Techniques in Home Winemaking is a resource for home winemakers looking for information or help on making great wines, including troubleshooting winemaking problems, and to share that knowledge with fellow winemakers. This resource is based and builds on my book by the same title and my newly released book titled Modern Home Winemaking, which has been updated to reflect the newest techniques and products for making outstanding wines.
Much of my experience is derived from extensive literature search as well as from my experience both as a home and a commercial winemaker.
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I am finding “Techniques in Home Winemaking – A Practical Guide..” and also a version “..-The Comprehensive Guide”. Is this the same book?
The version with “The Comprehensive Guide …” in the subtitle is the most recent edition; it is much more comprehensive (510+ pages) compared to the previous edition.
Perfect, thanks.
Just a quick note to say “Thank you” and let other readers know how valuable the information in “Techniques in Home Winemaking” is for the home winemaker. On top of that, the help you’ve offered via email has been invaluable as we continue through our “Syrah saga”. Thank you, Daniel.
We have three 2011 varieties that have completed MFL and are now aging, either in glass or french oak barrel. A forth is still in MLF. Though chomatography indicated MLF was complete on the first three, each retains a “green apple” taste to some degree. Being new to winemaking I have to ask… Will this greeness mellow as the wine ages? Or, is it likely that MLF did not complete despite the chromatography results.
Joe,
Thank you for your feedback and kind words.
Cheers,
Daniel
Joe,
It seems like MLF has not completed. Malic acid imparts that green-apple taste. You have to be 100% sure that there are no more malic spots showing on the chromatogram. Even then, there is probably some left over, albeit, very little. So it’s best to let MLF go for another week or so AFTER the spots disappear to ensure that MLF has gone as far as it can.
Daniel
Thanks, Daniel. Can MLF be reinitiated from scratch if the free SO2 is managed carefully?
Yes, though you will need to add MLB nutrients to get the bacteria going esp. if you racked after the AF.
Following your guidance, I reinitiated MLF about 3 weeks ago and it looks to be moving along just fine now. Adding nutrients, maintaining the proper temperature, and regular gentle stirring seem to be all it needed. My plan to to continue this regiment until there is no visible sign of activity (CO2 generation). I’ll then conduct another chromatography test. If the test shows MLF is complete, is it important to rack the wine into a clean vessel immediately, or can the wine be left as is until I move it outdoors for cold stabilization later in February?
I usually rack after MLF but that depends on the amount of lees you have. If you still have gross lees, you should definitely rack. More important though is that you sulfite the wine once MLF is over.
Hi Daniel,
Recently purchased and read your kit making wine book. What do you think about this beginner kit? Do you recommend it?
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/complete-wine-package-equipment-kit-w-plastic-plunger-corker.html
Hi Jim,
You certainly seem to get good value. Everything is included, that’s great! You’ll be able to re-use the equipment over and over again. But I don’t know of the quality of the wine since I have never made this one.
Cheers,
Daniel
Thank you Daniel,
Which beginner kit do you recommend?
I’ve used many kinds of kits with varying levels of success. I can’t point to a single one that I would recommend; however, there is a pretty strong correlation between price (of the concentrate and additives only) and quality. You can always look at competition results at http://www.winemakermag.com to see which have performed best.
What affect does cooper salts have on bound and free SO2? Should it be considered as a treatment option when there is slight smell of sulfur in the wine?
If copper (Cu) is added as copper sulfate (CuSO4) BEFORE the start of fermentation (AF), the sulfate can be metabolized by yeast into sulfite and sulfide. So CuSO4 should only be added once the AF -and- MLF are over and the wine has been stabilized. Assuming that very little CuSO4 is added, there will be little impact on total SO2. If you smell sulfur, I recommend you aerate the wine first to try and dissipate the smell before you add any CuSO4.
Hi Daniel,
My reds seem to take forever to finish MLF despite nutrient addition and keeping the cellar at ~20C (++electricity). I’ve typically done sequential AF followed by MLF, but am thinking about co-innoculation. Any advice or resource suggestions?
How much sulfite have you added until MLF? How did you inoculate for MLF? What’s the pH?
2010 Baco pH 3.3, Cab Sav 3.5, Pet Sirah 3.5.
2011 Sangio 3.1 (added 10% Merlot to get pH up a bit), Cab Sav 3.5, Merlot 3.5.
All given 50 ppm Kmeta at crush only until MLF finished. All inncoulated with VP41. All took ~3 months to finish up.
Daniel will know best, but I’ve learned temperate is an important factor as well. I had two 2011 varietals where MLF stalled after about 2 months. This coincided with a significant drop in outdoor temperature. After about a month of no activity, I reinoculated with new ML bacteria and wrapped the carboys with an electric blanket to get the wine temperature up to about 70 degrees F. MLF took off like a rocket.
Ah ok! It did finish, it’s just that you are wondering why it took so long and how to shorten MLF duration. You seem to have done everything perfectly well. MLF can take a while depending on many factors, most of which you had under control. To speed it up, as Joe suggested, you can raise the temperature; you can also try adding nutrients.
Personally, at home, I’m actually trying to extend it to get more flavors; obviously this needs to be managed meticulously to avoid any microbial spoilage.
I hope to have a large volume of red wine that will be distributed between 80g stainless steel and 60g oak barrels. The problem is, I do not have an indoor space large enough to store all this. Is it reasonable to believe these containers can be kept outdoors if protected from direct expose to the elements? I live in the central valley of California where daily summer temperatures can range from 50-100 degrees F, and winter ranges from 30 – 60 degrees F. Other than nixing the idea all together, are there special measures or precautions that should be considered?
I assume by “g” that you mean gallons (abbrev is “gal”).
You should NOT store oak barrels outdoors; the elements will spoil the wood, and the wine will undergo temperature and humidity fluctuations that will have a negative impact.
S/S tanks can be stored outdoors like large commercial wineries do; however, they have temperature control which you probably don’t have, and so again, the wine will be impacted by temperature fluctuations.
So you’ll have to find some room indoors if you really want to make that much wine.
At the wine makers conference in Ithaca you mentioned use of A 20percent solution of gum Arabic. Where can I get this?
In northeastern US, Presque Isle carries it. piwine.com
Gum Arabic may be avaiable from additional sources, but on west coast MoreFlavor/MoreWine has proven to be reliable: http://morewinemaking.com/search?search=Gum
We are biotteling 50 cases of 2010 Meritage rtomorrow. I hve acquired Liquid Gum Arabic (20%) as a resulyt of sitting at your presentation at Winemaker Confernce, Cornell Univeristy.
How do I apply Gum arabic to the stainless before bottling ? do I have to do anything except just sturr it in? Will it settle to the bottom and will the filters prevent it to get into the bottle?
Konrad 914-921-5570
Yes, add it directly to your FILTERED wine, and stir thoroughly. You can filter again afterwards if you want — you won’t have any problems.
I have my own vineyard in north central OH and have 100 Noriet grapes, 50 GR 7 and 50 Marguette plants in the third year. I have very good production with a dry summer this year. These are all hybrid plants from the AA Vineyard in Eastern NY. I plan on using MLF and vination in a new 30 gal american oak barrrel. How long do you think I should allow for fermintation and do you think I should add yeast and/or sugar. I do want a dryer wine. I may also have to add some calif. juice to finish out the barrel. Obviously I have alot of questions. I am reading your book which I find very helpful but the grapes are ripening fairly fast this year and I am not sure of exact plan . Thanks
Hi Ron,
If the weather has been anything like in the Niagara region–and it sounds like it has been from your general comments–then you will have very ripe grapes. That means, high sugar and low acid, so no, you don’t want to add sugar unless Brix is below, say, 24. You want at least 12.5% alcohol. Yes, I recommend you add yeast and not rely on indigenous yeast. Under normal conditions, fermentation will take approx 7 days to reach dryness. I also recommend doing a malo (MLF) just to ensure microbial stability once the wine is bottled. But check your TA before fermentation. If it’s very low, add tartaric acid. MLF will reduce TA but only slightly in a very ripe vintage since there would be little malic acid.
Good luck
One other question given the grapes (Hybreds) which I have grown what juice from Calif. would you add if I need to to finish out my 30 gal barrel. I used a Cab Sav last year but thinking of moving to a Syrah or Red Zin
Any of those varietals should work well. I can’t point to one specifically as I am not familiar with your hybrid varietals. But that’s the beauty of home winemaking — to experiment and discover.
Let me know how it turns out.
I am sorry to ask so many questions, but could I add wine from last year that I have bottled back into the barrel with my new grapes this year. I will probably be just a little short from having enough new pressed juice to finish the barrel. If I haven’t told you I really find your book a Great help and referrence in my wine making. I bought it from Midwest Supply.
Hi Ron,
Yes, you can although that seems a waste of hard work to have to uncork every bottle just to top off. Hopefully it’s just a few bottles.
And thanks for the feedback.
I picked grapes all weekend a bumper crop of quality grapes and more to be picked. Ran them through my destemmer and crusherended up with about 50 gals of must in maceration now. Should I being doing any monitoring of the must for PH, Bix or temperatue. I have been doing some but have seen the SP GR and Bix droppping. Temperature is holding around 70 F. I plan on maceration for 7 to 10 days and then pressing the must. I would than immediately transfer the juice to an amer. oak barrel to start the MLF process. What should I being besides PH which I try to keeo at 3.4 to 3.8 , temp around 70f. The grapes seem to have a high sugar content and I have a hydometer whatdo you recommend. You may remmeber these are hybred red semi dry vines from NY State Cornell Uni patented. I must have 25 corners bent over on your book and I starting to get frustrated that I am doing things right. I have put alot of work into over 200 plants an 4 years of care to get to this point.
Well, yes, I think you should be measuring and monitoring Brix, T and pH so that 1) you know how things are progressing, 2) you can make any necessary adjustments, if required, and 3) if you run into problems down the line, you have the data to look back at and see what could have gone wrong. Think of it as driving with a dashboard — what would you do without, for example, a speedometer? So it’s not necessary, but you need to adjust your speed so you don’t go too fast and running the risk of being pulled over by the cops. Brix is important as it tells you how much alcohol to expect and, if it’s high, you know you might potentially be faced with a sluggish fermentation — and so, you may want to use a different yeast. Monitoring Brix also allows you to ensure that fermentation is progressing as expected. As for pH, you really only want to know if it’s out of whack initially; if it’s 4.0, then you know you need to be real vigilant to keep microbes away and increase sulfite dosage. Otherwise, you really need to know the pH so you can adjust/maintain your free SO2 accordingly.
Good luck.
After one week of maceration of my red wine, I pailed out the must and pressed it. I didn’t press it hard.It appeared to be fermenting during the maceration process and temperature was 62-74 F. After pressing I transfer from the container to my oak barrel once again by pail it into the barrel through a funnel. It now appears to me to not fermenting or is sluggish at best. According to your book at page 435 MLF fermentation stuck or sluggish, I have check PH which is 3.88 and the temperature is 64F and the hydrometer is readinfg is 0 for SPF GR and balling. I think it has gotten to much air. What do you recommend to use to get the fermentaion started again.I read about OPTI Malo but can’t seem to locate it for purchase. Thanks for help.
Found the Opti Malo Plus and have ordered it. Do you think this is what I need to get fermentation started again.
Hi Ron,
Sorry for the late response but I’m in the middle of a major computer meltdown.
Yes, Opti Malo will help. You should consider raising the temp to the low 70s. Avoid any kind of oxygen ingress during the MLF. Everything else sounds fine, assuming you have not added any sulfite yet.
Daniel
I’ve heard that adding a few oak beans to a carboy undergoing MLF can be helpful. Something about giving the ML bacteria a support structure to grow on. Is there any truth to this Daniel?
No, never heard of that — doesn’t mean it can’t be true; but from what I know about the chemistry of oak wood and the metabolism of lactic acid bacteria (LAB), there is nothing in oak that can serve what I think you mean by “support structure to grow,” i.e. there is no source of nitrogen. And there aren’t any other sugars that LAB can use for its metabolic activities. Sure, there are other carbon sources but none required for growth.
The one main thing that oak does though is provide lots of aldehydes to polymerize with tannins and anthocyanins to effect mouthfeel (and aging potential) changes — or what’s called structure — and color and color stability changes.
What would be the effect on mouthfeel and aging potential if I added some oak at the time of MLF? I currently add a small amout of oak with the primary and barrel age months post MLF.
Aldehydes in oak act like bridges in polymerizing tannins and anthocyanins, reducing astringency and improving color stability, respectively. This polymerization mechanism and interactions with oxygen increases the wine’s “stability” hence a longer aging potential. It’s not related to MLF specifically. These phenomena would actually be most active and most beneficial during yeast fermentation or in aging while injecting a little oxygen via micro-ox …. the topic of my next WM article.
I have not added any sulfite, will probably do so in 3 to 4 months. I will limit oxygen ingress and will siffin from and back to my barrel at first racking usually at 3 month mark. I really appreciate your helpful information and hope you get your computor problems resolved.
Ok, sounds like you are doing every right. Just monitor MLF progress as you don’t want the bacteria lurking around post-MLF. As soon as MLF is over, sulfite and chill the wine.
hi Daniel!
When is the right time to measure the pH? I did checked it just at crushing , and it was 3.40 on 09/16/12 then, after 3to4 hours latter at home was 3.65to3.70 It continued to be like that 3.65 to3.70 for at least first 2 days of primary fermentation, did not checked the 3-d and 4-th, but today 09/21/12 or when the primary is almost done (SG 1010) the ph was to my surprise 3.40-3.45. I calibrated the pH meter ( Hanna pHeb with auto Temp. control) and again 3.40to3.45 .the pH meter have been all the other steps and allways with buffer 7.01and 4.01. primary is going good, temp 73F, grapes are CA merlot and cabernet sav.with 24 % sugar and TA 5.7 gr/lit. If the last ph is for real it sounds like a very good wine . I did not find this in your book in such detail.
The other thing, I have seen the last to years that the Cabernet has been fermented much faster than Merlot for the same condition and with any of the yeast i have use Lavlin RC 211 or Lv1116. Is there any explanation ? for example when Cab is going gs1000 the merlo is about 1025 or 2-3 days more to catch up . I”m reading all of your blogs and really can’t wait for more, Thank you, Daniel
Hi Ali,
At a minimum, you should measure pH at crush, before MLF, and before bottling. These “control” points allow you to implement any corrections that may be required.
I also like to measure pH as soon as the MLF is complete to get a sense of the change, but more important, to know how much SO2 to add at this critical stage when you want to ensure that all/any LAB are inhibited, esp. if you are trying to reduce the amount of SO2 you add to wine.
And obviously, you should check the pH before/after any acid/pH adjustments to make sure everything is according to plan.
The above are esp. important when your pH is above 3.6 — that’s when bacteria thrive the most. The higher the pH, the more SO2 you’ll need.
As for your measurements, it all depends on the type of meter you have. Even though some may give you a reading to 2 decimal places (what’s called the resolution), the accuracy may be +/-0.1. So your 3.65 reading may actually be as low as 3.5, which would be close to the 3.40 reading as that could be as high as 3.5.
Assuming that you have a good meter, the error may be in the samples you use for measurement. The samples should be “cleaned” up, i.e. filter (through a coffee filter) any solids, and esp. shake out any CO2, as these affect you readings. And although your meter may have AUto Temp control, I recommend always measuring the sample at the same temp.
Otherwise, sounds like you’ve got a good handle on things. And BTW, many great wines with high pH have been made, so don’t think that 3.7 is bad quality. You just need to keep bacteria in check and manage the must/wine to extract extra polyphenols as color becomes less stable at higher pH. But again, nothing to worry about unless pH is super high.
You will be able to read all the fun details in my wine chemistry book … whenever I’m able to complete that project.
Rate of fermentation depends on many, many factors. Assuming that you are fermenting a Cab and a Merlot at the same temp and using the same yeast strain, same SO2 regimen, etc etc, they can still ferment at different rates depending on their starting Brix, and even then, if they are the same, in all likelihood, they will have different levels of available nutrients, which moderate the rate of yeast metabolism.
Hope this helps.
Daniel
Daniel: I recently met you at the Wine Making Seminar you participated in in Rochester, N.Y. August 11, 2012. Great job.
I also just read your article on “Italian Red Varietials” in Wine Maker Mag. I have just ordered some Brunello juice from Italy. Can you give me any hints I may need on Brunello juice like you did on the other ten Italian Varietals in your article?
Or is Brunello similiar to one of the other ten?
Thanks, Jack
Hi Jack,
As I mentioned in the article, Brunello is a Sangiovese clone, so treat it similarly.
Daniel, I bottled a Traminette three days ago. It was a little tart, so I mixed some fructose with distilled water, and after a bench trial to determine the correct amount to add, mixed the cooled simple syrup with the wine. Since I had the same problem (described below) last year with a Seyval, I decided to add potassium sorbate first to one batch and none to a second batch, trying to decide whether the sorbate was the problem. I added the sorbate several hours before adding the sugar syrup. I filtered both batches through a PES .45 catridge filter to make sure there was no yeast. Bottled both batches. Three days later, when I pick up a bottle which is now upside down, and invert it, I see a little puff of white float off the cork dissolving into the wine in both batches. As I said, this happened last year in a Seyval with no affect on taste. Could it be that the fructose is just not dissolving properly, even though I heat it in water before adding? Should I be using fructose and doing it the way I am?
Um! Interesting. Are you sure the wine has been properly filtered and that the cartridge passes integrity?
I don’t see a problem with fructose if it is dissolved properly, unless there is in fact some residual yeast that’s starting to eat away at the fructose is it was not filtered properly. Probably unlikely if you added sorbate.
Why not simply use table sugar?
My only other thought is protein haze. You would need to test for protein stability to see if you have a problem.
Thanks for your thoughts. I thought about filter integrity. I have ordered the appropriate fittings so that I can hook up a gas line to my cartridge housing. This wine was stable for almost a year. Fined with betonite. Refrigerated one bottle for a few weeks to test for complete cold stabilization. I will do a protein stability test, but would that develop in three days after bottling? When you say fructose “dissolved properly” , could you define properly? I don’t use sugar because my understanding is that I will not really get the true sweetness level in my trial unless I use citric acid to break the fructose and glucose bond. Just one more step to try to skip I guess.
You seemed to have done a good job in ensuring stability. A protein test can be done within a day; I explain the procedure in my book. You did fine with bentonite although maybe no sufficiently. The problem would however manifest itself as wine turning cloudy, not “a little puff of white.” Microbial spoilage? Maybe; that’s why I suggested check filter integrity (procedure also described in my book).
If you dissolved the fructose into a uniform solution with no solids undissolved, then you are ok. I don’t think that’s the problem.
You don’t need to hydrolyze the sucrose (100), though yes, fructose (175) is more than twice as sweet as glucose (75) — the numbers in ( ) represent relative sweetness.
I use table sugar.
Thanks again for your comments. I will proceed with your ideas.
Mr. Pambianchi,
I have made wines for about 5 years, first from kits, and over the past 3 years from fresh grapes. For each batch, at the end of the process, I have added oak chips, aged for 6 – 9 months, and bottled, usually with fine results.
I received medium toast French oak cylinders last year as a gift. Earlier this year, I added 2 of these to a really fruit forward, med-full bodied, very tasty red zin. The wine aged on these cylinders for approx. 7 months, and sadly, I did not taste the wine over those 7 months. The result is an over-oaked, very sharp-tasting, almost undrinkable wine…
This is my first experience with cylinders and my first time with an over-oaked wine.
Question: is there any remedy for this, other than allowing time to pass? Will time even fix this mess?
Thank you,
Andy
This one is tough to solve if indeed it is over-oaked. I say “if” because you say the wine is very sharp-tasting, which I assume you mean high acidity (or at least that’s what “sharp” means. Yes, tannins will increase the perception of acidity, so I’m wondering how the wine tasted BEFORE the oak cylinders (which I assume you mean oak spirals). Was it high in acidity? If yes, you may want to try de-acidifying. Or you can try a PVPP treatment to reduce tannins. Time will “soften” the tannins if that’s part of the problem. But if it is simply a matter of too much oak, well, your only recourse is to blend with another wine. Time won’t fix oak.
And yes, you should taste the wine every couple of weeks to see how it is progressing.
Before the oak (you are right – they were spirals), the wine was very balanced, not acidic, and fruit forward. It tasted great, actually. If it was not acidic before aging on oak, would it become acidic after aging on oak? Should I test the ph?
This is the first time I have had this result. It may in fact be a heavy dose of tannins from the 2 oak spirals. OR, it may be tannins as well as too much oak…
Would 2 oak spirals for 7 months in a 5 gal carboy be too much oak? In past batches, using oak cubes, the result was very good after 6 – 9 months of aging on the oak.
Also, what is PVPP treatment?
Thank you very much!
Andy, how many oak cubes did you add to the 5 gallons? I have some Brunello and Barbera, 6 gallons of each, that I want to oak but have never used cubes before.
I have a 6 gallon oak barrel that I am going to use for the Nero D’Avola that I am making. Was going to put the Brunello in the barrel, but continually topping off the barrel with other Brunello wine for 6 to 9 months can get expensive. Not much cheap Brunello in the stores.
Jack – In past batches, I have added about 3 oz of oak cubes. I have aged on the oak in the carboy for about 6 – 9 months, and the results have been great.
This time, using the oak spirals, things did not turn out so well. Perhaps Daniel is right – maybe I am tasting really strong tannins.
Did you try treating with PVPP?
Daniel My red wine has been in a 30 gal oak barrel since mid Sept. I am using MLF and i have been monitoring PH levels about every 10-14 days. I racked off the barrel two weeks ago for the first racking. Inital PH was 3.85 and dropped to 3.80 about mid way. Now it has been climbing after racking and is 3.98. I have added sulfites around 2nd week of Oct. I tasted it and I’m getting a little to much malo/acidity taste. What would you recommend to bring down the PH. I think it would be better around 3.5 to 3.6 but please give me your opion. These were fresh grapes grown by me here in Northern OH from hybred plants developed by Cornell. By the way it was a fantastic year and I harvested from 150 yds of grapes over 100 gals of wine juice.
My guess is that you had quite a bit of malic acid even though it was a fantastic vintage, and that drove up your pH during MLF.
Ideally, you would have added tartaric acid prior to initiating the alcoholic fermentation, but you can do it now — that’s you’re best bet. You’ll need to cold stabilize before bottling, which you’ll need to have the pH below 3.7 for it to decrease, otherwise, cold stabilization will increase it further.
Wine Myths, Facts & Snobberies is excellent. Both chemists and ordinary home wine makers will find plenty to like here. That’s not an easy feat to pull off, but this book does it.
Daniel, Thank you kindly for your positive comment.
Having read the section on bottle shock in Wine Myths I understand now that it is different from bottle sickness. It got me wondering however, about the explanation for bottle shock. Any thoughts?
The following is an excerpt from my draft manuscript on wine chemistry and is also based on ZOECKLEIN’s Enology Notes #146.
Dispersions can change type, for example, from a solution to a colloid, when environmental, physical or chemical changes alter the dispersion phase or medium, or both. For example, when juice is fermented into wine, the increasing level of ethanol can increase or decrease solubility of compounds, or a drop in temperature can cause particles to become colloids or insoluble solids that precipitate. Colloids in wine too can become disrupted temporarily, such as when wine is bottled, and which can have a muting effect on aromas and flavors that can last days to several months depending on wine chemistry and storage conditions—this phenomenon is known as bottle shock.
A good answer always prompts another question: What would be a colloid in wine that bottling might disrupt?
Anthocyanins and polymeric tannins (proanthocyanins) are the most significant colloids in reds. Pectins in reds and proteins in whites are also significant though typically removed through winemaking processes (i.e. stabilization). Pectins can be a problem in reds since these are extracted from skins, while proteins are not because they are removed through tannins interactions.
I always relate my own experience in describing bottle shock to people.
When I make rose wine from a red varietal, the color is a splendid rose color. Right after filtration, it turns to a disconcerting orange color. Several weeks or months of cellaring and the color returns to the attractive rose that it was. That’s bottle shock!
So bottle shock seems less likely a problem in whites than reds. Since I make only whites, I’ll have to come up with another explanation to give when my wines don’t do well when shipped to competitions.
Aromatics too can go in a state of “imbalance” and so all wines re at risk. Wines need time to re-establish that balance following bottling. Some may need days, some weeks while others months. I always use the boxer analogy to drive this point home. When he takes a beating, he needs time to recover, and that depends on the extent of the beating and his physique.
Very similar phenomena happen in what is called “bottle fatigue” when you ship wine across the country to competitions or even travel with a bottle on the plane. So wines may not always show their best at competitions. That’s the risk we all take.
The conventional wisdom holds that the original North American Labrusca grapes were field pollinated by the Vinifera brought over by the Europeans, and that the grapes commonly referred to today as Labruscas (e.g.’s. Delaware, Iona, Niagara) are actually hybrids. Some say there are no longer any pure Labruscas. Regardless, an interesting question from this perspective is how much vinifera parentage grapes such as Delaware actually contain. Do you know of any such research? You mention on p. 190 of Wine Myths that grape DNA profiling is relatively advanced so such research presumably could be done. Sorry to be such a pest with my questions, but I don’t know who else to ask about such things.
Um! That’s a really interesting question but it’s outside my immediate domain of expertise.
Robinson et al.’s new book WINES GRAPES states that as one hypothesis that some think Delaware is a native grape without any genetic input from V. vinifera but that some ampelographic observations at Michigan U supports partial parentage.
My hypothesis is that the less like Concord the wine from a Native American grape tastes the greater the vinifera parentage. Maybe we’ll know some day. Thanks again for a thoughtful reply.
Is there a PDF version available? I’d prefer that over a physical book.
No, sorry.
Hi, I was reading your article on batting e in the winemaker magazine. When you mention the racking of the gross lees from the vessel is this from the fermentation vessel or at the first racking from the barrell and also where and when does mlf come into olay. Thanks, John
Hi John,
The gross lees are what you get from yeast fermentation, so you would rack those from your primary fermentor.
I usually recommend doing the MLF as soon as the wine has fermented dry so that the 2 fermentations do not interfere with each other. However, there are different opinions here. Some find it best to start the MLF sort of midway during yeast fermentation while others go as far as co-inoculating for both at the very start. The problem here is that lactic acid bacteria can start feeding on sugar and produce other unfavorable metabolites and divert sugar away from yeast. MLF should be strictly the conversion of malic acid into lactic acid.
Daniel – The section on sanitizing (2.6.3) in the revised edition of Techniques suggests using a 1 % sulfite solution consisting of 17g of powder dissolved in 1 L water. By my calculation, that comes to a bit over 3 teaspoons per liter or roughly 1 tablespoon. Scaling it up, sanitizing a 5 gal carboy would require 19 tbsp. or something over 1 cup of sulfite. Are my number right?
Later on in the same section, you talk about enhancing the effectiveness of a sulfite solution by combining it with citric acid. You suggest a solution composed of equal volumes of citric acid and sulfite powder. Does you mean 17 g of each per L, or a total of 17g per L? Also, you say here to let surfaces remain in contact with the combined solution for a few minutes while the recommendation for the sulfite solution alone is 10 minutes. Is this because the combined solution is stronger?
“Are my number right”; “Does you mean…” Oh well.
Hi Daniel,
You only need a small quantity of sulfite solution to sanitize a carboy. One liter (or a quarter gallon) will go a long way. You need to slosh the solution around so that it covers the entire surface. You definitely don’t need to fill the carboy with a sulfite solution. You can also reuse the solution for other carboys and equipment.
Add equal parts of citric acid, so, 17+17 for a more effective solution. The citric acid decreases the pH of the solution thus making the sulfite more effective.
Hi Daniel.
This year I made wine from Cab Sauv and Merlot from the Niagara on the Lake area. Brix was 22 and acid was around 7 g/l for the blend. I was wondering, what are your thoughts on this year’s vintage in terms of the ripeness of these varietals? Also what do you think of blending Central Valley grapes with Niagara Peninsula fruit? Do those grapes add any value in a vintage like this one?
Hi Vince,
2013 is a good vintage in Niagara thanks to a beautiful month of September that made up for the poor summer. October has also been good and allowed for rain-free harvesting. Definitely not a 2012-type vintage but good nonetheless.
The decision to blend is to a large extent very personal, and limitless as a home winemaker. Blend according to your desired type of style or to make up for any shortfall, eg. to adjust acidity, body, etc.
Good luck.
Daniel