The first lecture covered the use of an elaborate filtration system to remove many things from wine: sugar, VA, malic acid, alcohol, etc.. By the use of ultra and nano-filtration, as well as reverse osmosis, these compounds could be removed from wine.
The big project was to remove malic acid from must, and eliminate the use of malolactic fermentation, which produces the buttery aromas. This worked pretty well, and the Chasselas wine was actually better this way. But for the malic acid reduction, there was an elaborate two pass filtration of the must.
The second lecture covered the artisan wine barrel cooperate in the German speaking part of Switzerland. They are trying to create complex models that will predict how the wine will change from barrel aging, as well as trying to determine if a wine was actually stored in a barrel or oak chips were used.
We observed a unique vineyard machine that is used to position the growing canes, and then hold them in place with string that is tied to the end posts, and stapled each few feet. Really saves on labor. Neat Swiss designed machine.
We had a student wine tasting today, with wines from the home regions of the students. Cal Poly brought some very nice wines, but I was really impressed with some of the Swiss wines and the Canadian icewine (one word). Fantastic stuff that is very viscous and sweet but has wonderful aromas and acidity.
Tonight we watched the second semi-final game of the UEFA cup. Spain beat Russia. Either way, we will get lots of cars honking their horns by the dorms tonight, as we live right by the main road out of Laussane.
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