Techniques

Recently 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

Tropical 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

Late 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

There is lots of information out there about how to run various juice and wine analytical procedures at home if you want to do that. If you do not want to run

Grapevine Dormancy The beginning of the calendar year in my Hyde Park, New York home vineyard is when the vines are in dormancy. This is a period of time when the grapevine

Making kit wines doesn’t have to be only about following directions. Improve your wines by using tannin additions at various stages.

This past April 2014, over 50 experienced judges evaluated a total of 1,460 wine kit entries as part of the 2014 WineMaker International Amateur Wine Competition. This large collection of kit entries

All done using their energy to grow shoots, grapes and leaves, vines in the winter begin storing water prior to the first frost and then go into dormancy. That doesn’t mean those

Ask 5 winemakers and you may get 6 opinions about co-inocculation. But what does the science say?

Here are some tips and suggestions on cellaring your homemade wine and maintaining the cellar itself. The cellar “The cellar” has a wide range of interpretations for home winemakers. If you have

In this article I will discuss the degrees of cold temperature damage that can occur in grapevines, techniques to assess that damage, and ways to increase the likelihood that your remaining live

The early signs of oxidation are orange to brown colors developing in your wine. In white wine, the same exact wine (pictured above) can go from white (left) to brown (right) if

Bordeaux. The mere mention of the name conjures up images of centuries-old chateaus, pristine vineyards and superlative wines that have set the highest standards the world over. Bordeaux wine styles are the

Step 1: Measuring What You Have The first step in figuring out how much sugar to add is to find out how much is present in the starting material/juice. These days, most

In this article I’m going to go into detail on the reasons behind two of the four most confusing concepts in kit winemaking: 1) Temperature, and why higher is better, and 2)

There is more to cellaring bulk wine than meets the eye. Throughout the aging process, the winemaker is on a tightrope walk between intervening to prevent and correct problems while remaining relaxed enough to let good wine evolve naturally.

Here is one truism of farming: Being prepared is always preferable to trying to fix an unexpected problem. Understanding the water needs of a grapevine is an important step to using as

Botanists tell us that grapes are members of the genus Vitis, and the well-known European grape varieties are members of the species vinifera. (In case you’ve forgotten, a species is one rung lower in

Asking a winemaker if they make rosé should be like asking a winemaker if they drink beer. The two beverages, pink wine and a tasty lager, belong in any cellar and in

Honey is a complex mixture of sugars, flavors from the pollen as well as trace enzymes, minerals, vitamins, and amino acids. The majority of the honey found in grocery stores is Wildflower

As renowned French wine scientist Emile Peynaud wrote, “Bottling is a very stressful operation for a wine and the enological problems it causes are numerous: Considerable oxygen uptake, keeping out microorganisms and

Looking to try something new? You can make unique and wonderful wines from plants found in your garden or even growing wild in your backyard. Winemaker and Owner of TSJ Wine Blenders

Make wine at home for a few years and you will probably accumulate a lot of stuff. Pieces of equipment join the collection as the needs and resources come up. Consumable supplies

Parts and equipment list Trailer: Small utility trailer kit ¾-inch treated plywood decking (2) wide turf tires Spray system: 35-gallon (132-L) poly tank (2) bulkhead fittings PTO (power take off) roller pump

You’ve heard over and over the importance of taking notes during winemaking. But what do you do with those findings? Follow along with the process of a professional winemaker to find out.