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.
In this issue, craft your next zinfandel with tips from the masters in Lodi, California. Plus, learn advanced Chitosan winemaking techniques.
Lodi, California, is known for its production of Zinfandel wines that run the spectrum of wine styles. Three Lodi winemakers share their approaches to crafting wines from the quintessential American grape.
Looking at Brix (or specific gravity) alone isn’t a great indicator whether a wine is microbially stable, and therefore determining if there is risk of refermentation. Even home winemaking tools that measure residual sugar lump fermentable and non-fermentable sugars together. After years of performing tests, Daniel Pambianchi explains how winemakers can predict with confidence whether their wines are safe to bottle.
A pair of home winemakers share the results from trials they conducted this past harvest in techniques for making rosé. The results offer insight into what works, what doesn’t, and why rosés shouldn’t be judged by their color.
If you’ve made cheese, then you’ll be left with a considerable amount of whey as a byproduct. Why not use it to start a new fermentation project, such as whey wine, mead, or even liquor?
Wine and cheese go hand-in-hand in the WineMaker office. While making cheese may seem complicated, making wine probably did before you started too. Follow this advice and you’ll be on your way to making cheese, including recipes for cheese curds, Asiago, and Caerphilly.
Manufacturers have recently released many plant-based or microbial-sourced products. Learn about these products, even if vegan isn’t your primary goal.
The dark-skinned Tempranillo grape is most associated with the red wines of Spain and being the most prominent grape in the famed Rioja blends. Learn to craft your own Tempranillo at home.
Chitosan is a product every home winemaker should be familiar with, and likely has around their cellar. It is used to help clarify wine, but its benefits go well beyond that. Newer chitosan-based products are also beneficial for microbial stability as well as malolactic and acetic bacteria suppression.
The Wine Wiz offers her wizdom to bring a tart wine into balance, as well as ways to add body to a wine and why non-alcoholic wine production should be left to the pros.
I heard about a trick for home winemakers where bananas are used to add body and mouthfeel. So, my question now, is how many bananas would I need to add body to 5 gallons (19 L) of grape wine?