Getting The Winemaking Cycle Down
Strategy for Addressing Year One Production Blues
Why is my wine no good?
Yeast - It's Not Just For Making Bread...
To a newbie winemaker, with nothing more than the spirit of adventure, we must first tackle the winemaking cycle. All wine is to be made at the same time, finished fermenting at the same time, racked at the same time, and bottled at the same time. The newbie winemaker wishes to operate his wine cellar like a little Nazi general who dictates, "We shall make zee wine, rack zee wine, unt bottle the wine on schedule".
In reality, given the same starting points, wines will finish primary fermentation at different times. Yeast selection, nutrients, must volume, etc. all play a role in the completion of the primary fermentation. Beyond that wines will stabilize and clarify at different rates and while we can schedule to rack wines at the same time, each wine should be evaluated on its own merit. The same applies to bottling. Bulk aging wines and testing periodically to ensure the wines are stabile will go a long way toward a scenario where you bottle too soon and a secondary fermentation occurs in the bottle yielding fizzy wine.
While you can dictate many things in your cellar, it is better to have a friendly dialogue with your wine and let it tell you when it is ready for the next step in the winemaking cycle.
Stabile – A wine is said to be stabile if the acid, pH, and alcohol content are in a range that inhibits spoilage. The addition of Potassium Metabisulfite helps to promote stability by inhibiting microbiological spoilage. A wine is also stabile when there is minimal risk of spontaneous fermentation (aerobic or anaerobic) taking place.
A Newbie Winemaker thinks…is a column provided by M&M that explores winemaking practice in a humorous context. We find folly in common habits and misconceptions of the new winemaker, identify with the new winemaker, and offer reasonable alternatives.
The newbie has no patience. It is a fact that you cannot deny… So, get a hold of yourself. Your goal is to follow the winemaking guidelines flawlessly. You’re responsible for taking your wines the distance. Avoid the temptation to cut the trip short. Call your M&M Winemaking Rep to talk you off the ledge, if necessary, as this is serious business.
You are allowed to test your wines as you are making them. This is no different than how a chef tries his or her recipe. Remember, a test does not mean a full glass. If it is a full glass, you are not testing, you are not tasting, you are drinking and doing it too soon. So, put the glass down!
With no wine from the previous year available to sate your desire, you need to be creative. For example, try reciting a mantra “I’m not thirsty, I’m not thirsty…”
In reality, the first year is a hard one… Why? There’s no wine from the previous year to hold you over. It’s a waiting game. Other than the mantra proposed above, one rational solution is to invest in the purposeful consumption of commercial wines. Do this to help you develop an understanding of varietals and the characteristics of a wine that you ultimately want to see reflected in your own wines. As you “test” your wine, use the others of the same variety and appellation to do a comparison. Test the commercial wines for pH, Titratable Acid, Alcohol, and Residual sugar. How do they compare to your developing wine?
Categorize your purchase under R&D. It makes the purchase more acceptable in the eyes of others who may be scrutinizing the budget. Afterall, how else are you expected to make your sweetie that perfect wine that reflects all your love for them, if you have not combed the globe for those wines possessing the ideal characteristics. Nothing is too good for your sweetie. It is imperative and you must not be denied!
A final idea would be to go ahead and make a 4-6 week wine kit. You will be able to have a decent finished wine in a relatively short period of time and you’ll get more practice in following directions, which is always good.
A Newbie Winemaker thinks…is a column provided by M&M that explores winemaking practice in a humorous context. We find folly in common habits and misconceptions of the new winemaker, identify with the new winemaker, and offer reasonable alternatives.
Your a newbie winemaker or one who has made wine for years. As a newbie winemaker, you may have listened to someone who tells you that they've made wine for 10,20,30,50,100 years. So, this veteran winemaker must know his stuff, right? What the newbie doesn't know is that our veteran has been making wine like a loose canon spinning the barrel of the gun that is loaded to randomly shoot bad batches of wine and until this point, he has gone unscathed. But the winds of change are in the air and this year the product of crushing and fermenting produces a wine or some variation of a wine that even our veteran winemaker cannot consume. And then the question..."Why is my wine no good?"
I immediately picture myself as "The Great Karnac" complete with swami hat and ability to telepathically assess the reason for this particular wine going south. The simple answer, there can be any number of reasons for the wine coming out bad and the majority of them could have been avoided if the winemaker had only followed some basic guidelines.
The sad part of this story is that if we had been approached by a winemaker with a problem and who had taken the necessary steps to understand the nature of his/her wine, e.g. Brix, pH, and TA, I may have been able to help the winemaker or better yet, there may have been no problem at all. Proactive measures including the use of cultured yeasts, yeast nutrients, and making upfront adjustments to Brix, TA, and pH go a long way toward avoiding problems down the road.
Inevitably, during the course of conversation I am told how the winemaker has been making wine for years and years and how it always comes out good. So, why not this time. The answer is simple...we are dealing with fruit whose composition varies from year to year and whose skin hosts any number of organisms - some of which may be good for making wine and most of which that are not. The winemaker has done nothing to control the winemaking process, has done nothing to record and understand the nature of his grapes, must, and wine and so as a stranger to his grapes, the winemaker does not know how to craft his wine. When you leave things to chance sometimes chance will favor you and sometimes not. See Communicating With Your Wine
A Newbie Winemaker thinks…is a column provided by M&M that explores winemaking practice in a humorous context. We find folly in common habits and misconceptions of the new winemaker, identify with the new winemaker, and offer reasonable alternatives.
Many “wine makers” have a belief that the use of a commercial yeast strain is simply a waste of time. In looking to better understand the motivation for this manner of thinking, we have been able to identify two potential sources:
Source A: The winemaker in question has been speaking to a winemaker who is still living and has made wine since the beginning of time (or what would seem to be) – when coincidentally there were no commercial yeast strains and wine was kept in ceramic urns.
Source B: The winemaker in question has access to grapes from a vineyard harvest the same day and chooses to ferment off the skins of grapes.
In reality, the winemaker identified in Source A happens to be common. These are most often individuals who are learning winemaking from family or friends from previous generations. The winemaking style of those this winemaker is learning from is largely based on ritual and not necessarily a scientifically based process, though arguably some of the ritual may have scientific basis.
The winemaker of Source B is simply put – lucky…We all wish we were him or her, but we’re happy for him. No really, we are…I mean it.
Financial Justification
To the modern winemaker, yeast is one of the most economical and effective additions toward producing positive winemaking outcomes. Using it does not make you less of a winemaker, you will not be shunned, and rest assured that it will in no way cheapen your tradition. May we remind you that the tradition should also include enjoyment of the wine that was made and not just making the wine.
So let us sell you on some yeast. At approximately $1 per packet, it would cost you $.04 per bottle. What does that $.04 buy you? Here are a few benefits:
- increased chance for ideal wine yeast strain to lead fermentation
- increased chance for ideal development of taste and aromatic characteristics
- increased potential for repeatability or isolation of an influencing factor in winemaking outcomes
Not using a commercially available yeast strain can result in any of the following:
- The development of off flavors and aromas
- A stuck fermentation – one that does not complete
- Fermentation that does not start
- Inability to produce repeatable outcomes from year to year as proportions of good and bad yeast and bacteria change from year to year – especially when vineyard source changes and vinification does not occur the same day.
If the financial aspect of this does not have you impressed and calculating how many packets you will need for your next winemaking session. I would like to share with you the story of a winemaker we shall call “Louie”. When we met Louie he was short, had a milky white complexion, overweight, and single, but not by choice. Louie was making wine and wasn’t using yeast. After working with Louie and getting him to use yeast he is now tall, dark, and handsome. Louie now dates 10 times a week, and is only single by choice.
Please note that Louie’s results and the results achieved by others may vary. Couldn’t hurt though…
A Newbie Winemaker thinks…is a column provided by M&M that explores winemaking practice in a humorous context. We find folly in common habits and misconceptions of the new winemaker, identify with the new winemaker, and offer reasonable alternatives.
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