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Like you, I'm considering getting into barrel aging my wines. I've been making wine since the late 80s, left if for a good long while and started back up in 2018. We've got several awards at amateur competitions but all of our wines so far have been aged in glass, stainless steel tanks, and in...

Just adding my "ditto" to the fact that NZ SauvBlanc, especially from Marlborough, have characteristics distinctive to that region (and terroir). My wife is a fanatic about NZSB and nothing, nothing has compared to it in terms of those kiwi, grapefruit, gooseberry, grass and mineral and floral...

At bottling in April, we bottled 38 cases spanning three vintage years (20-22) and 6 varieties.

Well, that's what I was wondering. Since they are a plant derived copolymer, maybe they oxidize. Otoh, their premium products are rated for 25 years in the bottle, so can't imagine they would go "bad" or break down in a bag, especially if vacuum sealed. If I can get a positive response, I might...

I've been looking at the Nomacorc 900 green line and many of the suppliers (but not all) recommend using the corks (corcs?) within 6 months of production. Since minimum orders on some of their product line (44mm length, colors) are 3,000 (in bags of 1K), I was wondering if one could (or should)...

Sadly, no.

Last fall I spent some quality time at VanArnam winery in Yakima Valley. Their operation is small-scale. They do primary in big open 350 gallon square bins, and then move to Flextank stackable bins Store - Flextank These are great and come in a range of sizes. They move their red wines to oak...

Agreed! 11 years in MA and 8 years in NJ. Living in SC now and loving it. We moved down here one June and people asked about what we were going to plant for our winter crop in our garden. Winter crop?!! We now plant garlic, kale, cole crops, greens in October and harvest in February, just in...

Not crazy at all. I printed some gold foil "winner" labels for wines awarded with AWS and WineMaker Mag amateur competitions. Inkjet printer inks smear easily, so I use a fixative spray I have used on charcoal drawings (I'm and artist), basically hairspray, only a bit thinner and lighter.

Here is my generic label, which I had printed on a roll of 500 and use a hand crank label machine. I put the vintage/variety info on the back label, laserjet printed on standard Avery label paper.

Yes, likely a low risk. Best of luck.

OK, so you do realize that every part of the plumeria plant, including flowers, are full of toxic alkaloids, right?

We are touring this area starting today. Any "not to miss" wineries anyone can suggest? We'll be in the area for a few days before heading up to Seattle. Yes, it will be cold outside, I know.

I think I found my answer; "rack off gross lees after 24-48 hours, THEN inoculate" (as per the MoreWine website). Additional opinions or thoughts welcomed.

I have a 40 gal batch of Zinfandel that has just finished AF (0.994). Ready to press off skins into a tank. I did not co-innoculate by choice. Do I innoculate with ML bacteria prior to racking off gross lees, or after? Worried I might lose something from MLF if I rack off gross lees. Temps are...

I think that the bench trial process is a good one, but it seems pretty consistent that even with all the variables, the 1g/L ratio to lower pH by .1 is way too much for everyone. If I had followed that target, I would have dumped about 600g, not the 112g I started with. Lessons learned last...

I notice some comments, observations and questions about pH adjustments in must from time to time. Last year I overshot additions of tartaric acid and wound up with a must of 2.68 and had to correct with bicarbonate to get it back up. What a mess. Wine turned out OK and even took a gold medal...

I use a muffler pipe adapter, cut lengthwise in two. It has worked very well. Very effective for scraping labels. Still looking for an all-around method for removing residual adhesive. Reposting something here: Label scraper

Thanks so much. That's what I was hoping. D.

I overshot my calculation for adding some sugar, but just by a bit. Will the overall sweetness disperse over time? A sample of the wine I added sugar to seemed a tad too sweet initially, but after sitting for 2 weeks seems better. Looking for collective experience, perceptions, and observations...