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July 17, 2014June 25, 2018

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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July 10, 2014June 25, 2018

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.

Holly’s Wine Industry Resources

“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

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July 2, 2014June 25, 2018

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”

June 26, 2014June 25, 2018

Natural Cork Closures for Wine

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.

Where Does Cork Come From?

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June 16, 2014June 25, 2018

Interview with Winemaker Jason Phelps – WMA014

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.

Jason Phelps

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?