What order do you do the following?

[JPD]

Once you have finished wine, what order do you do the following?
Back sweetening
Oaking
Blending
Filtering

Thanks in advance!

 

[RonObvious]

For me, oaking would definitely be first and filtering would definitely be last. But blending and back-sweetening could be a little more tricky. It would seem to make sense to blend first and then adjust final sweetness, but I don't think I've ever blended a wine in which one component was back-sweetened, so I'll be curious to see what others say.

 

[tjgaul]

IMHO sweetening, oaking (& tannins) and blending are all tools to manipulate the flavor profile and can be used in any order and in multiple steps. Filtering would be the final step before bottling. I'm very cautious of over oaking or sweetening any batch and will often only add 60%-75% of what my bench testing indicates. Then, I taste again at the next 3 month racking and make further adjustments. Since I am usually sitting on most batches through 3 rackings this provides multiple opportunities to keep tweaking and making adjustments as the wine matures a bit. Blending is typically done near the end of the process, but I've blended at the first racking and then worked on the oak, tannins and sweetness in later rackings. There are no hard rules . . . the goal is to end up with the best tasting wine you can given the input material. The process is just how you get there.

 

[balatonwine]

Back sweetening
Oaking
Blending
Filtering!

I don't do any of those.

They all change the wine. I want my wine to "be what it is".

But that is just me of course. Each to their own.

 

[mainshipfred]

I don't do any of those.

They all change the wine. I want my wine to "be what it is".

But that is just me of course. Each to their own.

Kind of surprised to hear you say that. Back Sweetening and filtering I can understand but I'm surprised you don't blend or oak, do you not use barrels?

 

[balatonwine]

Kind of surprised to hear you say that. Back Sweetening and filtering I can understand but I'm surprised you don't blend or oak

I grow and try to make mostly fruit forward varietal vintage white wines. So no, no blending. Not even for the same wine between years. And I think oaking many such white wines is a bad idea, as one then looses the wine's unique varietal aromatics to the wood. And I am very much after the very specific aroma from the varietal, as it is grown here under local conditions at a vintage year to year (its Terroir). So I don't want to mask those very important aspects with external influences like wood or blending. Some wines, like Chardonnay, are exceptions (they benefit from oak). But I don't make oak beneficial wines like Chardonnay.

In short.... my personal wine making style.

, do you not use barrels?

When I bought my winery, it came with many oak barrels from sizes from 12 L to 800 L (yes, very large). But they were all beyond their useful life span (and not ideally cared for). And ended up as firewood mostly

Today, I mostly use HDPE barrels from 30 L to 200 L in size, and am considering getting some PP variable capacity tanks.

 

[mainshipfred]

I grow and try to make mostly fruit forward varietal vintage white wines. So no, no blending. Not even for the same wine between years. And I think oaking many such white wines is a bad idea, as one then looses the wine's unique varietal aromatics to the wood. And I am very much after the very specific aroma from the varietal, as it is grown here under local conditions at a vintage year to year (its Terroir). So I don't want to mask those very important aspects with external influences like wood or blending. Some wines, like Chardonnay, are exceptions (they benefit from oak). But I don't make oak beneficial wines like Chardonnay.

In short.... my personal wine making style.



When I bought my winery, it came with many oak barrels from sizes from 12 L to 800 L (yes, very large). But they were all beyond their useful life span (and not ideally cared for). And ended up as firewood mostly

Today, I mostly use HDPE barrels from 30 L to 200 L in size, and am considering getting some PP variable capacity tanks.

I didn't realize you made primarily whites. I've only made a few whites and never oaked them either but some do. As you said it's a personal style.

 

[balatonwine]

My local climate is not ideal for red wines (at least not for most vinifera that I like to drink). And I only make wines I can grow locally.

 

[Masbustelo]

Balaton Why is it that some of the European countries can't produce reds? Is the season not long enough to ripen?

 

[balatonwine]

Balaton Why is it that some of the European countries can't produce reds? Is the season not long enough to ripen?

It is a complex interaction. AKA Terroir

And what is "marketable wines".

That is, it is not about being able to produce one varietal. It it is about places that are are ideal for any varietal, so to create the best wine in that area. And if that varietal is marketable.

For example, one can grow red wines were I live (I grow Pinot noir). But such well known varietals are not always the best, most ideal, world class red wines from here (wrong Terroir -- so I make a Rose). Meanwhile, other red wines grow here very well, such as Blauburger, but those wines are not "the top 10" red wine varieties, so despite growing well, their market value is not very good..

 

[Masbustelo]

Balaton With thousands of cultivated cultivars available, as you say, there are the top ten. In blind tasting, how does blauburger fare? In blind tasting, is there that much noticeable between the top ten and hundreds of others? (I understand market prejudices dictate saleability).