white wine where you

want to enhance fruitiness
as much as possible.

A couple of formulas.

Always feels to good to
throw some of those on there.

But, basically, we're converting
malic acid, lactic acid

just by using the
enzyme to cleave

off one of the carbon
groups on the malic acid.

And so the research
that I look into

then is the timing of
malolactic bacteria additions.

One of the reasons why
we look into that is that

we know that yeast
can convert diacetyl

to another compound that's
not nearly as strong smelling.

It doesn't have as nice a name
as diacetyl, 2, 3-butanediol.

It's helpful to know that if

the yeast is present
we can alter the timing

of malolactic fermentation
such that we can remove

that diacetyl and be able
to apply it to fruity wines

that we don't want the
diacetyl mass character.

The challenge, though,
is that a lot of people

around here make sweet wines,

and then to prevent
further fermentation

they'll use the compound
potassium sorbate.

It inhibits further yeast
activity in the wine.

The only problem is is that
they're using that typically

because they don't feel
confident enough in their

sterile filtration to
prevent further fermentation

once the wine is bottled.

Consequently, if there is
a bacterial infection or a

bacterial present with
wines that have potassium

sorbate, then there's
a geranium taint

issue that can result.

So they convert that
sorbic acid into a

compound that smells a
lot like geranium leaves.

When I was at the
University of Minnesota,

my graduate research project was
looking at malolactic bacteria

additions and timing on
Marquette wine production.

And one of the things I
found was that it did reduce

the time of malolactic
fermentation completion.

That's another advantage of
a co-inoculation strategy,

which is adding bacteria
within 24 hours after adding

your yeast versus the
traditional method,

which is to add
bacteria after alcoholic

fermentation is completed.

The impact, no impact on
the liking of the wine

and it reduced malolactic
fermentation overall time.

So, knowing that there's
all these advantages

to using bacteria, looking
at how we can apply that

to white and sweet
wine production

would be great for the
Wisconsin wine industry.

The other biological method

that's out there is
Schizosaccharomyces pombe,

which is a commercial
product under ProMalic.

It's naturally considered
a spoilage organism.

So what this company did was

encapsulate it in
an alginate shell.

So we can put them
into these mesh bags,

add them to the wine.

It starts doing the malo
to ethanol fermentation,

and then once we're complete or

reached the desired
level of acid reduction,

we can pull it out and
hopefully take all that yeast

with us so that it
doesn't result in some of

the negative sensory
aspects that people

believe it can produce.

I would like to research that

a bit further and actually look

at other strains and see if
there's a way to actually use

it in its natural form without

the alginate shell to see if we

can produce wines that
have low acid content.

I've used the ProMalic
in the past and have had
some success with it.

So I've taken La Crescent
that had a TA, titratable

acidity probably in
the 12 to 14 range,

and had a final product
about 6.5 grams per liter.

So it does work, and
it can work quite well.

But just a matter of
what are the fermentation

conditions that we can
succeed with that as well as

minimizing flavors
and trying to tailor

that to specific wine styles.

At one point there was a
group of researchers out of

British Columbia who actually
took both the aspects of

Oenococcus and S. pombe
and created a genetically

modified yeast called MLO1.

It was on the
market for a while.

It got approved by the
Tobacco, Tax, and Trade Bureau.

I believe it's still
potentially out there.

This was originally sold
under the Red Star brand,

which eventually
got bought out by

a French company called Linares

French aren't very happy
about genetically modified

creatures so this kind
of disappeared from

the market after that merger.

But it is something
that was out there

and was approved by the TTB.

One of the things that
we hopefully can develop

here is that the
Hittinger Lab upstairs

has found ways to
create some novel

yeast strains under
a new technology.

So right now it's being applied
mainly to beer production

but could some of these
yeasts actually enhance

and produce interesting
wines and ciders.

So hopefully we'll be
able to start researching

that in the future as well.

So, embracing the cold
climate wine production,

looking at and identifying
processing techniques

that influence flavor,
managing acidity,

coming up with some
new yeast strains.

And I like to say there's a
lot of room for experimentation

and creativity in this industry.

Canada, for example,
some researchers

up there are looking
at grape drying.

The Amarone raisin
style wine production.

Instead of just taking
grapes and putting them

into the attic of a barn and
blowing air through them,

they've looked at a wide
range of doing that,

including using retired tobacco

dryers to rapidly dry
down grapes and create

different types of
wines and take advantage

of the properties that those
grapes have available to them.

So there's
opportunities out there,

and there's not restrictions.

Not Europe where
you have to grow

your grapes a certain way,

produce your wines
a certain way.

There's all sorts of
options and opportunities.

So, if you're, I guess,
an adventurous sort,

growing grapes and wine
and making wine here in

Wisconsin is kind of
a great place to be.

And with that, I thank
you all for coming.

There's my contact information,

if you have any other questions
about making wine in Wisconsin.

(Applause)