KJ: Someone asked at a tasting recently about the benefits of spontaneous or native yeast fermentation. I said that they create little “flaws” in the wine. They are slower building cultures — not the quick, clean commercial yeasts of the 1970s and 1980s — and they produce more complexities, including higher volatile acidity (acetic acid), which merits our attention.

There are usually multiple indigenous yeasts present that start fermenting and add complexity, and then the strongest yeast cultures finish the wine. One facility we know used to be a sparkling wine cellar, so there is a strong bayanus resident yeast population there.

Such resident populations cause us to be very … More…