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@winemaker81 beat me to it. Alcohol is one of the primary flavors of wine, it's a very different drink without it. But the idea of neutralizing alcohol in the body is an interesting one. I'm not sure how to feel about it, but it's interesting.

Has anyone else been experiencing higher than normal wine damage through UPS? 3 of the last 10 shipments I have made through UPS have been broken, including a $200 bottle of 2013 Sangiovese that is very rare... 😭 My packaging has not changed, rigid inflatable bottle cases in bubble wrap in a...

Sadly, that isn't going to cut it for sparkling wine. You can expect in excess of 7 bar when naturally carbonating. Iirc, champagne bottles are designed for 20 bar, which should be a safe buffer. But it's a cool product for what it's designed for. Beer is in the ballpark of 2 bar.

That's wild! I'd never dare try a mere 1 meter spacing. Guess I need more education! Wine trip to Tuscany, anyone?

As mentioned, year one is just about roots. But you do want to keep an eye on the vitis riparia like shoots from the root stock. Their new flesh is reddish and the leaves are a jagged heart shape.

Having blown up bottles myself, I can second the warnings given so far! Fortunately I have never been around when it happens. Traditional sparkling takes practice, but is a lot of fun if you like messes! I would recommend digging in to youtube tutorials on it, then just giving it a go once you...

Welcome to WMT! Sweet and high alcohol is going to be a fortified wine. Fortified just means that something is added back into the wine after fermentation. All ports are fortified, for example. Do you like ports?

I recommend measuring regularly, at first, 6" deep, 12" away from the emitter. Water about 1 gallon per vine whenever that measurement begins to dry out. For me, that's about 1.5 hours on .5 gph drips ever 3 days in spring. We live in a similarly dry area. New vines will need more, especially...

Welcome!! Your wine making area is PLENTY! I operated a 20'x20' winery for 4 acres and it was doable utilizing vertical space and doing most of the harvesting/crushing work outside. Shouldn't be an issue for the vines! But it does make harvesting more difficult. Should be fine! If creosote...

True true! I've never used these but I've seen them. One other thing I forgot to mention was irrigation capacity. Slow drip irrigation typically propagates into soil at a larger radius than .5m, unless you have more rock than soil or are extremely sandy. This means that the line pressure can't...

3ft is not very much... Did you measure these vineyards planting distance? l own a vineyard and the planting distance is 6' between vines, 9' between rows. 3' rows don't allow for ANY equipment, so I struggle to see a vineyard larger than an acre or 2 attempting that. 7' between rows is about...

Cardboard boxes work great! It looks trashy, but it's cheap and easy

Some food for thought! Do your native weeds have deep roots or are they mostly grasses? Superficial weeds (crab grass, fiddlenecks, etc) are generally meaningless and potentially beneficial to vines in hot regions (SoCal, for one). If aesthetics are very important, I've seen everything from...

K&C is WIDELY used in industry and is likely the method employed for most wines that are <$30 / bottle. You do pay for top quality, so I guess I'm not too surprised by your findings--old school is still best!

This is literal gold! Thx for the work on this.

K&C results are surprising, was the wine aged well before sampling?

oh yes! the rest would be the fining of time! xD

Just a test to see how each turns out could be interesting. One with Kieselsol/chitosan, one with isinglass, one with a fining filter. I have suspicions about filtering, but I'm unsure how the Kieselsol one would turn out.

Correct! UPS is typically the cheapest and easiest and does commercial shipping for sold and non-sale wine. All wine shipments come with stipulations like paying for 21+ signature fees. Non sale wine can be shipped to any US state address but is intended for things like education, competitions...

Just going to weigh in here from what I've seen in the industry. Aging in bottle is ABSOLUTELY a thing. If the wine is not going on oak (for oxidation and oak flavoring) then it often goes right into bottle to be stored in the cellar--typically without cap and label. This doesn't happen with all...