David Schildknecht Wine Advocate 197 Oct 2011
Fred Loimer insists that his own crop losses in 2010 - when he harvested from mid-October through November 10 - were a mere 10-15% vis-a-vis 2009, but notes that when it came to those growers from whom he purchases fruit for his less-expensive bottlings, reductions were much more significant. Loimer de-acidified the musts for some of his less-expensive wines, but placed emphasis on the time his young 2010s spent fermenting - even the lighter cuvees were not finished until February - and on their lees. He also relied on (generally 12-18 hours') pre-fermentative skin contact to both reduce and eventually help buffer the vintage's high acidity; and this year not even the grapes for his lightest wines were pressed whole-cluster.