Answer:

Malbec is the dominant red varietal in the Cahors area. The Appellation Controlée regulations for Cahors require a minimum content of 70% Malbec in wines produced from the region.

Carbon dioxide in the form of dry ice is often used in the wine making process to cool down bunches of grapes quickly after picking to help prevent spontaneous fermentation by wild yeasts. The main advantage of using dry ice over regular water ice is that it cools the grapes without adding any additional water that may decrease the sugar concentration in the grape must, and therefore also decrease the alcohol concentration in the finished wine.

Dry ice is also used during the cold soak phase of the wine making process to keep grapes cool. The carbon dioxide gas that results from the sublimation of the dry ice tends to settle to the bottom of tanks because it is heavier than regular air. The settled carbon dioxide gas creates an hypoxic environment which helps to prevent bacteria from growing on the grapes until it is time to start the fermentation with the desired strain of yeast.

Carbon dioxide is also used to create a hypoxic environment for carbonic maceration, the process used to produce Beaujolais wine.

Come and pick grapes and use dry ice for the cold soak at the First Crush Harvest October 9! Register now!

In the interest of keepin' it simple, while addressing this often-asked question, a brief rundown of these three is as follows:

Putting it to rest once and for all, syrah and shiraz-  they're one and the same.  The difference is just in the name, where in Australia the grape is called 'shiraz.'  The syrah produces a wine with substance and elegance.   They may be laid down to mature for fifty years or more.  The best syrah-shiraz comes from the Cote Rotie and Hermitage in France; and in the Penfolds Grange in Australia.

The syrah grape produces wines of distinction, wines that are rich and complex.  Most noted on the nose and palate is pepper, with tar, leather roasted nut, spice, and black cherry.  The tannins are soft but evident in syrahs, they are smooth snd supple.

Petite sirah, on the other hand, is most widely known as a blending grape in both California and France in order to provide other simple, pale, and less dramatic wines more depth and color along boosting the tannins.  Though not proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, petite sirah is likely not related to syrah.

Source: Leslie Cramer from the examiner.com

Come and pick Syrah/Shiraz grapes at Silver Horse this weekend September 25! Register now!

If you look at the history of winemaking, you will find that it is believed that grape stomping goes back as far as Rome in 200 BC. It seems that for centuries, grapes were picked by hand and grape stomping was the method by which the juice was extracted from the grapes to be used to make wine. This was done in every country that made wine.

In the U.S., however, most grape stomping by human feet was legislated out of existence by the end of the twentieth century. The concern for public health outweighed the grape stomping tradition, and people didn’t want to think about the fact the someone’s bare feet had touched the wine they were enjoying with dinner. Most other countries eventually banned grape stomping too, but there are still some countries outside of North America where grapes are still stomped by humans.