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“Hip” Winemaking: Dry Finish
FREEIt was February of 2009 when our fascination with winemaking began. My wife Jan and I had planned on making rhubarb as our initial batch. The fruit had been waiting patiently in
Egg White Fining, Malolactic Levels: Wine Wizard
MEMBERS ONLYIs the salmonella (commonly associated with eggs) a problem to consider when fining with egg whites? Bob McKee Tucker, Georgia Egg whites are an ancient, traditional and natural additive and are sometimes used to pull excessive tannins out of wine in a gentle treatment process known as “fining.” Practiced for centuries all over the winemaking
Would you recommend using dry ice to control the temperature of must?
MEMBERS ONLYDry ice can be a tremendous help for small-lot winemakers in the grape or must stage. Dry ice is really just frozen carbon dioxide gas and will cool the air (or liquid) where it’s placed whilst releasing carbon dioxide gas as it sublimates. Dry ice never melts; unlike frozen water it goes directly from the
Is this a sure way of determining that the barrel is infected?
MEMBERS ONLYFirst off, one should never burn a sulfur wick in a wet barrel; only do this (which releases the antimicrobial SO2 gas, which we want) when your barrel is well dried-out. This is because the sulfur gas will combine with the water in the wet barrel and form sulfurous acid, which can lead to a
Ways to Rosé
FREEYou have several options when it comes to making a rosé wine. Learn three of the most common techniques here.
Entering Competitions: Tips from the Pros
MEMBERS ONLYYour friends and family think your homemade wines are the best, but are they right? The best way to find out is to enter your wine in a competition. Wine competitions can also be a good way to gain feedback on wines that you may think are flawed, but you’re not sure what went wrong. In this issue, three wine judges share their advice for avoiding common mistakes when entering competitions.
“I Make Wine Because . . .”
MEMBERS ONLYTake part in any home winemaking gathering and you will find that winemakers have a lot to say. When it comes to one subject, however, we all agree on one thing — we all love to make wine! WineMaker recently asked our Facebook fans to finish a simple phrase, “I make my own wine because…”
(Another) Year in the Vineyard, Final Installment, October 21, 2010 with Wes Hagen, Clos Pepe
MEMBERS ONLY(Another) Year in the Vineyard Week #32 (The Last Weekly Blog for 201) October 15-21, 2010 Wrapping it Up and Looking to the Skies For a harvest that began so quickly behind a strong period of hot weather in late September, the harvest is winding down slowly here in Santa Barbara County. We would be
(Another) Year in the Vineyard Wine Blog, Week 31 by Wes Hagen, Clos Pepe
MEMBERS ONLY(Another) Year in the Vineyard, Week #30 The Beginning of the End, and One Hell of a Scare (all photos this week courtesy of www.bottlebranding.com and Jeremy Ball..thanks Jerms! Mouse over photos for captions..and a secret code that proves Elvis is still alive!) Today is a good day. A really, really good day. I haven’t
(Another) Year in the Vineyard Wine Blog, Week 30 by Wes Hagen: Clos Pepe
MEMBERS ONLY(Another) Year in the Vineyard Week #30: October 1-8, 2010 Zen and the Challenging Vintage Harvest is an excellent metaphor for life. Like any difficult cycle in our lives, harvest usually begins with a period of build up and trepidation: ‘is it going to happen?’ , ‘when’s it going to happen?’, ‘how’s it going to
(Another) Year in the Vineyard Wine Blog, Week #29 by Wes Hagen, Clos Pepe
MEMBERS ONLY(Another) Year in the Vineyard Week #29: 9/25-9/30, 2010 From Mellow to Manic in a Single Heat Wave And Why English Majors Make Bad Electricians As you might have guessed, the blogs during harvest will be short and sweet. The Hemingway novel of the Vineyard Blog scene. It is currently 2:40 on Wednesday morning, and
Creating a Balanced Must
FREEThere are three elements that are critical to have balanced in a must: pH/TA, structure and sugar. Each of these elements has a direct influence on the quality of the finished wine
Cold Soaking: Tips from the Pros
FREEMelissa Burr, Winemaker at Stoller Vineyards in Dayton, Oregon. Melissa was raised in the Willamette Valley and, after completing her BS degree, studied winemaking at Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Oregon, and
Testing Wine Barrels, Dry Ice: Wine Wizard
MEMBERS ONLYWine barrel testing My barrels are American oak, repeatedly used for wine, and about five years old. When empty, I fill them with water containing a strong solution of potassium metabisulfite (one pound to 50 gallons). I find that when the water solution is a little low, and prior to topping with more solution,
Sugar Cane Wine
FREEI enjoy making many kinds of country wines, but one of my favorites is made from fresh juice pressed from the sugar cane as it is processed into sugar. It is used
(Another) Year in the Vineyard, Week #28 with Wes Hagen, Clos Pepe
MEMBERS ONLY(Another) Year in the Vineyard With Wes Hagen, Clos Pepe Vineyard Week #28: September 17-23, 2010 The Heat Arrives, Harvest Begins with Old Friends, New Friends Well it was bound to happen. September is traditionally the warmest month in the Santa Rita Hills, so by virtue of the averages we had to get a few
(Another) Year in the Vineyard Wine Blog, Week 27 with Wes Hagen, Clos Pepe
MEMBERS ONLY(Another) Year in the Vineyard Blog With Wes Hagen, VM/WM Clos Pepe Week #27: September 10-16 Loving the Weather, Testing the Grapes, Time for a Cocktail! To be honest, I can’t remember being so calm in the 3rd week of September. Traditionally by this date we’ve already harvested two or three nights/mornings and have at
(Another) Year in the Vineyard Wine Blog, Week #26 by Wes Hagen, Clos Pepe
MEMBERS ONLY(Another) Year in the Vineyard, Week #26: September 3-9, 2010 The Winery is Ready, The Grapes are Not! Welcome, once again to another episode of ‘Year in the Vineyard’. Well, we’re counting down to the madness that is harvest and crush, but for now we’re a bit relaxed—stuck between the business of bottling and the
(Another) Year in the Vineyard Wine Blog, Week 25 by Wes Hagen, Clos Pepe
MEMBERS ONLY(Another) Year in the Vineyard with Wes Hagen, Clos Pepe Week #25: August 27th – September 2nd, 2010 “September Morn: We Picked Until the Night Became a Brand New Day” Damn! September crept up on us on cat feet! Suddenly, all in one week, we have bottled our entire 2009 production (last Friday), and picked
(Another) Year in the Vineyard Wine Blog, Week #24 with Wes Hagen, Clos Pepe
MEMBERS ONLY(Another) Year in the Vineyard Week #24: August 20-26, 2010 With Wes Hagen, Clos Pepe Summer Arrives Before It’s Over: Sparkling Harvest Soon! A Week in the Winery: the Crew Comes Together! Here’s the situation: it’s 7:33 on Thursday night and it’s very late to be starting my blog. Tomorrow at 6:00 am I need
(Another) Year in the Vineyard Wine Blog, Week #23 with Wes Hagen, Clos Pepe
MEMBERS ONLYYear in the Vineyard With Wes Hagen, Clos Pepe Vineyards and Estate Wines Welcome once again to the Year in the Vineyard Blog. We continue with our new High Def video blogs, to give you as much visual input as possible. There’s times when the written word can describe what’s happening in a vineyard, but
(Another) Year in the Vineyard Wine Blog, Week 22 by Wes Hagen, Clos Pepe
MEMBERS ONLY(Another) Year in the Vineyard, Week #22 August 6-12, 2010 With Wes Hagen, VM/WM Clos Pepe Welcome back to a Year in the Vineyard, Week #22. Even though the weather has continued to be unseasonably cool, the fruit is ripening slowly, perfectly, like it only could in the Santa Rita Hills. Temperatures over the last
(Another) Year in the Vineyard Wine Blog, Week 21 by Wes Hagen
MEMBERS ONLY(Another) Year in the Vineyard Week #21, July 30-August 5, 2010 With Wes Hagen, Clos Pepe Welcome to the new generation Year in the Vineyard Blog! Last week I bought a High Def Flip camera, and it arrived a few days ago and I got busy! Just so happened that the day I received it
WineMaker 2010 Conference
FREEMore than 450 hobby winemakers from across North America descended on the Pacific Northwest in May for the sold-out WineMaker Magazine Conference. This third annual event featured an all-star cast of winemaking
Another Year in the Vineyard, Week 20 with Wes Hagen, Clos Pepe
MEMBERS ONLYAnother Year in the Vineyard, Week #20 July 23-29, 2010 With Wes Hagen, VM/WM Clos Pepe The Vintage Tiptoes Forward: At dinner the other night I ran into my first interns, Ariel and Angela Lavie from Lavie Vineyards. We hadn’t touched base for a while, so we chatted for a while. Ariel was echoing the