Concrete?

Steve Edmunds mentions "concrete" a couple of times during our discussion with him last Saturday. The word concrete is so "unromantic" (why?) - it almost taints my opinion of wine, yet here's a Class A winemaker saying he prefers it!

What do you mean he prefers it? To what? For what kind of wine?

I understand it was quite common after WW2 when people did not have the money for oak.

How about the issue of hygiene? I was just told last week that concrete is often lined with plastic to avoid infections?

You could easily listen to the audio and find out

Thanks. I had a feeling you might say that. For whatever reason the audio doesn't work on my office computer, but will check it out at home later tonight.

How about participating in a show on monocépages ? I'll call you at your convenience. Email me with time and phone number.

Could be fine. I'll send you an email.

Boy, I must have been mumbling! That reads like one of Tom Hills' tasting notes!

Concrete is not only slightly porous (allowing sometimes desireable amounts of oxygen to the wine, or so I've been told), but often (not always -those egg-shaped concrete vessels are rather spendy) cheaper than steel and certainly cheaper than oak. I've heard some winemakers refer to concrete as a more traditional vessel for fermentation, presumably for it's construction likeness to clay. They can also be built more cheaply for SUPER large format containers, which some south american producers are known to use. I believe too that there is a resurgence in concrete use in many European countries for these reasons.

Open and closed concrete fermenting tanks are standard in South Africa and closed concrete tanks for storing wine are common.

Stainless steel is fairly new; the first Bordeaux wineries I saw all used concrete and there is at least one large Champagne house currently using them.

Concrete is not only slightly porous (allowing sometimes desireable amounts of oxygen to the wine, or so I've been told),

The concrete I've seen in Italy is always lined with epoxy, to make it cleanable, so it wouldn't be porous. It's harder to control temperature in concrete, but I have heard people say that there is a type of electric reaction between stainless and wine that isn't ideal, and concrete doesn't have this, so that's a benefit.

If you've drunk wines from the Macon, odds are you've drunk wine fermented in concrete. Some go for the poly lining, and some don't.