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The first sparkling wine I ever made was a black cherry. It was supposed to be a semi-sweet still wine, so when I opened the first bottle at a social event, I

When the harvest season rolls around each year, and winemakers gear up for the busy season, a winemaker’s plans to improve on the previous vintage should have already started in spring and

For readers who don’t know, adding a solution of egg whites to wine does a nice job of pulling out excess tannins and phenolics that might cause your wine to be overly

Chardonnay is a grape varietal that has an identity crisis. She is both a rock star and a charlatan, a soft spoken ballerina and a brazen harlot, generic as a white label

During the day, I am a drywaller and I own my own business, but in my own time I have been making homemade wines for 20 years. I started out making Concord

July 16-22, 2010 Wes Hagen, VM/WM Clos Pepe Vineyard and Estate Wines This morning the vineyard’s technology level has been thrown back to 1990, and we’re feeling the sting. Carrying my cup

Another Year in the Vineyard, Week #18 July 8-15, 2009 By Wes Hagen, VM/WM Clos Pepe Vintage:  The 2010 vintage rolls along and gets a bump of heat.  Temps warmed from the

A dear professor of mine in the Department of Viticulture and Enology at University of California at Davis used to say, while pointing down at his wooden podium, “Technically, you can ferment

Here’s a simple rule of thumb to keep handy when using any kind of enzyme in winemaking. Enzymes are proteins and proteins don’t mix well with bentonite or with sulfur dioxide. Always

Dear Wine Wizard, Though most of us think “grapes” when we think wine, I live in Michigan and can’t help but notice that wineries out here make wine out of a lot

Hmm . . . this is a good question and one that more people should ask when getting into a hobby. It also serves as a natural follow-up to my previous mistakes

That’s a great request. Sometimes I forget to really distill what I believe when it comes to fine winemaking. Just like anything in life, having a concentrated, bullet-pointed list of the essence

Wine Wizard replies: Absolutely. There are an increasing number of filters out there for the small-scale producer. From rough filters that’ll just knock out large, visible particles all the way down to

Wine Wizard replies: Though ozone is an excellent tool for winery sanitation, the short answer is that unless you’ve got over fifty barrels of wine and sell it for a living, you

The Acid Test I crushed and sulfited my Cab grapes. In doing the initial tests I got the following readings. Brix was 23.5 (+.22 temp correction) = 23.7, S.G. 1.099 (+.013 temp

The Zin of Blending Since I can’t taste your wine and so don’t know the profile of each individual component, it’s hard to give you “the right” answer. And I would hazard

Bringing up tannins I have been making wine kits for three years and want to boost complexity and tannin levels. I have added some complexity by blending different kits and using French

Nip in the bud? I purchased and planted a few Nero d’Avola vines last December and have been carefully taking care of them ever since. I read that in order for the

Yeast-free wine? I am a wine lover, but unfortunately I have an intolerance to yeast. Is there a yeast-free or low-yeast wine? John via email Though I’m no medical doctor (I limit

MLF malfunction As the weather warmed in May 2007, several of the wines in my basement started working again, similar in appearance to a MLF fermentation. I also noticed renewed fermentation in

What’s with the fizz? I bottled an Amarone from juice about six months ago. I have been trying it every couple of months to see how it is coming along. I opened

It seems like you already have the acidity-adjusting situation well in hand — this is often one of the areas in which non-grape wines meet their downfall. As you already have realized,

What you describe, reusing commercial screwcap wine bottles for subsequent bottlings, is something no commercial winery would ever do. Once the cap is twisted off and the threads detach (the “clicking” sound

Great question. MLF (malolactic fermentation) can be a bit confusing for some because it’s called a “fermentation” but it’s certainly not as active, visible, smell-able and in your face as your primary

Bottle quest I have a few batches of wine under my belt. I have been plagued with either cheap, flat bottom bottles or stuck collecting and cleaning out empties. Where do wineries