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It sounds like you have the organic farming down. I know there are some organic additives out there for winemaking, I’m sure if you just search for “organic” on morewinemaking.com you’ll find them. I make minimal intervention wine, with the goal of ending up with a product that is nothing but...

One option if you want stems but not green stems: destem, but keep the stems separate. Leave them in the sun to dry out quite a bit (or even lightly toast them in the oven), then add them back to the must.

with whole bunch you still allow the pressed juice to ferment dry, there won’t be residual sugar.

Do you have any specific questions? When you say “organic” are you referring to farming practices, or using organic additives? Or do you mean something more akin to natural winemaking?

No, I think what they mean is the wines are more fruit forward and less tannic, which comes across as sweetness. I prefer the term "juicy". You can let them ferment to dry and they'll still have much more candy-like fruit flavors than a skin extracted wine.

Harvest soon! 25 brix is high!

I’m doing Pinot Gris right now but the guy who taught me this way of doing it has done a large amount of varietals this way. No temperature control, but it’s in an air conditioned warehouse, so it stays relatively cool. Didn’t pitch any yeast. I check it every day and if I’m feeling paranoid...

What we do is wrap the top of a fermenter (with grapes in it) with food grade plastic stretch wrap, then poke a hole in the top, and stick a tube connected to a CO2 tank. Let the CO2 tank go for a bit, put some tape over the hole, and let it sit until we decide to crush (about a week later). At...

Looking to buy 1-2 30 gallon barrels. Preferably neutral, but would be open to used for 2 years or more. I'm in the California Bay Area.

I'm in Oakland. I have a couple goals... The main thing is I just want to make wine in a larger capacity than the 3 gallons I can do in my apartment. Second is that I want to be able to get access to better grapes and have more control over what grapes I get, and I have found you can't do that...

I’m trying to get a type 02 license so I can work out of this shared winemaking space near me. It’s been slow to get going due to the Coronavirus, though. I have a connection for 1/2 ton of Carignane, I was planning to do 1/4 ton as a semi-carbonic red, and 1/4 as a rosé, then make a piquette...

Has anyone used a Flextank "skin"? Just heard about this, apparently it's a plastic skin that floats on the top of the wine so that you don't need to worry about keeping it at full capacity and topping off. I'm wondering if that's the golden ticket for me.

Hi, I’m trying to get a type 02 winemaking license and I’m not sure if their site is just confusing or if I’m just dumb, but I can’t seem to figure out how to go about it. Does anyone have any tips or is there a link with a walkthrough?

Have you tried cold crashing?

I've ended up in talks with a Mendocino vineyard to get 1/2 ton of 80-year old-vine Carignan. It's a late harvester, so I guess I have the next 8-9 months to figure out the logistics, lol. I'm curious, for those of you with macro bins, do you have a truck they fit in, or do you rent something? I...

@CDrew thanks for the input! As for the red, I'm currently planning to do carbonic for 5-7 days, then crush and let it finish more traditionally. I'm not really going for a big bold red, so I'm thinking adding the skins back to the red might actually be counter productive. I am considering doing...

I have been talking with a vineyard about getting some 80 year old vine Carignan in the 2020 season. With the amount I'm getting I'd need to split it up to fit my storage vessels, and I was thinking as long as I'm splitting it in two, why not make a red and a rosé? I've never done a rosé...

I'm imagining I'll mostly be doing lighter reds as that's what I like to drink.

Yep lesson learned

Tried to make a cherry wine pet Nat. I thought I hit a good SG, but last night I opened one to disgorge it and when I opened it the whole thing exploded, shooting glass and throughout the kitchen and living room. Took me two hours to clean up. Threw the other four bottles out in the dumpster...