Phenolic management: control, not addition

The standard

A controlled extraction names the levers it acts on: maceration time, temperature, mechanical handling and the length of ageing. Without named levers there is no talk of control.

Criteria

• It names the levers it acts on
• It concerns uptake, binding and breakdown of existing phenols, not an addition
• It reaches from harvest through maceration into ageing
• Its outcome is measured on the wine, not on a single measure

Distinction

Phenolic management ≠ maceration time: maceration time is a single lever, phenolic management the interplay of all. Phenolic management ≠ phenol-protein interaction: the controlled extraction determines which phenols are present, the interaction how they later bind.