Winemaking 411

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Few Facts About Sulfite Free Wine

Do you think that sulphites in wine is bad for you? If yes, then you are not alone; there are a lot of wine lovers who are concerned about this. Sulfite was introduced around seventeenth century to arrest fermentation at a desired time. And today, it is widely used as wine preservatives to prevent spoilage and oxidation at several stages of the winemaking. Sulfur dioxide (SO2- sulfur with two atoms of oxygen) protects wine from not only oxidation, but also from bacteria. But then also, it doesn’t suit a lot of people. It is the greatest chemistry of winemaking.

Most of the people lack the enzymes in their bodies that break down sulfites. And due to its absence, they cannot synthesize sulfites, which may lead to several allergies. Common symptoms include, swelling, skin rash, hives, difficulty in breathing, tingling sensation, etc. These kinds symptoms are mostly mild to moderate. Though, rarely a person with known sulfite allergy might show severe symptoms, if he has been exposed to higher concentration of sulfites. In such case, death of an individual is possible. Owing to these circumstances, FDA in 1988, made it mandatory to include a statement 'Sulfite Free Wine' on all the wine labels that are free from it.

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3 Rookie Mistakes that Will Crush Your Wine Making Plans

People often complain that despite putting in their heart and soul into wine making, their wines taste no better. Even after fermenting for months in the optimum temperature and environment, the taste not even comes close to that of cheap wine picked out at the gas station. What might be the reason behind this? Perhaps you have been doing it all wrong. You need to understand that even a trivial mistake could lead to ruining the taste of your wine.

The following section presents a list of few rookie mistakes people commit while making wine. Take a look to see what has been going wrong.

Picking Too Late or Too Early Make no mistakes when picking the raw material. Whether picking too early or too late, either ways, your wine won’t taste good, no matter how much effort you put into making it. Be informed about the Brix, pH and TA analysis when picking out the crop for winemaking and make sure it is of best quality.

Adding Unnecessary Ingredients Most beginners to winemaking try to improvise and add additional ingredients into the wine to alter the taste. This is a discouraged practice. One must understand that the idea behind choosing the good grape is that you don’t need to add anything to it. Avoid additives as much as possible and try to ensure sulphite-free wine production to retain that wonderful aroma and delightful taste in the wine.

Ignoring the Importance of Oxygen Oxygen can prove to be both constructive and destructive to your winemaking stint. For healthy fermentation you will need oxygen in the early stage of wine development. However, after your wine enters the second phase of development, any further exposure to oxygen may lead to spoilage.

Modern winemaking is an art that needs careful attention and ample caution. While avoiding these rookie mistakes will help you to brew that wonderful wine you have always craved for, you can also take up wine making courses available online to become a pro.

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Judge Your Wine Using Wine Reductive Strength Method

Many ardent wine lovers believe that winemaking is not only an art, but also a science. It is a process of combining fermentation with creativity and genius of a winemaker. It is the sheer brilliance of a winemaker, who adds style and personality to the finished wines. Wine is often considered to be rich and plush, when it is a vintage. The older the wine, the more the cost. Having said that, there are certain practices which determine the reductive vigor of a particular wine by assessing how fast a wine consumes a saturation of oxygen over a period of time.  Nowadays, a lot of wine making and processing companies have initiated this drive to measure their wine's reductive strength using O2 Appetite Analysis. With the use of best investigation practices and equipment design optimization, a prototype method is used to best understand your wine.

In this process, the range of oxygen uptake potential among varietals, vineyard sites, verification practices, and during aging for a wide variety of wine types are studied. This tool is excellent to help wine makers pinpoint fragile or reductive wines. A wine which doesn’t taste good and has lost its vigor is no wine at all. Also, this standard analysis is excellent to forecast release dates for the next wine batch and prescribe treatments for mediocre quality wines. Also, a winemaker can unravel the problems associated with a particular wine blend.

To learn about the relationship between a wine and oxygen, visit Clark Smith’s Winemaking website. Here, you will find ample information about this process. Be it Petite Sirah, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc or any other brand, you will learn about your wine’s shelf life in the most logical manner.