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Are concrete eggs a cracking concept or rotten idea?
As Easter approaches db is turning its attention to eggs – not the sort that melt in your pocket, but those made of concrete and being used increasingly in wine cellars worldwide.
There’s an increasing belief that concrete egg-shaped containers bring more structure and concentration to the wines due to their impact on the temperature of the fermentation, while it is also thought that there is a micro-oxygenation because the pores on the surface of the concrete hold oxygen and release it to the wine during ageing.
Sally Easton MW has been researching the topic for db and we’ll be featuring her thoughts on concrete eggs in next month’s magazine.
However, in the meantime, what do you think? Do concrete eggs really make a difference to the wine? How important is the shape, and why?
Please comment below, or email your thoughts to patrick@thedrinksbusiness.com
Patrick Schmitt, 07.04.2011
Sonoma Cast Stone in Sonoma County California has begun production of concrete egg shaped fermentation tanks in America. Enterting our second year we have had extremely positive feedback from winemakers. You can view video of their comments and experience using concrete and the egg shape in particular on our website at www.tanksinconcrete.com. For further information, please contact me at 888-807-4575 x101.
Thank you,
Terry Reap
Sonoma Cast Stone
treap@stonomastone.com
Concrete tanks have been around for a couple-hundred years. Petrus and Giscours seem to do nicely with them. There are still some here and there in California. They are all over South America. In one of my previous lives I suggested a back-to-the-future concrete approach to a certain formerly-family-owned Napa Valley winery–spun the needle clean off their goofy-meter. I’ve seen true masterpiece tile-lined concrete tanks–still common in Germany. And I’ve had award-winning Claire Valley wines fermented in tanks cobbled from slabs of quarried granite. Ferro-cement boats float; ferro-cement tanks ferment. I suspect the egg geometry is due its forming and constructing simplicity. In my opinion the main advantage of the material is its thermal characteristics, yaknow the thermal-mass-flywheel thing. Properly designed, constructed and maintained I believe ferro-cement offers advantages over mainstream stainless and certainly wood. That’s at least $0.02.
We picked up a Nomblot egg last year on a bit of a whim, but we have been watching wineries around us have success with them as well (Giornatta/Broadside Wines, Jada, etc.
We fermented an identical Chardonnay vineyard pick from our estate in neutral French oak, Mueller stainless barrels, new Boutes French oak, and the Nomblot egg.
The egg fermented a bit warmer, and a little quicker than the other trials, it seemed to clarify more totally (we are lees stirring the remaining trials, but not the egg.) So far we like it quite well, but it will be another year before we move these wines toward bottle.
This fits our strategy for Chardonnay winemaking – to end up with many diverse pieces from which to draw our ultimate blend. As a piece of the puzzle it may have something to contribute, and as winemakers, we are always striving to satisfy our curiosity around tools & techniques which can help us achieve interesting, complex wines as the final result.
We at Thomas George Estates purchased 4 concrete eggs from Sonoma Cast Stone in March of 2010, and received them just in time for the 2010 vintage. Three of the eggs were used for Chardonnay fermentation and aging, and one was used for fermentation on a Pinot and a Syrah. I am extremely impressed with the quality of wine from each of the eggs. The Chard has aromatically more forward fruit with a much richer mid-palate compared to stainless steel, neutral, or new French oak. We are in fact bottling a separate ‘concrete’ chard. The reds stabilized more color, and as well have a more rich mouth-feel.
I believe the concrete is very important for the micro-oxygenation of the wine not just in primary, but also for the aging. I believe the egg shape is maybe more important for the Chards (due to lack of skins) and the juice’s ability to effectively ‘stir itself’ during fermentation. You can actually see the current of the fermenting juice lifting of the edges and folding into the middle.
I have done side by side analysis of concrete, stainless steel, neutral oak, and new oak on all these wines, and in all blind tastings the concrete egg samples received the highest rankings.