How is Fume Blanc made? I would like to make some at home!
TroubleShooting
Mike Johnston — Watsonville, California asks,
I have a 2003 Chardonnay aging in my garage. I have about 65 gallons, which I initially fermented at about 40 degrees F (4 degrees C) for four months and then moved to oak. The wine fermented slowly and is now at 1% residual sugar and has completed malolactic fermentation. It is a very fruity, semi-sweet wine that is no longer fermenting. Rather than attempting to restart fermentation, I am inclined to bottle it as is. I don’t want to mess it up trying to get rid of the residual sugar. I have just purchased a filter system. The finest filter pads that it has are 0.5 micron nominal. I understand this to mean that it will stop half of the 0.5 micron particles. Is this fine enough for sterile filtration so that I can bottle this wine without worry of fermentation starting in the bottle? And do you think I should even put my wine through a sterile filtration?