Topic: Wine-Wizard

A 40-year-old Cabernet Sauvignon that’s now as white as a ghost? Oh no! The Wine Wizard gets to the bottom of this spooky phenomenon and also discusses the pros and cons of bottling wine in swing-top bottles and how to combat bottle shock.

The Wine Wizard fields questions on eliminating (and avoiding) browning in red wines, malolactic fermentation test strips, and techniques for making wine from maple sap.

The Wine Wizard shares the signs to look for and ways to monitor malolactic fermentation, offers tips on adding supplemental grape skins to a red wine, and when to move a red wine’s fermentation from open containers to under an airlock.

That’s a great question and one, like so much in winemaking, that can be answered by a bit of a compromise. You’re on the right track by ordering your supplies right before

The Wine Wizard offers steps to increase aroma for aromatic white wines. Plus, how to remove stains from glass carboys, whether high-proof alcohol is a match for mycoderma, and why the combination of sulfur dioxide and citric acid works well for sanitation.

In the face of a cool growing season, contending with underripe grapes can be a challenge. The Wiz has some ideas for one grape grower who just couldn’t get their Syrah to full maturity. Also, get some pointers for a healthy malolactic fermentation and alcoholic fermentation.

Citrus fruits contain a lot of interesting flavors, but making wine with them can be a challenge. Get advice on removing the bitterness that comes with the rinds as well as micro-oxygenation advice for small-scale winemakers, and how to best deacidify a wine.

A winemaker has saved up a bunch of commercial screw-cap bottles and wants to know what cork size fits best in that style of bottle. Learn why it is not a good idea to cork those bottles. Also get advice on aging wine temperatures and volatile acidity in blueberry wine.

There has been growing interest in reduced alcohol wines in recent years as the health benefits and caloric reduction is lauded by the medical world. The Wine Wizard offers tips to a home winemaker looking to produce their own lower-alcohol wine. Another winemaker is trying to find ways to reduce their water usage in the winery.

The term “sacrificial tannins” is something that gets casually tossed into the winemaking lexicon by those who have been in the trade for a while . . . but what does it really mean? Get an explanation along with tips for rehydrating dry yeast and techniques to properly stabilize a fortified wine.

Winemaking may be more a science, but blending is definitely an art. The Wizard has some tips for a rookie winemaker looking to possibly blend five different wines. Also, make sure you’re up on the latest knowledge and mitigation methods surrounding the phenomenon known as smoke taint.

Maintaining wine while it ages in oak is an important task. Make sure you are taking the appropriate steps. Also, a winemaker can’t get their latest wine to start fermentation. The Wine Wizard unravels the mystery behind the unfermentable juice.

As a winemaker evolves, learning how to evaluate their wine during different stages of maturation can be key. The Wine Wizard has some thoughts on what to expect when tasting wines at various young ages as well as kegging homemade wine.

With wildfires on the rise in many wine regions around the world, smoke taint has become a common phrase. Learn about it and ways winemakers may be able to try to make the best from affected grapes. Also learn about Campden tablets, getting news on grape growing conditions, and some other pearls of wiz-dom.

Bottling is typically the final step towards producing wine where a winemaker can foul things up. Get some recommendations from the Wizard on when and how to bottle your wines. Also get some pointers on proper etiquette of being a wine judge.

Q I am using Flextanks and oak chips for my wine and am really liking the results. However, I put the oak chips in loose and they clog up the tubing and

Malolactic fermentation can be finicky even for professional winemakers, but there are protocols winemakers can follow to help avoid the headache (and heartache). Learn those along with best practices for a post-fermentation acid adjustment.

A winemaker is left scratching their head when a wine that seemingly has fermented dry is still producing bubbles. The Wizard also provides suggestions for vinegar storage and the possible cause of odd-colored speckles on a cantaloupe wine.

When a winemaker gets their hands on some highly coveted Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, he wants to make sure that the oak quality matches the grape. But he balks at the price tag of a new oak barrel. Get some tips for high-quality oak alternatives and ways to correct a raspberry wine with weird numbers.

It’s hard to get universal ripening of your grapes in a small vineyard with lots of variability. The Wizard provides some pointers as well as clues to determining grape ripeness when the refractometer is left home. Plus, the threat of contamination from “killer” yeast.

What is the best way to store oak barrels that don’t have wine in them? Get the answer from the Wine Wizard, as well as her advice for a case of oversulfited wine, removing white film from a glass carboy, and five tips for a rookie winemaker.

Get some pointers and considerations a winemaker needs to keep in mind when topping off your aging wine vessels. The Wizard also answers questions on fining agents and malolactic fermentation after cold stabilizing a wine.

Oxidation is one of the most common faults among homemade wines. The Wiz has some tips for minimizing exposure during racking along with advice for how to read fermentation temperature, reducing reductive stink with copper, and carbonating a dessert wine.

Not everyone loves a buttery Chardonnay but for those that seek out this characteristic the Wine Wizard has some sage fermentation advice to achieve buttery bliss. Also, one reader wonders about adding pectic enzymes in a red wine and another is perplexed by the numbers in his recently purchased juice.

Q I’ve heard that a lot of wineries are using ozone for their sanitation programs. I make about ten barrels of wine a year — should I buy an ozonator machine? Bernice