"pp" wrote in message
oups.com...
Not exactly. Colour is mostly extracted over the first 7-10 days of
skin contact, and the fermentation temperature does matter - the higher
the more intense the colour (of course, not too high to keep the yeast
alive). After this time the colour intensity can actually go down a
bit.

That's due to the redistribution/reabsorbtion of the pigments into the
pomace (solids).

AFAIK, the purposes of cold soak is to get good colour before tannin
extraction. It is used mainly for fruity reds that are meant to be
drunk quite young. The extended maceration (skin contact after ferment)
is used to give the extracted tannins time to polymerize - this soften
them and makes the wine more approachable, but some fruit is usually
lost in this process.

At first I thought you meant reduced yield of wine from the grapes - but I
now realize that you were referring to loss of fruitiness. I'm not so sure
I agree completely. I'd say it's more a trade of _bright_ fruitiness for
_depth_ of fruit.

The book that you had in mind is probably Iverson's Home Winemaking
Step by Step.

A book worth reading. I believe he's recently revised it.

I know of winemakers who do both on the same wine. I am not sure
whether that makes sense.

It _does_ make sense. The pre-fermentation cold soak gives the must a head
start on color extraction; the post fermentation maceration (which BTW
tends to cause a _decrease_ in color) facilitates polymerization of small,
harsh tannins into large, soft tannins. IOW, the objectives of the pre and
post soak are different and not mutually exclusive.

Tom S