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.
Listener Questions
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).
- How would you go about doing wine making bench trials?
- How do you recommend making wine without sulfites?
- Do you have any methods for reducing sulfur smells in a finished wine?
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.
