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Winemaking Science
For winemakers who want to understand the “why” as much as the “how,” these stories dive into the deep end of the science involved when turning grape juice into wine.
Posts
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Article
Performing Winery Lab Tests
Take the guesswork out of winemaking by performing tests on your juice, must, and wine. We run through the most critical tests, as well as h
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Article
Performing Benchtop Trials
When changes to aroma or structure are desired to achieve a more balanced, pleasing wine, you should always start with benchtop trials to di
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Technique
Chemistry of Must Correction
Clark Smith offers ways to extract the most from your grapes by digging into the chemistry of must correction — including methods to boost
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Article
Understanding and Measuring Residual Sugars
Looking at Brix (or specific gravity) alone isn’t a great indicator whether a wine is microbially stable, and therefore determining if the
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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
Taming Tartness, Adding Body, & Non-Alcoholic Wine
The Wine Wiz offers her wizdom to bring a tart wine into balance, as well as ways to add body to a wine and why non-alcoholic wine productio
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Wine-wizard
Can I make non-alcoholic wine?
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Wine-wizard
Taming Tartness
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Article
Game-Changing Innovations
A number of innovative products well-suited for the home and small-scale winemaker have come to market in recent years. Explore these option
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Technique
Mid-Winter Check-In
Harvest and the heavy lifting of crushing and fermenting your 2024 vintage are in the rearview mirror at this point. That doesn’t mean the
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Wine-wizard
Lowering pH
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Article
Dubunking Consumer Myths, Yeast Impact on MLF & pH Adjustments
If you sometimes prefer your red wines served a little on the cool side or are not afraid of buying high-end wines with screw cap closures,
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Wine-wizard
Lowering pH
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Article
Lowering pH, add body to to country wines, degree days, & chitosan
The Wizard offers advice on when and how to lower pH. She also suggests a remedy for thin country wines, explains why degree days are only p
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Technique
Get the Most From Harvest Numbers
While taste should drive many decisions, the numbers can’t be ignored. Chik Brenneman shares the ideal statistics he looks for at harvest
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Article
Understanding and Controlling Brettanomyces
It is both a spoilage yeast and the heart of many great wines of Bordeaux. We share what you need to understand about Brettanomyces, the com
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Wine-wizard
Reducing acid in wine
I’m making some red wine from local grapes this fall. I had nothing handy to deacidify the must at the crush.
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Article
Balancing Wine Acidity
Acid is a critical building block in a wine’s structure. Learn how to balance acidity by testing, adjusting, and most importantly, tasting
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Wine-wizard
Over-Sulfiting Your Grape Must
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Technique
Experimenting With Deficit Irrigation
With ongoing drought concerns in many wine-growing regions, the practice of deficit irrigation is gaining traction, not only for using less
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Article
Practical Sulfite Management
The use of sulfites in wine — how much, or even if used at all — remains a contentious subject. WineMaker’s Technical Editor shares hi
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Article
Sulfur Dioxide: Fact and Myth
Winemakers have a lot of misconceptions about sulfur dioxide and its use in winemaking. Though somewhat controversial, longtime wine educato
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Technique
Just the pHacts
If you are a winemaker looking to boost your wine’s quality, then tracking pH is a must. Bob Peak introduces the chemistry behind the numb
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Wine-wizard
Strategies for a Chaptalization Mistake
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Technique
Chaptalization
Chaptalization is the act of adding sugar to juice or must in order to increase alcohol content post-fermentation. Learn the basics of this