This is the time of year — at least for those making wine from grapes —when you get to taste and assess wines from this past vintage to determine how good these have turned out and what “tweaking” they require, if any. And if you are making wine from kits, this is a good time too. Whites have finished fermenting and have been stabilized, perhaps even cold stabilized, and will soon be bottled; ditto for reds that will not undergo malolactic fermentation, although these are expected to age a while longer before going into bottles. And perhaps those luscious reds from past vintages that have been cellaring in oak barrels might be ready for bottling — for drinking or for further aging in bottles. Time to taste those too! Yes, it’s time to take stock of your wine inventory — that is, your wine that is in carboys, tanks or barrels — and decide if corrective actions are required on wine to be bottled, and which need more aging. So get ready to do some serious tasting and bench trials
Technique