Sur Lie In A Bottle?
Jun 4th, 2007 by Erroll
I wrote about sur lie and batonnage, aging on fine lees and lees stirring, recently. After six months of weekly stirring, this process can benefit the wine (or mead?) by making it seem sweeter and less harsh. Scientists have studied this process and isolated the compounds responsible for this effect. These compounds have been packaged into two products (that I know of). Laffort’s “Biolees” and Keller Mannheim’s “Sur-Lie” promise to deliver the same effect in two to five weeks, but they are not easy to find. St Louis Wine and Beermaking sells Biolees, and Wine, Wine, & More Wine sells Sur-Lie (I’ve never done business with either retailer).
I don’t know how well these products work. In fact, I’ve only just begun looking into this aspect of winemaking. I’m trying it out on a batch of rhubarb wine and a portion of my recent batch of mead. Once I can answer the question, “How does sur lie and batonnage affect rhubarb wine? or mead?” then I can try some of these products and make direct comparisons.
