I had this exact problem happen to me this year with one of my lots of Russian River Pinot. Thankfully, the original brick-red color disappeared and was replaced by bright red once the fermentation got going and the wine got back into a reductive carbon dioxide-rich environment and after a few day’s skin exposure. On this lot, I also used Colorpro fermentation enzyme from Scott Laboratories to help extract color from the skins. After pressing, the red color has stayed and I expect the wine to look fine. Some would say, “Welcome to the World of Pinot!” As you may be aware, Pinot Noir is a naturally color-poor varietal. Additionally, the colored compounds tend to be more of the red spectrum rather than blue-purple. For this reason, when we make Pinot, we have to, first of all, be patient and manage our expectations; there’s no way a Pinot Noir will ever look like a Petite Sirah. We also need to do some additional things, like perhaps use a fermentative enzyme and definitely be careful of oxygen exposure after fermentation in
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