Articles
Aging bottling Fermentation Filter Growing Grapes Malolactic Pressing Pumps Red Wine so2 Testing White Wine Wine
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Preemptive Fining of White Wine
By Shea Comfort Fining: not just post-fermentation! Remember from chapter one that fining is the process of improving the wine by adding a specific product that will...
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White Winemaking Additives
By Shea Comfort Once the pH, TA and sugars have been taken care of, you may want to consider incorporating some of the beneficial specialty...
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When is Fermentation finished?
By Shea Comfort In about two weeks most of the sugar will have been consumed by the yeast and fermentation will slow, making it easier...
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White Wines and Malo/Lees
By Shea Comfort Once the primary, alcoholic fermentation has finished it is time to decide if you want to do a malolactic fermentation ("MLF"). Unlike...
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Sur-Lie ageing
By Shea Comfort At the end of the fermentation(s) there is a large population of yeast (and possibly ML bacteria) in the wine. Once they...
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First Transfer of White Wine (Lees Management)
By Shea Comfort Once the correct TA/pH and SO2 levels have been adjusted, the lees will have been stirred-up during the addition and the wine...
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Tasting and Adjusting Whites During Ageing
By Shea Comfort Throughout the entire maturation period we need to occasionally check in on the wine’s progress by testing and tasting it. We like...
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White Pre-Bottling Checklist
By Shea Comfort At some point in the next 6-12 months, depending on the type of wine you are making, the wine will have come...
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Fining Finished White Wine
By Shea Comfort A white wine is usually fined in order to soften a harsh or astringent character, to improve clarity, and/or to create heat...
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Cold Stabilization of White Wine
By Shea Comfort If an unstabilized bottle of wine becomes cold (i.e.: chilled in a fridge before being served) it can trigger a crystallization reaction...
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Heat Stability in White Wine
By Shea Comfort If an unstabilized wine has an excess of protein, this protein can come out of its solubilized form, flocculate and deposit at...
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Testing For Heat Stability
By Shea Comfort Heat stability test protocol: • Fine filter a 100 mL sample of wine (a coffee filter works great for this). If the sample...
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Timing Stabilization Treatments
By Shea Comfort • If you will only be doing cold stabilization, then this can be done during the ageing of the wine at any...
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Final Racking and Whether to Sterile Filter
By Shea Comfort Once the wine has cold stabilized you should have clear wine sitting on top of a layer of crystals that form a...
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Pressing Small Batches
By Tristan Johnson This is the simplest and least expensive method for pressing off red wine fermented from small lots of grapes or from a...
