Pinot noir grapes were made into wine by combining cold soak for five days with dry ice (CS) and with 20% (by weight) whole-cluster additions (CS +WC), a traditional practice for Pinot noir production. A control treatment consisting of 10 days skin contact and a control treatment with whole cluster addition (control + WC) were also produced, each replicated three times (n = 3). There was neither sugar consumption during CS, nor any effect of CS on alcoholic fermentation. At pressing, anthocyanins by HPLC were more abundant in control wines, while tannins and total polymeric pigments were more abundant in the CS and CS + WC treatments, indicating that only CS positively increased tannins. Color intensity was initially higher in CS and CS + WC wines and these differences were maintained after malolactic fermentation, but subsided after one year of bottle aging. Wines were submitted to descriptive sensory analysis by a trained panel both at bottling (n = 12) and after three months of bottle aging (n = 20). At bottling, a correspondence analysis and Generalized Procrustes analysis indicated that CS wines had highest color intensity, aroma, and astringency scores, while CS + WC and control + WC wines had a similar (and positive) sensory impact consisting of enhanced fruit and herbal notes. After three months of bottle aging, control + WC and CS wines had greater color intensity while control + WC and CS + WC wines were perceived as having more pronounced floral and almond-like character and greater astringency and bitterness. Although WC addition to Pinot noir fermentations played little or no role on tannin and anthocyanin extraction, this practice does have a measurable positive effect on overall wine aroma and can also modulate astringency and bitterness.

Funding Support: INTA