Month: July 2014

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Wine Making Wisdom from the Community – WMA017

Recently I asked Winemaker’s Academy members to share with me their top tips that they learned by making their own wines. In this episode I share those tips with you and supplement them with some of my own experience.

You’ll hear tips from wine makers all over the world! Specifically England, Sweeden, India, and the USA.

Questions Answered

Community member wine making tips.

  1. Can I leave out the oak that came with my red wine kit?
  2. When should I cold stabilize my wine?
  3. How do I degas my wine without mixing in a bunch of oxygen?
  4. How long can I keep a bentonite slurry?
  5. How do you take up the extra headspace in a carboy or bottle of wine?

Continue reading “Wine Making Wisdom from the Community – WMA017”

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First Impressions of Matt’s Strawberry Melomel

It’s been six months now since I bottled my strawberry melomel (here’s the recipe if you like: Matt’s Strawberry Melomel). My wife and I had some friends over for dinner and I decided to offer them some to see what they thought of my creation (these were the same friends I put through the Riesling Yeast Experiment tasting).

Strawberries
Strawberries just asking to be fermented.

Unlike the previous tasting this was not a formal event. I merely asked our friends if they cared to try another one of my wines before dinner. They agreed so I put one of the 375 ml bottles in the freezer for fifteen minutes or so to chill it down.

Continue reading “First Impressions of Matt’s Strawberry Melomel”

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Stabilizing Wine for Back Sweetening – WMA016

Stabilizing Wine for Back Sweetening

Back sweetening can be a tricky process. If the yeast is not either removed or incapacitated in some way they will happily ferment any sugars you add to your wine to back sweeten it. So how do you stabilize a wine so that you can sweeten a wine without risking fermentation, or worse, exploding bottles?

Sweet Wine
“Wine legs” indicating residual sugar left in this finished wine.

That is the main topics for this episode of the Winemaker’s Academy Podcast. During the show I explore the three main ways of stabilizing a wine so you can add sugars and end up with a sweet wine instead of a fermenting wine.

Listener & Reader Questions

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Resources for Becoming a Professional Winemaker

Many home wine makers either start out wanting to go pro or decide to go that way soon after making their first few batches. After recording the last podcast with Holly Wells and John Garlich of BookCliff Vineyards Holly stuck around to share some great resources for those wanting to go down the path of professional winemaking.

Professional Winemaker Pumping WineHolly’s Wine Industry Resources

  1. UC Davis Viticulture & Enology Jobs (VENJobs)
  2. Winejobs.com
  3. WineBusiness.com
  4. Walla Walla Enology & Viticulture Program
  5. Wine & Spirit Education Trust

“If you’re passion is there just follow it and it will take you great places” – Holly Wells

Things To Think About Before Going Pro

Continue reading “Resources for Becoming a Professional Winemaker”

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Wine Making Chemistry with Bookcliff Vineyards – WMA015

Guests of the show talking about wine making chemistry.
Holly Wells & John Garlich of Bookcliff Vineyards

Wine chemistry is a complex subject. There are so many things to measure, balance, and think about that it’s hard to know when to do what and decide what’s really important. To help us navigate this complex subject Holly Wells and John Garlich of BookCliff Vineyards have come on the show to walk us though the entire wine making process… from a chemistry perspective. Continue reading “Wine Making Chemistry with Bookcliff Vineyards – WMA015”