Wineries producing small lots of white or rose wines can face many challenges throughout the various phases of winemaking. 

Below are some of the steps in making these 2 varietals, and ways Flextanks can help solve common challenges along the way:

Phase #1 Grape Picking & Transportation

The typical production cycle for whites/roses’ begins with transporting the ripe fruit to the winery.

Flextank offers several options for picking bins and transporting totes for use in the vineyard and fruit transport to the winery. These bins are built in the US using extremely durable, FDA-approved resins. They are easy to clean and have a solid wall construction, which means no cracks or voids to harbor bacteria. Our most popular bins for grape transportation are the Versa Bins which include stacking lids for stacking bins 2-3 high for transportation.

Phase #2 Sorting Out the MOG

After receiving the fruit at the winery the next important step is sorting out the “MOG” (material other than grape) during the fruit's journey to the destemmer or press.

Phase #3 Pressing Juice

Whether to destem then press or go straight into the press for a whole cluster press is a winemaker's preference, with pros/cons fore each depending on stylistic nuances and capability of the equipment to whole cluster press. Whichever route the winemaker chooses, the goal is to end up with a clean pressed juice ready for the settling tank and chilling. 

Phase #4 Post-Press Settling & Cooling

The goal of this step is to settle out the press solids and cool the must to the desired fermentation temperature.

"Flextanks truly shine in the post-press settling phase." Frank Walsh says. "The winemaker could use any of several combinations of Flextanks to settle the press solids and chill the juice with a glycol wrap added to the tank. Choosing a single large Flextank or several medium sized tanks is a personal preference. In my winery I chose a single large tank to use as a press tank and several mid sized tanks to use on my white and red programs because of the flexibility they create and the ease of one person moving these vessels for cleaning."

Phase #5 Racking

Following the settling and cooling step the clarified juice is racked off the press solids into fermenters.

According to Frank Walsh "Here is another opportunity to consider a combination of Flextanks for the fermentation phase of white and rose wines. We generate pressed juice, minus a small loss to the lees at the press tank. We then rack off the clean juice to the fermenters and need some excess capacity to provide the head room to accommodate any yeasts that generate foamy fermentations. I have a personal preference for using the 70 gallon ECO tanks for this step but any combination that can accommodate the total gallons and some room for foam will be great for this application.

Step #6 Chilled Fermentation & Finishing

"If your ambient temperatures for the ferment will be too warm, then FlexChills can be utilized to maintain your fermentation temperature target.

Utilizing several medium sized Flextanks also allows you to use different yeasts and additive treatments to develop complexity in the finished wine that may otherwise be lacking in a single large ferment.

Following a long cool ferment, designed to protect the delicate notes of whites and roses, we need to decide if we are going to age on or off the lees, perform a malolactic fermentation on all or a portion of the wine and/or add any oak. These are all winemaker choices and stylistic decisions. In my winemaking I do all of the above and use a combination of Flextanks to give me the best cost."

This article was written in collaboration with small batch white wine expert and Flextank customer, Frank Walsh.

Frank began his winemaking journey with kit wines and then progressed to small batches of wine made from fresh grapes grown in the Yakima WA AVA and the Willamette Valley OR AVA's.

He retired from his position as head winemaker for a large wine making club and now runs a small commercial winery with his wife and daughter.