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I think that's the key to it all: with greater input you get better consistency and much more control over the quality of the outcome. With less input you might get some happy surprises and possibly some very interesting wine, but there's also much more chance of ending up with a bottle of...

Guess that depends on how big the apparent problem is ... there is a line of argument that says that brett (for example) is not necessarily a fault at all and is noticeably present in some wines that are considered to be very good! This is an interesting article about it...

Not sure if this should go here or 'general chit-chat', please move if necessary! --- Lately there has been a lot of talk about the so-called natural wine movement, which is, basically, a philosophy that suggests that wine should be made with as little 'manipulation' as possible by the...

Oops. Posted elsewhere. Delete thread please :i

Yep, all politics aside, nobody wants a return to the itchy trigger fingers of the Cold War. Anyway, back to wine: has anyone ever tried Saperavi? It's an ancient red variety native to Georgia (arguably the ancestral home of winemaking) where it is still fermented in huge, buried earthenware...

Not being religious, I have been happily drinking throughout the lenten period. But Easter is always great for a big family blowout .... on the table this Sunday we will have probably have some meat pies (probably beef, red wine, fennel, green olive), some squid & snapper on the BBQ, Pogaca...

As far as I know true carbonic maceration refers to the fermentation going on inside intact grapes .. I don't know if this works for other fruits, maybe it could for other berry-type fruits (elderberries, red currants). But the basic idea of protecting the ferment with CO2 so it's as anaerobic...

The expansionist, imperialist 'greater Russia' fantasy is really worrying. But I absolutely disagree that the USA has the moral responsibility to somehow put a stop to it just by virtue of being big and powerful. The USA might be the strongest country in the earth but this is an issue that is...

Traditionally it's a standard minced beef pie . But I've seen steak & kidney, chicken, vegetarian, whatever. Best with a healthy lashing of tomato sauce and vinegar on top. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pie_floater

In South Australia it's the pie floater... a meat pie sitting in a bowl of mushy green peas. Tastes much better than it looks or sounds.

I want to try to make a fermented milk drink - apparently it's dead easy to make a Yakult-style drink... interested in Mongolian fermented mare's milk too, however in the absence of horses the key ingredient for this might be hard to track down!

A winemaker who doesn't drink ... such noble selflessness is to be applauded! :try I got a beer home brew kit for my 18th birthday. I made one batch then gave up because I wasn't really interested ... I only wanted beer to get drunk on & making it myself seemed more trouble than it was worth...

Cool. Every time I stir there's a release of bubbles which had obviously trapped under the lees / gunk at the bottom of my demijohn... taking this as a sign that MLF is going OK!

Great to hear people's views... for me, it's mostly about wanting to learn by doing.. I love drinking wine so the next step for me is getting to know it better! I would have liked to put more options in the poll (like, making it to give it away, making it with the plan to sell commercially...

Hi all, I thought I would ask the simple question: what is it that draws you to making wine? Just seems like there's such a diverse group of people on this forum, everyone's probably got different reasons for making their own wine! Is it because your grandfather did it and you want to keep up...

lol, I'm done with summer for now, looking forward to some cold, rainy days... red wine weather..!

Are there any issues with racking while MLF is still ongoing? Or is it best to keep the wine as still as possible until the malolactic action has finished before racking?

I feel weird trying to give advice about US wine regions as an Australian on a forum full of Americans - but my partner & I spent a few days in the area a couple of years ago. Really enjoyed Sonoma, hated Napa. In Sonoma Valley we were able to find a couple of small, less pretentious...

Yeah, several professional winemakers I've spoken to don't innoculate with commercial yeasts at all (or only do for some of their wines). It would be more important for a home winemaker if you're not making the wine in an environment where there has been a lot of fermentation happening in the...