Date: Summer 2001
Cloudy Chardonnay & Lambrusco Grapes: Wine Wizard
MEMBERS ONLYQAfter I stabilized my wine, I added French medium toast oak beans to the Chardonnay 3/4 cup (new beans), Sauvignon Blanc 1/3 cup (new beans), Ruisseau Blanc 3/4 cup (used beans), and French Colombard 3/4 cup (used beans). All the wines are 19 L. Only the Chardonnay turned milky, cloudy and hazy. I used Claro
Mid-Season Vineyard Tips
MEMBERS ONLYIt’s easy to forget that it takes two full years to make good wine from your own grapes. The first year is spent in the vineyard tending the vines, spraying sulfur, removing basal growth (suckering), positioning shoots, adjusting the canopy so the fruit receives flecks of sunlight, watering, testing and harvesting. The second year is
I want to drip a wax coating on the top of my bottles to add that special touch. Can you advise me on how to do this?
FREEDear Wine Wizard, I’m bottling some mead, and wanted to add that extra special touch to the finished product. I’ve seen some bottles with a wax coating on the top, the kind
Using Variable-Volume Fermenters
FREEI have counted over fifty glass containers in my home winery! Shapes and sizes range from one-gallon (4-liter) jugs to 5-gallon (19-liter) carboys and 14-gallon (54-liter) demijohns. This huge collection of containers
Seyval Blanc: Varietal Focus
MEMBERS ONLYThe Seyval Blanc (Seyve-Villard 5276), a cold-climate white grape variety, is the leading choice for many winemakers who live in the chilly eastern and northern regions of North America. This hardy varietal produces abundant crops in cold climates and offers the winemaker an opportunity to make a variety of wines from one grape. Seyval Blanc
Making Country Wines: Tips from the Pros
FREEDid you ever think, “I’m sick of dealing with grapes! Finding them, transporting them, crushing them! It’s a hassle! I want something easier!” If you have, you’re in luck, because this issue’s
Keep it Clean
FREEWinemaking is a glorious hobby, one that impresses your friends since you make wine and they do not. Winemaking gives us an identity: We are winemakers! When we get together with our
pHiguring out pH
FREEGet an understanding of pH, why it’s important, how to measure pH, and how to correct it.
Make Your Kit Wine Shine
FREEThe first “wine kits” sold in North America were bricks of compressed grapes, shipped to eastern states from California during prohibition. Home winemaking was as illegal as any other alcohol producing activity
Best of Show
MEMBERS ONLYWhy bother with wine competitions? It’s a fair question. Entering a competition means putting your wine up for evaluation against those of other winemakers, and that can be a bit daunting. Some people are unwilling to risk the rejection that might come if their wines are not considered to be winning quality. Sadly, the result
Three Cheers for the Red, White and Blueberry!
FREEAmericans love the taste of blueberries, and with good reason. Blueberries are uniquely American. Maybe that’s why I always think about blueberry wine when summer rolls around and I start planning Fourth
My wine tastes tart and I think there is too much acid. Any suggestions to correct this problem?
FREEYou all seem to have the same problem, so I thought I’d answer you all together. Acid adjustment, or better, achieving the right acid balance, is one of the arts of winemaking.
Should I add Campden tablets each time I rack my wine and how do I measure the level of sulfite in my wine?
FREEHold on there, tiger! If you’ve got a standard 0.44 gram Campden tablet and you’re putting it in one gallon (3.8 L) of wine, you’re blasting it with 66 mg/L sulfur dioxide,
Are the lumbrusca riparia grapes I’m growing the same kind of grapes used to make lambrusco wine?
FREEDear Wine Wizard, I’m new to wine making but I have made beer and mead for three years. What types of grapes and yeast are used to make lambrusco wine? Also the
I added oak beans to several different batches of wine at the same time. Only my Chardonnay turned milky and hazy while the other wines were clear. Do you have any idea what happened?
MEMBERS ONLYDear Wine Wizard, After I stabilized my wine, I added French medium toast oak beans to the Chardonnay 3/4 cup (new beans), Sauvignon Blanc 1/3 cup (new beans), Ruisseau Blanc 3/4 cup (used beans), and French Colombard 3/4 cup (used beans). All the wines are 19 L. Only the Chardonnay turned milky, cloudy and hazy.