Your Winemaking Educational Source
Natural cork wine have been used to seal and protect wine for the past three hundred years or so. Prior to that more crude methods were employed.
Today we are seeing a thriving synthetic closure market crop up and the debate between whether to use natural or synthetic closures is thriving. This article is the first in a series that will cover each of the different closure types available and what their benefits and drawbacks are.
The best way to improve upon a skill, winemaking included, is through personal experience. The second best way is by learning through others experiences. In this episode I’ve got a great interview with winemaker Jason Phelps where he shares many lessons learned through his ten years of wine making experience.
You’ll hear about wines that went well and won medals, wines that didn’t go so well and had to be poured out, and what he learned by competing and judging winemaking competitions.
So grab a notebook and a glass of wine for this episode. You’ll learn a lot but you’ll also be challenged to consider how you view your wine and how you make it. I know I came away from this interview needing to reflect on some of my own views and reconsider what direction to take my own wines.
Jason was kind enough to weigh in on several questions that came in from members of the Winemaker’s Academy Facebook group (email me for more information on that).
This mango wine recipe was contributed by Winemaker’s Academy member Kerry. The recipe, she tells me, was passed to her by an organic mango farmer she knows.
Kerry does not use sulfites in her wine so you won’t see any references to potassium metabisulfite or campden tablets. This is part of the reason why she recommends using “cooled boiled water” in several of the steps below.
Should you decide to add sulfites to your wine simply follow the instructions included with the potassium metabisulfite or campden tablets of your choice. If you need some guidance on sulfite additions check out the following article which includes a calculator: Adding Potassium Metabisulfite to Wine. However, it would be an interesting experiment to go without sulfites if you’ve never tried it. Continue reading “Kerry’s Magnificent Mango Wine Recipe”
There are many different styles of corkers out there. What differentiates them from one another, beyond price, is how easy it is to insert a cork. Smaller, less expensive corkers are convenient for those reasons, however, they often don’t provide the mechanical advantage needed to make it an “easy to use” corker.
In this episode you’ll get introduced to the most popular amateur wine making corkers. I’ve covered how they work, how much they cost, and which ones require the use of a mallet to use. Additionally, you’ll get introduced the both the mechanical and vacuum corkers that small wineries use. Continue reading “Winemaking Corkers – WMA013”