"Art Schubert" <na> wrote in message
...
> Tom:
>
> I'm curious: for those of who can't or don't do sterile filtering
> (possible stripping of taste?) what if one uses a yeast that stops at
> 12%-ish (Cote des Blancs) and starts with enough sugar to make the
> P.A. higher than that. Will in-bottle ferment be prevented without
> sorbate or filtering because the yeast is incapable of functioning,
> even if some yeast cells remain?
>
> Art S

Art,
You may be interested in the following article by Steve Roberta.
lum
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STERILE FILTRATION-SCIENCE VS MYTH

by Steve Roberta
Department of Viticulture & Enology
University of California, Davis
September 1994

The question of whether sterile filtration harms wine flavor evokes much
debate and emotion. Although there is little scientific research on the
question, filtration proponents rightly emphasize the financial risks
incurred by producers who choose not to filter. These risks are real.

Filtration proponents point out that wine flavor components are smaller than
the pore size of the sterile filter membrane, and that insoluble filtrate
doesn't possess significant flavor, anyway. Thus, proponents argue that
there is no reason why filtration, properly performed, should affect wine
flavor.

In the other camp are filtration opponents who believe they do taste a
difference. They claim filtration strips wine of significant properties and
flavors. However, one is hard pressed to obtain from opponents just what
these properties and flavors are supposed to be. Nevertheless, they observe
filtrate being removed from a wine and associate filtration with the taste
difference they perceive. Thus, they conclude filtration is detrimental to
wine flavor.

Encouraged by our professors to decide for ourselves who is right, we
recently conducted an experiment which asked the question, "does sterile
filtration create changes in wine that consumers can taste?"

From a supermarket shelf we selected five well-known, unfiltered Zinfandel,
Pinot Noir, and Cabernet Sauvignon - vintage 1990 to 1992; and from the UC
Davis cellar, one unfiltered Pinot Noir - vintage 1984. Four bottles of each
wine were combined under nitrogen to eliminate bottle variation; half of the
wine was sterile filtered, the other half was not filtered but was similarly
processed.

Over five evenings our trained taste panel, consisting of 12 volunteer
judges (none of whom were connected with the department of enology and
viticulture at UC Davis) evaluated the wines by duo-trio testing. Two
repetitions of each flight of each wine resulted in a mean correct response
of 54%. The best correct response of any one panelist was 66.6%. There was
no variance by wine, flight or panelist.

In other words,...................the panelists could do no better than
random guessing. We thus conclude that the panelists could not detect a
difference between filtered and unfiltered red wines, and from this can
infer that there was no detectable difference in wine flavor as a result of
the filtration.