In the U.S. wineries I have visited, I’m used to seeing oak barrels and stainless steel tanks used for the fermentation process. But when I was in Mendoza, Argentina, I saw widespread use of concrete tanks. In at least one of the wineries I visited there, the concrete looked so old and well-used that I wondered whether it leaked. According to the Argentinean guides, however, their concrete tanks are epoxy lined. Not a good idea, according to a leading French producer of the concrete tanks, “None of the great wineries” use lined tanks.
That made me start wondering about the effect of concrete on wine. A recent discussion on Snooth.com fights this issue out and offers lots of theories about the effects. One says concrete is good because the porosity of the cement adds richness to the wine (like oak barrels without the oak) while another comment says it’s the stability of the temperature of the concrete that allows for more definition and aromas.
No firm decision by the bloggers, but their comments led me to an article that showed the use of concrete tanks is far more prevalent than I imagined, and that it is quite common in old world wineries. Since the Argentinean wine industry was started by Italian immigrants, it’s not surprising that they would have used this technique.
One catch for this type of tank is that it is susceptible to Brettanomyces (Brett). Brett is a ubiquitous spoilage yeast that loves wineries. It could leave the compelling scent of fresh leather but, more likely often it causes a mousy, barnyard stench. Tank producers say it’s no more of a problem with concrete than it would be for wood tanks–producers just have to be careful and use high cleanliness standards.
For more details on cement tanks click here.
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