Date: Oct-Nov 2014
Blending Bench Trials
MEMBERS ONLYOne of the most useful techniques used in blending wine is performing bench trials, which is the process of treating a series of small wine samples with varying degrees of conditions. In the case of blending, bench trials involve dosing a sample of wine with different measured amounts of a blending wine. The goal of
Ring Around The Carboy
MEMBERS ONLYThe short story — and the good news — is that no one will get sick from this batch because no human pathogen can survive in wine. Alcohol and acidity will kill off any bacteria or yeast that could survive in the human ecosystem and make you or your friends and family sick. For example,
Empty Airlocks, Calculating ABV, and Transplanting Vines
MEMBERS ONLYMost top-scoring red wines made in the U.S. are bottled after 18–24 months in barrel.
Transplanting Vines
MEMBERS ONLYDepending on the age of the grapevine, and it sounds like it could still be young since you say it’s “small,” it is indeed possible to transplant grapevines. It takes a lot of care and often takes a lot of time and elbow grease, however. Grapevines quickly establish very deep, wide-reaching root systems and the
Calculating ABV
MEMBERS ONLYThis is a great question. Luckily the answer is simple. You still only calculate potential alcohol based on the original Brix reading. “Negative Brixes,” or when the density of your fermented solution reads below the 0.00 °Brix mark on your hydrometer, happen because they are just that: Fermented. Alcohol is much less dense than water
Making Wine in Montana
FREEMontana is more than just the land of big skies — you can grow grapes there, too!
Minimize Bird Damage in Your Vineyard
MEMBERS ONLYNothing is worse than watching your grapes go to the birds. Fight back!
Gum Arabic: Winemaking’s Secret Weapon
FREEGum arabic can do so many great things for your wines, from improving mouthfeel, making a thin wine taste fuller bodied, rounding out rough edges of grape tannins, increasing persistence of bubbles
Making Fortified Wine
MEMBERS ONLYThe word “fortified” is prohibited on commercial wine labels in the United States. Yet we are surrounded by a fascinating array of fortified wines when we visit a good wine shop. Fortified wines are simply those to which distilled spirits have been added to raise the final alcohol level. Some sweet dessert wines, like late
The Relationship of pH and Acid in Winemaking
MEMBERS ONLYHome winemakers know pH and acid are related when they make wine. Beyond that, the details sometimes get a little fuzzy. Shedding some light on how these important parameters are — and are not — linked to one another may help make better winemaking decisions. There are theoretical considerations from organic chemistry and laboratory analysis,
Make Your Own Red Wine Aroma Sensory Kit
MEMBERS ONLYImprove your ability to pick out aromas in a glass of wine with the use of an aroma kit. There are many wine aroma kits available but most cost well above $100; I put this kit together for around $30. The aroma kit uses several common household spices, so you might already have some of
Award-Winning Red Wine Blends Roundtable
MEMBERS ONLYFive top medal winners from the WineMaker International Amateur Wine Competition share the secrets of their red wine blending success. Ron Dickens from Arizona started making wine at home in 2008 and started making red blends in 2010. His recent awards include a gold for his 2011 Chardonnay, silver for 2011 “Two Red Heads” blend,
Build a Champagne Bottle Capper
MEMBERS ONLYRecently Brew Your Own magazine did a story about the pneumatic bottle capper that I had built to cap beer bottles. A short time later, I was contacted by WineMaker Magazine asking if I’d be interested in making something similar, only this time one that was able to cap standard 750 ml champagne bottles. Of
Making Tropical Fruit Wine
MEMBERS ONLYTropical fruit obviously are those native to the tropics. While the absolute number of fruit native to that area is disputed, at least 235 — more than twice that of the non-tropics — are widely recognized as having culinary significance. Almost all of them are suitable for wine. All factors governing winemaking apply to tropical
Petit Verdot: The forgotten Bordeaux blend grape
MEMBERS ONLYPetit Verdot is one of the “big five” grapes that make up a Bordeaux blend. Learn more about this red blender.
Empty Airlocks
MEMBERS ONLYIt sounds to me like some “bad bugs” (ambient bacteria or yeast cells) got into your wine. After four years of aging, having a batch infected due to a bad airlock must be heartbreaking I’m sure. Depending on what the organisms are and how long the wine was exposed, it’s quite possible that the wine
Making Late Harvest Wines: Tips from the Pros
MEMBERS ONLYLate harvest wines are made using grapes affected by the mold Botrytis, which dehydrates the grapes. We’ve pooled advice from three pros with numerous accolades for their dessert wines to help you make an award-winning late harvest wine at home. Joe Hudon is entering his 5th harvest as the Winemaker at Claar Cellars, an estate
Malolactic Fermentation for Beginners
FREEA quick explanation of what malolactic fermentation is, and how/when you may want to do it.
A Taste of the Tropics
FREEMaking wine from tropical fruits, with a little know-how, is just as easy as making wine from traditional fruits and berries.