Posts

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  Your First Lug of Grapes

  Buying your first lug of grapes can be intimidating, but it does not need to be. Get some pointers before committing to your first box of gr

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  Versatile Viognier

  It was not long ago that Viognier was almost an extinct grape varietal. Luckily for wine fans, both grape growers and winemakers have learne

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  Meet the Blue Bulls Wine Co.

  Meet the Blue Bulls Wine Company, a group of New Jersey-based career first responders who also like to dabble in the art of winemaking. If y

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  Cherry Picking Grapes

  A good grape sorter is fast, efficient, and always with a keen eye towards prioritizing what grapes to use and what grapes to discard. Alex

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  Crushing Grapes

  Supposedly there are many ways to skin a cat, but we’re not familiar with any of them. Luckily for winemakers, Bob Peak knows many ways to

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  Cabernet Sauvignon: Master Class

  Grab a seat, take out your pencil, and get ready for an introduction into the master class on the world’s most popular grape. Guest lectur

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  Making the Cut

  Press cuts give the winemaker more blending options to create a wine precisely as it was envisioned. Learn if, and when, press cuts may bene

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  When Life Gives You Limes Make Wine, Re-Fermentation, and The Value Of A Vineyard

  You could also try to take your lime wine and see what other kind of fun beverages you could make with it as a mixer . . .

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  2018 WineMaker Magazine International Amateur Wine Competition Recap

  An overview of this year’s competition, which included 2,299 entries from winemakers in six countries, 48 American states, and 5 Canadian

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  A Walk Alongside Ripeness

  How ripe your grapes are when picked is one of the most important factors in determining what your wine will taste like. Here is a closer lo

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  Color Loss in Candy Cane Wine, 23-year-old Concord, Deprived Vines, and Maple Wine

  Because of their chemical composition under wine pH (acidity) and fermentation conditions it’s quite possible these color compounds won’

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  Moldy Odor In My Wines, Calculating Molecular SO₂, Brown (Red) Wine

  TCA, or the “corked” off-aroma, is caused by ambient molds interacting with a chlorine molecule of some kind, usually from domestic wate

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  Proper Equipment Storage

  When done using your winemaking equipment, make sure it is properly cleaned and stored so it will be ready to use next harvest season.

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  Chocolate Infused Wine

  Wine and chocolate are a match made in heaven. But it doesn’t have to be two separate delicacies. Home winemakers can actually combine the t

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  Exploring The Corking Options and Making Acidity Adjustments

  Most closures are packaged pre-sanitized, usually with sulfur dioxide in the sealed bags that come from the manufacturer.

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  Fermentation Dynamics

  There are temperature ranges advisable for fermenting all wine styles, but how does each end of that range affect the aroma, taste, and body

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  Top 100 Wine Kits for 2017

  Here are the top 100 wine kits from the 2017 WineMaker Magazine International Amateur Wine Competition.

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  The Basics of Sulfite

  Learn the basics of what sulfur dioxide is, as well as when and how to use sulfite in your winemaking.

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  Adding Sparkle To Your Wines, Bottle Sediments, and Reducing Acidity

  To maximize your chances of a successful in-the-bottle fermentation you need to prepare a starter culture.

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  Measuring Brix in Fermentation, Drinking From Brass, and Yeast Options

  I would argue that the rapidity with which the sugar is consumed (and the density is lowered) is almost as important as the level of sugar i

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  Red Wine Sediment and What To Consider When Selecting A Yeast

  What you’re experiencing is the precipitation over time of all sorts of complex tannins and colored compounds.

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  Tartrate Crystals, Blending Stuck Wine, Malolactic Timing

  In my experience, doing a traditional cold stability where you chill the wine down and then filter off any precipitation won’t shift the a

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  Understanding Bentonite, Refractometers vs. Hydrometers, and Mellowing A Big Wine

  Most folks I talk to say that sodium bentonite and calcium bentonite are interchangeable in winemaking.

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  Malolactic Problems and Cleaning with Chlorine

  Some of the SO₂ gas created by the sulfur wick certainly will transfer into the wine as sulfur dioxide.

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  Wine Press Mold Growth and Magnesium Sulfate Vineyard Sprays

  It’s very possible this mold bloom was caused by a change in the weather or a change in your cellar environment.