Day 2 of the Wine Writer’s Symposium began in the kitchens of the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone. Young students and future chefs sported their whites and tall toques and prepped for the day’s dishes, which I would later learn would become our lunch. Us wine folk ate our breakfast (and tried not to get in the way) and geared up for a full day of panels, master classes and writing exercises.
First up, “What Wine Writers Need To Know about Winemaking” with Napa vintner and author Jeff Morgan. This proved to be a very interesting discussion in winemaking practices with a few lively debates. Including the somewhat hush hush practice of watering back wine. Jeff attests that many (read all) winemakers in Napa, are lowering the alcohol levels of their wine by adding water to the pre-fermentation juice. The warm temperatures on the West coast create really ripe fruit which means more sugars at harvest in turn creating a higher alcohol percentage. Jeff believes this is happening more often than you think or than is ever spoken of and stands by watering back as a necessary tool (and by no means a marker of a bad winemaker or lesser wine.)
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