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Dr. Jeffrey Snow has a lifelong love of good wine, beginning as he grew up in a home where wine was enjoyed with meals. In 1979, he and his wife, Julie, and the family moved back to Spokane where he established his medical practice, and joined the SES. Both Jeff and Julie have served numerous terms on the SES board, at various times both have served as Vice President, on wine and food committees, and Jeff was President in 1990.

Jeff loves to visit wineries & vineyards in many regions of North America, Eastern and Western Europe. He considers it a rare privilege to have lived in the Pacific NW as the wine industry exploded from 5 to 500 Washington and 5 to 300 Oregon wineries. Jeff delights in discussions with winemakers and vineyard workers about arcane details which make their wine unique. Jeff and Julie cook together for friends, family and each other. The children and grandchildren demand specific dishes for various family events, and insist Jeff to keep a notebook of his many recipes so that he can recreate their favorite dishes without the constant revisionism to which he is given. Jeff’s favorite wine is always the one which best compliments the flavors of the current meal, and is most enjoyed by those sharing it.

Celebrate Sur Lie Aging

Dr. Jeffery Snow - 5/6/2025

Celebrate Sur Lie Aging

Sur Lie (pronounced Sir Lee), is a French term for aging wine on the sediment that forms during and after primary fermentation. They actually barrowed the Old English word, Lees – for sediment forming at the bottom of a container of liquid – then Francofied it. But why you might ask would a winemaker want to leave wine in contact with Lees which are primarily dead or dying yeast cells? I mean, gross, right? And indeed the official name for this sediment is “Gross Lees”1. Well, there are several reasons. One reason is easy to appreciate by comparing two types of sparkling wine which differ mainly in presence or absence of Sur Lie aging in their production.

Prosecco, the Northern Italian sparkler, is made with no Lees contact. Lack of Lees contact leaves it with crisp clean fruit flavor and palate cleansing freshness. Champagne, Spanish Cava and other traditional method sparklers have a secondary in bottle fermentation which deposits Lees in the bottle. Aging on the Lees in the bottle for several months produces flavors of bread dough, toasted nuts, acacia, and lends a rich creamy mouth feel. The Lees are then “disgorged”, the “dosage” added to determine sweetness, and the final cork applied. Your mission then (should you choose to accept it), is to chill, open, then taste side by side a Prosecco and a Spanish Cava, or a French Crémant (and if you need help I am but a text message away)! Do this! It will clarify any and all mysteries around Sur Lie aging in bottle.

Apart from sparkling wine, Sur Lie aging is widely used during barrel aging in still table wine production. It is a key feature in making Burgundian style Chardonnay, and a few other whites such as Muscadet. During such aging the dead yeast cells undergo a process called “autolysis” – where the cells own enzymes destroy its structure, releasing good stuff into the wine – complex sugars and peptides – which give an unctuous buttery mouthfeel. Also released are proteins which may bind to any tannins adding a velvety texture. Sulfur compounds like hydrogen sulfide are produced which inhibit oxidation and lend stability to the wine. Too much sulfur can be unpleasant so it must be released by frequently stirring the Lees – a process the French call “Batonnage”. Batonnage also increases wine/Lees contact adding unctuosity and complexity. The Lees also act as a “buffer” between wine and oak resulting in less “oaky” flavor and less oak tannin and pigment – so a lighter colored wine. Stirring also releases “mannoprotiens” improving the wines stability.1,3

It is primarily small artisanal/boutique wineries and low intervention wine makers who use barrel Sur Lie aging. They have the extra cost of barrels and are apt to buy only the best grapes. The distinctly different approach of large batch commercial wineries is typically to separate wine from Gross Lees immediately after primary fermentation by racking directly into tanks and skipping any barrel time. The wine is then stripped of even the “Fine Lees” still in solution by fining and filtration then immediately bottled. Such wines can never develop the complex flavors and textures of low intervention Sur Lie winemaking but are less expensive to produce.

So if you are looking for wines with complex layers of flavor and rich unctuous and velvety mouth feel, Sur Lie aging is the magic word. Sparkling wine made by the traditional method provide this to varying extents in proportion to the length of bottle aging. Still wines like barrel-aged Chardonnay typical of White Burgundy also capture the complexity and richness Sur Lie aging gives. But these methods both consume more time and resources, costs which the winemaker must pass on. So maybe not everyday, but certainly with special days and with the best meals these are the wines I want to celebrate with. And for me any meal with a Sur Lie wine is a celebration.

NOTES:
1) Harding, Julia and Robinson, J.: The Oxford Companion to Wine, 5th edition, 2023, Oxford University Press, Pages 420-421.
2) Robinson, J., Harding, j., & Vouillamos, J.: Wine Grapes, A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavors, 2012, HarperCollins Publishers.
3) Zhu, Gus: Behind The Glass, The Chemical & Sensorial Terroir of Wine Tasting, 2024, Academie du vin Library Ltd., pages 40, 53, 70.