French tradition guide fall wine event
Campus vintners prepare Nouveaus for November

By Jenna Nielsen
The Collegian

French tradition holds that the first vintage of the year is released the third Thursday of each November, Fresno State winemaker John Giannini said.

The Fresno State viticulture and enology program will honor the tradition when it holds its fourth annual “Le Vin Nouveau.”

The program will release three different Nouveau style wines to the public on Thursday Nov. 17 in the Fresno State Winery from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Fresno State’s viticulture and enology program is the only one in the nation bonded to operate a commercial winery. The event will feature samples for tasting and wine for purchase.

Garrett Jones of Fresno State Winery’s sales and marketing said about 50 cases will be released. Normally, the winery produces about 15,000 cases a year.

“We release a limited amount because the process takes a very, very long time and it is intensive,” Jones said. “Because it is a Nouveau, it is not considered a very serious wine. It is a big deal in France, but not so much here.

“We release a small amount and run out of it very quick. It is tradition.”

The process of making a Nouveau takes longer and is different than making normal wine. It is done through a process called carbonic maceration, where the grapes are thrown into a tank as a cluster. In the normal winemaking process, grapes are sorted and de-stemmed before going into the tank.

The tank is then filled with carbon dioxide for a few days.

“This forces the cells within the grapes to go from a process of respiration to fermentation,” said student winemaker Curtis Vincent. “They naturally ferment without the addition of yeast.”

After a few days covered in the carbon dioxide, the juice is pressed out of the grapes and put in a tank for standard fermentation with yeast.

The process takes about two weeks to get to fermentation and will be bottled in October. The Nouveau wines are meant to be drunk when they are new.

“The wines give you the ability to buy them and then drink them,” Giannini said.

The winery is currently getting the first grapes of the season. The three different Nouveaus will be a red table wine, a rose blush style, and a white, slightly sweet, wine, Jones said.