Nanaimo Winemakers 2016 Varietal Competition After two years without a wine judging competition, we are finally bringing this event back, thanks to Doug Markin volunteering to serve as Chief Steward, and his desire to run a competition this spring. The …
Grapes
Grapes and Supplies for 2016 One of the main purposes of the Nanaimo Winemakers is to assist members in getting the grapes and supplies they need to make top-quality wine. In 2016 the club will again be sourcing grapes from the …
Making Rosé Wine
A rosé is a pink wine, somewhere in the color spectrum between a white wine and a red wine. Various other terms are used. A “blush” wine is a rosé at the whiter end of the pink spectrum. Terms like “white Zinfandel” or “white Merlot” also usually refer to a rosé wine. They are almost never truly “white.”
Making Red Wine
Making Red Wine Overview There are many ways to make red wine, including the most traditional of just stomping the grapes with your feet, letting everything ferment in open vats with whatever yeasts come with the grapes, and bottling the …
Cold Stabilization
Cold stabilization is a method of reducing the likelihood of bitartrate crystals (“wine diamonds”) forming in wine as it ages. This is particularly important for white wines.
Clarifying White Juice
If you are starting your white wine from fresh grapes (our Summerland Gewürztraminer, for example) rather than from a pail of juice from a winery, you need to know how to get “settled juice” and to time your “skin contact.”
Should I fine my wine before cold stabilization
Sometimes a new wine will have several defects, and it will be obvious to the winemaker that multiple fining treatments will be needed. In general, fining operations are done in the following sequence.
Malolactic Chromatography Testing
Some wine experts claim that the accurate monitoring of Malo-Lactic Fermentation (MLF) is one of the most critical parameters in red wine making but one that is most commonly overlooked. Paper Chromatography is a simple qualitative analytical procedure that has been used for many years in the wine industry to assess progress in MLF.
Care and Feeding of Wine Yeast
COMING SOON. In the meantime, see notes on Go-Ferm and Fermaid K by the manufacturer, Lallemand.
Yeasts commonly used by Nanaimo Winemakers
Yeasts commonly used by Nanaimo Winemakers These notes come (often directly) from the various manufacturer’s websites. All yeasts are from Lallemand except Vin 13 (Anchor) and VL1 and VL3 (Laffort). Compiled September 2005. Index of yeasts 71B BM45 CY3079 D47 …