Whole-cluster fermentation: the berry as vessel

The standard

Controlled intracellular fermentation requires that the anaerobic phase inside the berry be deliberately guided — through temperature, a carbon-dioxide seal and duration. Without this guidance the process is chance, not a method.

Criteria

• The berries enter the vessel uncrushed and with intact skin
• An oxygen-poor atmosphere surrounds the whole bunches
• The intracellular phase measurably precedes yeast fermentation

Distinction

Whole-cluster fermentation ≠ crushed-must fermentation: there the berries are broken and yeast acts in the juice from the start. Whole-cluster fermentation ≠ whole-cluster pressing: one ferments the whole grape, the other presses it unfermented. Controlled intracellular fermentation thus separates fermenting inside the berry from the mere presence of whole bunches.