Sunday - its weekly drinking report time

TORB · Post by **TORB** » Sat Jan 24, 2004 5:54 am

Guest,

Perhaps you could name one other winemaker who knowingly and deliberately used VA on a consistent basis to give the bouquet a lift prior to 1950.

Murray · Post by **Murray** » Sat Jan 24, 2004 9:33 am

In the book 'Max Schubert - Winemaker' Huon Hooke wrote:Max had formed the view during his first trip to France that the great wines of the world, particularly red Bordeaux, seldom have a low degree of volatile acid .... He put two and two together and concluded that VA was part and parcel of evry great wine and he set about ensuring Grange had plenty.

..

Critics among his peers asserted that the kind of volatility he was encouraging by leaving the bungs out must have been bacterial and therefore he was dicing with danger. Bacterial volatility is notoriously difficult to control, But Max was adamant that the process was not bacterial, and that he kept a very close watch in each barrel, If a hogshead started to show more VA than he wanted, he would close it up immediately, thereby stopping the increase. Max claimed to have observedthe Bordeaux winemakers deliberately leaving the bungs out on his 1950 trip, and assumed this was what they were seeking.

Max Schubert - Winemaker by Huon Hooke published by Kerr Publishing

TORB · Post by **TORB** » Sat Jan 24, 2004 10:38 am

Thanks for that Muzz, you learn somthing new every day.