Don’t Miss Live Online Workshop on Mastering Hybrid Grape Winemaking February 20. Three hours of tips and techniques. Also available later as video replay. Click here for event and registration details.

Jun/Jul 2021

June-July 2021 issue WineMaker magazine. Cover Story: 7 Country Wine Recipes. Also pét-nat sparkling wines, country wine sweetness, and sur lie aging.

In this issue

  • article

    Live Chat with Dwayne Bershaw

    Live Chat with Dwayne Bershaw, which took place on August 3, 2021.

  • article

    Live Chat with Maureen Macdonald

    Live Chat with Maureen Macdonald, which took place on June 24, 2021.

  • article

    Sur Lie Aging

    Aging wines on the lees can add aromatic complexity, soften tannins, enrich mouthfeel, protect it from oxygen, feed malolactic bacteria, and add longterm stability. Learn how to get the most from sur lie aging, and techniques for removing, storing, and reusing lees.

  • technique

    Growing Pains: Aging and packaging big batches

    As your winemaking production scales up, so does the space required to store the wine as well as the miscellaneous items that come along with it. Bob Peak guides readers through some of the various bottlenecks that winemakers experience during the aging and bottling processes as their operation grows.

  • technique

    Dear Wes: I asked for questions and you listened!

    Two attendees of the Backyard Grape Growing Online Boot Camp
    had some follow-up questions; one on their spray protocol, the other about coming back from a devastating loss of vines. Wes dishes out some advice.

  • article

    Rosehip Wine: My crown of thorns

    A common sight in the coastal communities throughout the northeastern part of the U.S. and Canada, rugosa roses produce a rosehip that is commonly made into jam. One adventurous spirit opted to try making wine with it.

  • article

    Maturation Intervention

    No matter how much attention we give a wine, sometimes it will disappoint when tasted for the first time during aging. It may not be faulted, just lacking a desired characteristic. That’s when it is time to intervene. Qualities like flavor, aroma, body, color, or even tannins can all be improved with a little help.

  • article

    Pét Projects

    Pétillant-naturel sparkling wines — which are bottled prior to the conclusion of fermentation — are having a moment. Without any required riddling, disgorging, or extended aging, pét-nats are a perfect fit for home winemakers to try when getting into sparkling wines.

  • article

    7 Country Wine Recipes

    Fruit wines are generally the first thing to come to mind when we hear “country wine,” however the term is much more encompassing than that. We share seven recipes from Jack B. Keller Jr.’s new book release Home Winemaking: The Simple Way to Make Delicious Wine that illustrate just how broad an array of ingredients the term includes.

  • article

    The ABC’s of MLF

    If you make your own wine, no matter what kind, the concept of malolactic fermentation (MLF) should be well embedded in your mind. Learn some of the basics of MLF.

  • technique

    Backsweetening Fruit Wines

    Backsweetening is a popular method to balance and bring out the fruit character in fruit wines. We enlist two experts to share their tips to backsweetening success.

  • article

    Bold Brianna: A strong and healthy grower

    Elmer Swenson’s grape breeding program has had a profound effect on the North American wine scene. One such grape to come from his program is Brianna, a grape that required an estimated 93 crosses to produce. Learn about this grape’s heritage as well as how to best work with it.

  • wine-wizard

    Adding Carbonation To A Dessert Wine

  • wine-wizard

    Properly Adding Copper

  • wine-wizard

    Properly Measuring Wine Cap Temperature

  • wine-wizard

    Protecting Your Wine From Oxygen During Racking

  • Corny keg setup with carbon dioxide tank for sparkling wine
    article

    Protecting Your Wine, Cap Temperature, Copper Sulfate Additions, and Carbonation Help

    Oxidation is one of the most common faults among homemade wines. The Wiz has some tips for minimizing exposure during racking along with advice for how to read fermentation temperature, reducing reductive stink with copper, and carbonating a dessert wine.