Article

Avoiding Sulfites, Adding Copper

Pasteurization operates on a sliding scale and its effectiveness depends on a coefficient between time and temperature.

Article

Late Malolactic, Wine Kit Ingredients, and Color Questions

Your Zinfandel probably had a good reason (in the wine’s opinion, anyway) why it didn’t go through ML fermentation.

Wine-wizard

Brown Colored White Wine

Article

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

Wine-wizard

Making White Zinfandel

Article

Red Wine Stabilization and Making White Zinfandel

Oxidation, whether microbial (metabolically), chemical (directly reacting with environmental oxygen), or enzymatic can degrade color and cau

Article

Making Wine From Grapes

Now that we’ve covered the science behind the winemaking process, you are ready to gather some grapes and start making wine from scratch.

Article

Your First Wine from a Kit

Everyone knows that good grapes make world-class wine. But in recent years, the quality of kit wines has improved enough to impress even the

Technique

Big Reds: How To Make A Blockbuster Wine

. . .lurking inside the heads of many home winemakers is the urge to make an absolute blockbuster, a jaw-dropping, mind-bending, 800-pound g

Article

La Crescent: Cold-Climate Hybrid

Looking for a cold-hardy white to grow in a colder northern clime? Meet the University of Minnesota’s La Crescent.

Technique

Making Wines with Finesse

Making lighter wines with finesse is a way of approaching your winemaking, a methodology, a subtle series of tactical maneuvers.

Technique

Techniques to Reduce Sulfite Additions

In spite of their long history as wine preservatives dating to the days of the Romans, sulfites can receive a bad rap. Many suspect that sul

Technique

Troubleshooting Guide for Home Winemaking

This troubleshooting guide lists the most common types of problems, faults and spoilages you may encounter, how to fix them, and how to prev

Technique

Making White Wines with Less Sulfite

Follow these steps and best practices if you would like to use less sulfite in your white winemaking.

Article

Chenin Blanc: The taste of terroir

Viticulturists in the Loire Valley tend to describe its flavor as an expression of the terroir of the land.

Technique

Reducing Use of Winemaking Sulfites

Many factors from grape quality to winemaking care and technique impact the amount of sulfite needed to protect wine from spoilage.

Technique

Using Winemaking Enzymes

Technique

Making Riesling Roundtable

Riesling can be made into a variety of wine styles, from bone dry to icewine, and can be enjoyed early or aged for a decade or more. Five pr

Article

Cabernet Sauvignon: The king of red wine grapes

Cabernet Sauvignon is known for making some of the world’s most robust red wines.

Wine-wizard

Overspiced Wine Situation

Article

Gewürztraminer

Alsace vineyards are tucked into the predominantly east facing slopes of the Vosges Mountains . . .

Technique

15 Keys to Winemaking Success

15 important steps, axioms, tips, and recommendations to (consistent) winemaking success.

Technique

Winemaking by the Numbers

Here each stage of wine production will be addressed from four aspects: inputs, numbers, problems, and solutions.

Technique

White Wine Skin Contact

Today’s proposed violation takes on one of the dominant conventions of modern white winemaking: no skin contact.

Article

Pinot Gris/Grigio The name says it all, or does it?

Unknown to the science at the time, these genetic mutations were first noticed hundreds of years ago in Burgundy, France, where the mutants