Style Design History

Peach

(Bin 51)

Aims

A directly fresh and fruity off-dry style with cool fermented ripe peach fruit.

Fruit

Italian Redhaver peaches were purchased in good condition in early August. The fruit was frozen at approximately -10°C (12°F) immediately.

Crush and Must Preparation

The fruit was skinned (9.3%/w) and de-stoned (10.9%/w). Pectin destroying enzyme and 25 mg/l SO₂ were added to the receiving crush vessel. Fruit was double crushed. Juice yield was 714 ml/kg fruit. The must was made up of 120 ml/l grape juice and the remaining 880 ml/l was pure peach juice and sugar (to SG 1.095 / Brix 22.5). The juice and fruit pulp was given a 27 hour cold soak. The pulp was separated from the clear juice and yeast nutrient added.

Crush Summary

Skins and stones removed

Small steel press crush (cold)

27 hour pre-fermentation cold (pulp) maceration at 10°C (50°F)

120 ml/l grape juice added

SG to 1.095 (Brix 22.5)

Clear juice racked off pulp

Inoculation

The must was inoculated with S. cerevisiae, Narbonne selection, CC strain (Gervin's Varietal B) designed for young fruity bouqueted wines (starts easily, ferments down to 10 °C, low foam, formation of fruity esters at low temperatures.)

Fermentation

Juice fermentation in a closed vessel commenced within two days of inoculation and proceeded following this at 10°C (50°F).

Clarification and Racking

Fermentation was complete 2 weeks later and the wine was racked and 30 mg/l sulphite was added. Lees stirring was conducted every 1-2 days until a month later when the wine was racked again. Another 20 mg/l sulphite was added. The wine was kept cold and was allowed to clarify naturally. It was ready for bottling 5 months later.

Tasting

Sweetened to SG 1.005:

Colour: very pale yellow colour
Nose: a clean and fruity nose showing "sweet" floral white peach and pineapple aromas, and a slightly honeyed character
Palate: smooth front palate was medium dry and light bodied, possessing tangy acidity, `mouth-filling' body and a peachy flavour that led right through to the white peach finish of good length
Overall impressions: an easy drinking wine with a well balanced, medium -body, -weight and -flavour, and soft acidity.

A smaller batch used for topping up (with more pulp in the fermentation) showed a more fleshy peach character.

Final analysis

Alc/Vol:	13 %
TA:	8.3 g/l (as tartaric)
pH:	3.5
r.s.:	~28 g/l

Conclusions

Final original peach juice content in the bottled wine was 77%. The wine successfully reflected the style being attempted. In addition, it showed the hallmarks of quality that were desired: excellent balance, with some sweetness (yet not enough to distract from the peach flavours) and some complexity. It is suspected that the complexity in the nose may be attributed to the pre-fermentation maceration and long fermentation duration. In future, a totally undiluted (100% original peach juice content in the final) wine will be the uncompromised aim, resulting in higher flavour and fruit-weight on the palate and a fresher style will result due to the higher acid content, being balanced again by the higher fruit-weight and a higher residual sugar content if necessary.

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