Winter 2000
The Solera System & Copper Caution: Wine Wizard
QA few years ago I toured some wineries on a trip through Michigan and found one that was quite unique. One of the methods of this winery was called “solera.” This method
Can I use my copper immersion wort chiller from brewing with my mead or other wines?
Dear Wine Wizard, I made homebrewed beer for a long time, but during the last couple of years I have gravitated more towards making wine and mead. I know that it’s safe
Can you explain the “solera” system of aging your wine?
The solera system of wine aging was developed by the Spanish and Portuguese as a way to provide wines of a constant average age, as well as to ensure a certain homogeneity
Blending Batches: Tips from the Pros
The moment of truth in winemaking often comes when you taste your wine to see how it turned out and you wish it could be just a touch better. Maybe the wine
Solving the Sulfite Puzzle
Let’s try to demystify sulfite by reviewing some fundamental chemistry. This will help us understand how sulfite protects wine and how much “free SO2” we are introducing into our wine.
Choosing a Filtering System
Winemaking is not a science but rather an art. There are many opinions on the pros and cons of the various processes that winemakers use. The subject of filtration is one such area of great debate that has polarized enologists, wine sellers and wine enthusiasts alike. Some advocate the practice of filtration, others believe that fining is sufficient, while many traditionalists simply let nature take its course.
Pruning Tips: Backyard Vines
To understand how pruning your backyard grapevines will affect growth, crop load and wine quality, you must first understand how grapevines grow in the wild. When vines sprout from seed, the vine
Sauvignon Blanc: Varietal Focus
During the mid 1980s in New Zealand, when the Cloudy Bay Winery captured the attention of the world marketplace with its version of Sauvignon Blanc, a new era was born. Today, many
Blue-Ribbon Home Winemaking Tips
Tom Petuskey East Brunswick, New Jersey Tom has been making wine since 1981 and has won more than 100 awards in state and national amateur wine competitions. His most recent awards were
2000 WineMaker Label Contest Winners
After crawling our way out of the large piles of boxes, envelopes and packages that have been collecting on the floor of the editorial department for the past two months, we managed
Put a Cork in It!
You’ve followed all the rules. From the arrival of the grapes through pressing, racking, aging and bottling, you have meticulously scrutinized every step of the winemaking process. Nothing has been overlooked in
My wine has developed a foul taste and odor from Brettanomyces. Is it correctable?
Brettanomyces is a particularly nasty yeast that is often the bane of the collective existence of many winemakers. Its foul-smelling byproducts have often been called “barnyardy” or “mouse pee-like” on the sensory
