# my friends vino?



## kendo (Jan 5, 2011)

ok im new to this game but i have a ?? for you wine pro's, a friend of mines dad makes wine using nothing but grapes, he just crushes, then ferments for 8-10 days, when it stops fermenting it go's into a carboy then 1 month later siphoned into another carboy, 3 months later into bottles, he has won wine contest with this wine, my ?? i thought you needed to add yeast , and check ph, and all that stuff, he dont do none of that and his wine is great, your thoughts on this, i know he uses old vine zin,muscado, alicate, to make this, thx bill


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## ibglowin (Jan 5, 2011)

There are plenty of wild yeast attached to grapes via Mother Nature just trying to get inside and past the protective thin skin on a grape and start turning grape juice into something else. There is no real need to check pH or anything else for that matter. 

Grapes really do want to be wine one day when they grow old.


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## Sirs (Jan 5, 2011)

you can use all those but if you do it right(which it seems he does) you don't have to. I myself don't use bought yeast normally. As far as doing the ph and adding other stuff it is recommended by most on here but the majority of it doesn't have to be done but does help. I don't normally add anything to my wines except sugar and occasionally water if needed.


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## Wade E (Jan 5, 2011)

Correct, you dont need or have to add anything nor test all the stuff but if you dont do this stuff you are much more at risk of losing a batch by not using sulfites afterwards and you are more likely to fermenting problems using wild yeast.


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## kendo (Jan 5, 2011)

What kind of fermenting problems wade? id like to run his recipe he gave it to me but dont want to waist money and work for nothing, when would you add sulfites to this style of wine making?.thx kendo


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## Rock (Jan 5, 2011)

I made wine like this for a long time and did always use sulfites after primary was done good luck.


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## Rock (Jan 5, 2011)

I also have family members who still make wine like this sometimes it comes out good sometimes not.Also most of the time the wine is fizzy.Dont know if your friends wine is.Also how long does your friend age his wine?Usually these wines are better when drank young.


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## Sirs (Jan 5, 2011)

odd I've made wine for years without adding anythnig other than sugar and possibly water when needed and only had 1 batch go bad wasn't because of not useing the sulfites or anything other than my having something get into the wine because I had a cloth over it with no lid. Seems like alot of people don't think you can make good wine without adding sulfites and other things to it, I know you can and I do my wine normally is higher in alcohol and some are abit sweeter than some like. I think the main thing anyone needs to do when making wine is make it to where the person drinking it likes it best. Sorry for the bit of a rant...just a sore spot at times LOL specially if I've been sampling


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## winemaker_3352 (Jan 6, 2011)

Sirs said:


> odd I've made wine for years without adding anythnig other than sugar and possibly water when needed and only had 1 batch go bad wasn't because of not useing the sulfites or anything other than my having something get into the wine because I had a cloth over it with no lid. Seems like alot of people don't think you can make good wine without adding sulfites and other things to it, I know you can and I do my wine normally is higher in alcohol and some are abit sweeter than some like. I think the main thing anyone needs to do when making wine is make it to where the person drinking it likes it best. Sorry for the bit of a rant...just a sore spot at times LOL specially if I've been sampling



I don't think anybody questioned that fact that you can't make good wine without those additives. You absolutely can make good wine that way - some of us just take precautions to ensure that the wine doesn't spoil and you get a healthy fermentation.

As i like to say - "To each his own".


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## Sirs (Jan 6, 2011)

I know I was just ranting LOL


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## winemaker_3352 (Jan 6, 2011)

Sirs said:


> I know I was just ranting LOL



 we all do that - now worries!!


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## Rock (Jan 6, 2011)

Sirs said:


> odd I've made wine for years without adding anythnig other than sugar and possibly water when needed and only had 1 batch go bad wasn't because of not useing the sulfites or anything other than my having something get into the wine because I had a cloth over it with no lid. Seems like alot of people don't think you can make good wine without adding sulfites and other things to it, I know you can and I do my wine normally is higher in alcohol and some are abit sweeter than some like. I think the main thing anyone needs to do when making wine is make it to where the person drinking it likes it best. Sorry for the bit of a rant...just a sore spot at times LOL specially if I've been sampling


 ahhhhh.By the way sirs i never said you cant make good wine with out adding sulfites.I said i always used them.Just wondering why is your wine sweeter than some like?


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## AlFulchino (Jan 6, 2011)

sweet or sweeter has nothing to do w sulfites...sulfite is anti bacterial etc....stopping a fermentation early leaves sweetness....adding sugar type components leave sweetness ( assuming you stabilize)

i could go on but that is the basics of it


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## Rock (Jan 6, 2011)

Yep i agree.also a sluggish ferment that didnt finish.


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## Medieval (Jan 6, 2011)

Just think back 4000 years ago they didn't have have camden tablets and sorbate. Yum 4000 year old wine that would hit the spot


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## Sirs (Jan 6, 2011)

Rock said:


> ahhhhh.By the way sirs i never said you cant make good wine with out adding sulfites.I said i always used them.Just wondering why is your wine sweeter than some like?


 LOL it's sweeter than what some people like cause my wife likes real sweet wine but she is getting where she likes some abit dry. I know who butters my bread so to speak


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## AlFulchino (Jan 6, 2011)

SIRS...i have some sweet ones and people love them...more than the media or experts seem to want to admit


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## Catfish (Jan 6, 2011)

We like the really sweet ones around here also. I tried a Norton Reserve from 2007 the other day that was dry and I actually really enjoyed it so I must be starting to get a taste for dry wines also. Hopefully.


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## Wade E (Jan 6, 2011)

I too like sweeter wines then most and thats the concensus a lot of times that I give some away or to a party. There are others I like bone dry also or just semi. I would never say that anyone not using this stuff makes bad wine, Its just more often I run into wines that are horrible that are made like this. It just may be the crowd I run into.


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## Sirs (Jan 8, 2011)

it is funny you ask people what kind of wine they like(when you say your gonna give them some) and 9 out of 10 say I like sweet. Very seldom have I had people say dry.


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## AlFulchino (Jan 8, 2011)

more often than not....the general public goes sweeter than the sommelier crowd....the sommelier crowd can be divided up however...one sub group has been enjoying and appreciates what a finely craafted dry wine can offer and can do when properly paired w a meal...yet they will also appreciate a wine w some sweetness if it also can serve the pre mentioned categories...the second sub group too a wine class on a cruise and feel they know everything and everything has to be the way they were taught.....then the last sub group also took a wine class on a cruise but they are honest w themselves....( my favorite group)...these people appreciate what they were taught but never let it over rule their own personal taste


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## Wade E (Jan 8, 2011)

Sirs, around here I usually get the "thats too sweet for me" even when my finished product is around 1.008 which in my book all day would be semi sweet.


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## Rock (Jan 9, 2011)

Im not a fan of sweet wines at all and they are usually dumped.


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## Sirs (Jan 9, 2011)

you dump wines just because of sweetness what a shame they could always be blended


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