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Winemaking Techniques
There are many approaches to making wine, depending on the style you wish to make, the fruit, and winemaker preference. Learn about different techniques, when and why they may be used, and how to incorporate them in your process.
Posts
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Technique
Managing Acidity Through MLF
Professional winemaker Chik Brenneman shares how malolactic fermentation (MLF) impacts wines, when it may be necessary, and why winemakers s
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Technique
Turbidity
Clarity, or turbidity, is a key aspect of wine evaluation. Let’s revisit the fundamentals of wine clarity and examine how incorporating tu
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Technique
Racking Wine
Racking — the action of transferring wine off the lees to another vessel — is an important technique that is required to produce clear f
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Wine-wizard
Unwanted secondary fermentation
There’s nothing quite like popping open a bottle you meant to be still and finding it has turned into a sparkling version of itself.
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Wine-wizard
“Natural” fermentations
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Wine-wizard
Cold stabilization
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Article
Lees: The Good, The Bad, & The Smelly
The benefits of aging white wine on the lees includes a softer mouthfeel, added weight and texture, added complexity, and a smoothing of the
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Technique
MLF: Tips from the Pros
Two pro winemakers share their approach to conducting malolactic fermentation — one prefers to begin it a couple days after primary fermen
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Wine-wizard
Choosing Yeasts
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Wine-wizard
Dealing With Hard Water
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Wine-wizard
Stuck Syrah Fermentation
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Wine-wizard
Maximizing Color Extraction
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Wine-wizard
What temperature is too cold to age wine?
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Wine-wizard
Do tannins soften over time?
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Wine-wizard
Why does my wine require long decanting times?
I make dry red from my estate Petite Pearl. Why does 3-year-old wine take so long to “open up”?
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Article
Blending White Wines
Blending is often associated with red wines, but blending white wines can also be advantageous to create a balanced wine in certain situatio
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Article
Wine Filtration
Filtering isn’t glamorous, but it is often a necessary step toward brilliantly clear and microbially stable wine in the bottle. Learn the
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Technique
Pectic Enzymes
Pectic enzymes are often used in fruit and other high-pectin wines to aid in clarity, but also serve as a useful tool post-crush to aid in j
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Wine-wizard
Red Wine Lost Its Color
I have an Australian Cabernet that is now clear (see photos)! All the color deposited on the bottom of the bottle.
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Wine-wizard
Using Swing-Top Bottles
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Wine-wizard
Dealing With Bottle Shock
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Article
Experimenting With Ways to Craft Rosé
A pair of home winemakers share the results from trials they conducted this past harvest in techniques for making rosé. The results offer i
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Technique
Vegan Winemaking Products
Manufacturers have recently released many plant-based or microbial-sourced products. Learn about these products, even if vegan isn’t your pr
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Article
Chitosan: For more than just fining
Chitosan is a product every home winemaker should be familiar with, and likely has around their cellar. It is used to help clarify wine, but
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Article
Racking in Moonlight, Acetobacter, Fermenting “dry,” and White Winemaking
While there are a lot of urban myths surrounding winemaking, the one about racking under a full moon isn’t totally hogwash. Plus, what to