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Topic: Winemaking from Grapes

52 result(s).

Italian Techniques for Bubbles

There are many ways to make sparkling or spritzy wines. An Italian winemaker offers tips for two methods used in regions of Italy — Governo and metodo
ancestrale — and how home winemakers everywhere can use them at home.


One Grape, Many Styles

There are many reasons that 10 wines made from the same grape may taste completely different, and often it is because the winemaker planned for them to. Learn about how the location a grape is grown, as well as the decisions a winemaker must make, impact the outcome of a wine.


Red Hybrid Winemaking

There are some intricacies when making red table wines from hybrid grapes that vinifera winemakers don’t experience — from growing practices, pre-fermentation techniques, and right on through to post-fermentation adjustments.


Adjust Your Must

There are many points throughout the winemaking process where a winemaker must make adjustments
in order to influence the final outcome. When the grapes come into the winery, the very first choices you will make as a winemaker will be done in the unfermented must.


Your First Lug of Grapes

Buying your first lug of grapes can be intimidating, but it does not need to be. Get some pointers before committing to your first box of grapes.


A Walk Alongside Ripeness

How ripe your grapes are when picked is one of the most important factors in determining what your wine will taste like. Here is a closer look at how a grape’s development affects the resulting wine.


A Year in a the Life of a Wine: Part II (Grape Processing)

A look at processing grapes after harvest.


Using South American Grapes for a Second Winemaking Season

And you thought there was only one time each year to make wine from fresh grapes; in the autumn season. But, surprise, there is another whole world south of the Equator. As


Making Wines with Finesse

The mantra for the quest for making a big blockbuster type of wine is “more is better” — more sugar in the grapes, more alcohol in the wine, more extraction, more color


Using Winemaking Enzymes

Many winemakers shun the use of additives, including enzymes, to respect the wine’s “naturalness.” But juice is laden with natural enzymes, and once inoculated with yeast, fermenting wine is under the control


15 Wine Styles You Need to Make

One of the things that makes wine irresistible is the endless variety: every grape, every region, every vintage, every bottle tastes a little different from the last. And so while there is


Winemaking by the Numbers

There are lots of ways to help winemakers learn or refine their craft. Most of those involve lists of equipment and supplies, along with step-by-step or time-based instructions for what to do


White Wine Skin Contact

Today’s proposed violation takes on one of the dominant conventions of modern white winemaking: no skin contact.


Maceration Tips and Techniques

“Maceration,” says the Concise Oxford Dictionary, is to “soften by soaking.” In red winemaking it is so much more! Indeed, maceration may be viewed as the very essence of what distinguishes the


Blending Fruit and Grape Wines

“Blending is a natural procedure, honest, necessary, and in accordance with historical events.” With that quote, eminent wine authority Emile Peynaud gives us permission to play with our wines. While he was


Whole Cluster Pressing: Tips from the Pros

Whole cluster pressing (foregoing the step of crushing and destemming the grapes) is most often done to make high-end white wines. The technique creates a more delicate and less astringent wine by


Importing Juice vs. Fresh Grapes

Well, it seems to me that Chile to New Jersey is an awfully long haul. I often, in my blog and in this column, advocate that the distance from vineyard to crushpad


Sourcing Grapes

Want to make wine from fresh grapes but not sure how to go about getting them? Here’s an introduction about sourcing grapes.


Sourcing Grapes from Vineyards for Home Winemakers

Sourcing fresh grapes directly from a grower can be a fun and rewarding experience for home winemakers. Get some tips for making the most of buying grapes straight from the vineyard.


Buying Fresh Grapes

If you are lucky enough to live on the West Coast of the United States, near a winegrowing region, getting grapes is relatively easy. However, living on the East Coast — or anywhere that is not near an established viticultural area — does not mean you cannot get quality wine grapes. Here are some keys to success when buying grapes shipped from a distant location.


Creating a Balanced Must

 There are three elements that are critical to have balanced in a must: pH/TA, structure and sugar. Each of these elements has a direct influence on the quality of the finished wine


Cold Soaking: Tips from the Pros

Melissa Burr, Winemaker at Stoller Vineyards in Dayton, Oregon. Melissa was raised in the Willamette Valley and, after completing her BS degree, studied winemaking at Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Oregon, and


Harvest Planning

The better you plan for grapes to come in, the smoother the big day of harvest and crushing grapes will go. Do you have all of the equipment on hand and cleaned? Is the space cleared? Start planning now.


The Pomace Predicament

Winemaking, like baking bread or beer brewing, is one of humankind’s most ancient food-manufacturing processes. And, just as baking and brewing leave behind cereal stalks and spent grain, winemaking produces one of


Second Press Runs to Get More from Your Grapes

As home winemakers, there’s nothing like adding a new trick to our repertoire. Anything that makes our wine a little better is definitely a good thing. For those reasons, you should explore


52 result(s) found.