Why Pips and Stems?

If you’ve visited our website you might have noticed that we like to ask questions. Good students of Socrates, we think that asking why is just as important as asking how and what are the consequences?. Often the smallest ideas and objects are the most powerful ones.

Take the pips and stems of a grape, for example. Pips are the tiny seeds inside the grape that are extremely important in signaling the ripeness of the fruit. As the fruit ripens the pips deepen from green to brown and the stems lignify, going from green and supple to brown and woody. This color change and lignification tells us more about the ripeness of the grapes than the sugar levels that are so often quoted.

Additionally, pips contribute to the stability of color and add tannins to the fermenting must, so their extraction is a delicate balance between adding structure to the final wine and creating a harsh astringency and mouthfeel that would make you pucker.

Ultimately we compost the pips and stems as part of the pomace, but not before they caught us up on what was going on in the grape and how the wine was progressing.

And that's our hope for this blog. A spot for you to check in on what's going on with A to Z, the little bits and pieces of winery life. Where you can find the wines, what's the latest with the vintage, anything fun or interesting we feel like sharing. Use the "email us" button to drop us a line or send us a note to blog at atozwineworks.com and tell us what you think, what you'd like to hear!