The Good Stuff

Stop and smell the rose(s)

1/4/2014

So I know I've mentioned I'm pretty wild about rose. Rose, in my humble opinion, is great year-round and with almost any food.
I also love thinking about the care that goes into making it!
Most rose is made by taking red wine grapes (truly, almost any red wine grape can be made into rose, though it is usually the lighter bodied, fruitier ones) and then depending on how much color and flavor is wanted, processed one of the following ways:

Letting the weight from the grapes on top of the bin break up the grapes on the bottom, and in doing so, the skins of the broken grapes give just a hint of color and flavor to the juice. Only a little bit of juice is obtained here, and it usually will be bled off, while the remaining grapes will be crushed, fermented, and made into red wine (this process is called "saignee" which means "bleeding" in French.) It is difficult to control just how much color you'll get here, but it is economical, and when done well, very, very tasty.
If the grapes are very dark and bold, then sometimes they are brought into the winery and pretty much pressed right away. In the pressing, a little bit of color will be extracted (in cases where white wines are made from red grapes, this is the method used. With light grapes like pinot noir, you can manage to get almost no color at all!) but the skins and seeds are kept out of the juice enough to keep it from becoming red wine.
With lighter grapes, often the winemaker will crush as with a red wine, but rather than letting the juice ferment on the skins for a few days, it'll be pressed off after a number of hours. This gives the winemaker control over just how much color and flavor they want brought into the wine. It can involve staying up all night checking the juice!
Finally... Some roses are actually made by blending red and white wines... To me, this is a cop-out, but it does happen...usually in California- get it together, California.

At this point, the pink juice will be fermented, usually to dryness, and processed much as a white wine would be.

Hopefully, reading that list helps you realize just how much care a winemaker has to exert in order to get a good rose! You can't just set it and forget it with this one. If you know what color and flavor profile you want your wine to have, you have to keep checking the juice as you go along- making sure it doesn't get too dark or bold. Once it slips too far, you've got red, and can lose the delicacy and lightness associated with rose.

Some the roses I've liked best have been made from Syrah, Cinsault, Gamay, Grenache, and even Pinot Noir (which isn't always my fave as a red, but lends itself to a light, earthy rose.)

You'll notice I didn't go into the pink moscatos, white zinfandels, and other overly-sweet abominations... This is because I think they've given rose a terrible reputation, and I don't like them! My choice!

Go find a nice bottle of rose, chill it, and as you sip it, think about all the care and love that went into its creation! Mmmm!

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Taste the price

12/17/2013

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I give a lot of thought to wine quality vs price. I would dare say that most of the time, (yes, most,) more expensive wines are of better quality than cheaper wines. When you jump up to $20 and $30+ bottles, the care exercised by small, boutique winemakers, the quality of the fruit, and the craft of the winemaking really begins to shine. It is difficult for small producers to offer bottles below $15. Some can do it, but will then wind up using their lower quality juice in those batches. I know I've harped on this before. I know... But now, I'm going to give you an assignment.

Pick a varietal from a region of the world- let's say Washington Cabernet, (I'm pre-disposed towards WA wines, I confess.) Purchase 4 bottles.
1. One that falls near or under $10
2. One that is between $10 and $20
3. One that is around $20
4. And one that is closer to $30 (or even $40 if you're feeling spendy.)

Do not research first to see what you know about the producers. Just base your decisions on price. This is important.

Place each bottle in a paper bag once opened and mix them up so you do not know which is which. If you can get help with this, even better (though this assignment is more fun with a friend.)

Write A, B, C, D on the mixed up paper bags. The letters should have nothing to do with the wine inside at this point.

Take a piece of paper and set 4 wine glasses on it. Then, write A, B, C, D in front of one of each glass.
Pour the corresponding wine from each bag into the glass. Check out the color, sniff, taste. Make notes for yourself about your thoughts on each. (If you're tasting with a friend, try not to influence each other's thoughts just yet.)

Once you feel like you have opinions on each, go ahead and take the bottles out of the bag and write down which was which next to your notes.

How did your likes and dislikes correspond to the prices? Did you notice a quality difference?

Next head to the interwebs. Go to each winery's website. See if you can read up on the winemaker. How many cases were made? Where'd the fruit come from? Did the higher priced wines come from smaller craft producers?

How did all that info fit together in your mind?

If you didn't notice a difference, then congratulations! You can keep enjoying lower-priced wines. It'll be easier on your pocketbook and you're an easy peasy dinner guest (seriously. I'm not being snotty here.)

If you did notice a difference, what will be your go-to price point? Was the most expensive drastically better? Was the middle-priced wine worth it or was the least expensive wine the best bang for your buck?

If you do this experiment, please share your wines and thoughts in the comments!
This would make a fun holiday party activity! (hint, hint!)

Cheers!

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Mull this over...

12/11/2013

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'Tis the time of year in which people are attending a lot of festive parties, wearing ugly sweaters, and trying to make all sorts of warming beverages. I've started getting calls at the shop from people looking for pre-made mulled wines. Usually (since Chicago is a multi-cultural city,) I get requests for gluhwein or glogg, specifically. Now, you can certainly buy this stuff pre-made, but my real question is, "why would you want to?" Not because it isn't tasty and festive, (it is!) but because it is very easy and satisfying to make at home! There are lots of recipes out there, but as with much of my own cooking, I recommend you get creative. Start with a bold, fruity wine- maybe a cheap (hah!) Zinfandel or even a Merlot, some brandy, a little sugar, some cloves, cinnamon, orange peel, apple chunks, whatever you wanna throw in there, go for it! (Candied ginger, anyone? Mmmm.) Add the ingredients to taste, warm it up on the stove for a while and let your home fill with its delicious and delightful aroma, ladle it up, and enjoy with people you love (I'm feeling sappy, can you tell?) My one word of warning- beware the fumes directly over the pot (or don't if you want an extra kicky celebration.)
Cheers and Happy (secular with some Christian and Pagan roots) Holidays from me to you!

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Icewine!

11/4/2013

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With Chicago receiving its first really cold weather (including snow) of the season last week, I got to thinking about the delicious product that can happen when grapes freeze while still on the vine- icewine! (or Ice Wine, or Eiswein, depending on where you are.)

Much like its late-harvest cousins, the circumstances have to be just right for icewine production. It is always risky to let the grapes hang after typical harvest time. While sugars do continue to concentrate in the berries the longer they hang there, other problems can arise like rots (which, unlike Sauternes or some other "noble rot" wines, we do not want with icewine,) or even destruction by insects or birds (they like sugar just as much as we do.) However, if it is a particularly dry year in a cooler dry climate (no rot risk,) and a hard early freeze is expected, this can mean gold for icewine producers.
What happens is that water in the berries freezes, so when pressed, all that comes out are the sugars and flavor components, leaving behind most of the water. This makes for a VERY sugary concoction (though as you can imagine, not a very high juice yield- which is why many icewines are pricier.) Once fermented, this wine still retains a high sugar concentration, making it a great dessert-sipper.

For producers, this is a laborious, risky practice. Sometimes they stumble into it by accident when hit with an unexpected freeze, but in cold-weather climates, it is a goal for many winemakers. It usually involves staying up all night, monitoring the temperature in the vineyard and then running out to harvest and press immediately, often outside in the cold so that the berries don't thaw. This means you have to have a LOT of people out in below-freezing temps in the wee hours of the morning, picking berries like mad, knowing you'll yield very little juice. CRAZY TIMES at the winery! Cold, cold, crazy times.

So, next time you're in the store and you're looking for an icewine, don't balk at the price- they're labor-intensive and not a guaranteed success for their producers. But when they work, and you've got a sweet tooth, they really hit the spot!

Cheers!

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Get ready for Beaujolais!

10/20/2013

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Every year, on the 3rd week in November, France celebrates Beaujolais Day- the day that the year's release of Beaujolais Nouveau is made available. These wines are harvested in August/September, fermented, bottled and meant to be consumed very young (within 6 month-ish of release- don't let them go past May!) or they begin to lose their characteristics. So, why does it get such a celebration? What's the good (and bad) hype about?

Well, in some ways a lot, and in some ways, nothing. Beaujolais as a region has a lot more to offer than just Beaujolais Nouveau, and often gets an unfairly bad rap because of the simplicity of that one wine- however, that wine is also pretty widely loved as a table wine. To top it off, there have been some interesting scandals in the region that I'll go into in a little more detail below.

The Basics:
Here's the basic deal with the Beaujolais region- The Beaujolais AOC is technically part of France’s Burgundy region (and is Burgundy’s biggest wine producer), but borders on Rhone and shares many of its climatic elements with warmer temperatures than the rest of Burgundy. It is best known for producing red wines but also does some rose and white (which is usually Chardonnay and referred to as Beaujolais Blanc.)

The traditional red grape of Beaujolais is Gamay Noir, an ancient cross between Pinot Noir and the white varietal, Gouais. Its skins are deep purple and it tends to grow well in climates where Pinot Noir can grow. However, it ripens earlier and makes a stronger, fruitier wine than Pinot Noir. Gamay wines from Beaujolais tend to have slightly higher acidity due to water stress in the region and are light bodied and fruity. Gamay’s flavors range from light candied fruit, red cherry, strawberry, and even banana notes, to richer raspberry, and pepper notes. Gamay roses tend to have a candied fruit quality and hints of watermelon. (One of my absolute favorite roses is a Gamay- though not from Beaujolais- it is from Savoie.)

Most of Beaujolais’ red wines are fermented using whole cluster or carbonic maceration. Remember? This is done to extract lots of those juicy, fruity flavors without introducing too much tannin from the grape’s seeds and skins. Therefore, they tend to be deliciously light (a good red choice for American Thanksgiving- something the French surely couldn't have anticipated) yet are still decently complex and flavorful. If you don't love tannins, give red wines from Beaujolais a whirl.

The Categories:
Of course, so far, I've simplified things a little too much (and frankly, upheld that old stereotype that ALL wines from Beaujolais are like the simple Nouveau.) Not so, actually! There are also some pretty fancy, complex, and ageable wines produced in the region- and, in keeping with the French tradition of breaking things down to super, super, super specific categories, the following general classifications can be used: Beaujolais AOC (this one covers about 60 villages, and Nouveau usually falls into this category.) Beaujolais Village (39 villages,) Cru Beaujolais (higher quality, and includes only 10 villages- often doesn't even put Beaujolais on the label, in order to escape the stigma!)

So, while you generally know that most red wines from the region (especially those from the AOC and Village denominations) will be light, fruity and low on tannins, what if you find a higher quality Cru Beaujolais wine in the store?What can you expect? Well, it's tricky! There's a lot of variation and they range from light to heavy with varying recommendations for aging! I'll try to break it down a little- just because I find it interesting. If you do not, feel free to skip ahead! Remember, I had to research these, I haven't yet tried them for myself.

Lighter wines (meant to be consumed within 3 years):

Brouilly- Largest Cru in Beaujolais.
Régnié- most recently added. Fuller bodied wines.
Chiroubles- High altitudes.

Medium bodied:

Côte de Brouilly- from slopes of Brouilly volcano. More concentrated, less earthy than Brouilly.
Fleurie- Velvety, floral. Meant to be aged 4 years or more.
Saint-Amour- Peachy, spicy. Age well for up to 12 years.

Full Bodied (meant to be consumed 4-10 years from harvest.)

Chénas- Smallest of Crus. Known for aroma of wild roses. Drink 5-15 years after harvest.
Juliénas- Wines are rich, spicy, with aroma of peonies.
Morgon- Deepest colored. Aroma of peaches and apricots. Can take on silky Burgundy texture after 5 years of aging.
Moulin-à-Vent- Similar to nearby Chenas. Longest ageable wines. Can go 10 years. Some producers age in oak, which gives a unique tannin and spice. Reduced yields due to manganese in soil means concentrated berry flavors.

If so much of the production from the region is Beaujolais Nouveau (50%) and they are popular enough to merit an international celebration, then why do these high quality wines try to shirk its reputation? What gives?

Well, part of it is that while tasty, the Nouveau wines aren't really much to write home about- you'll drink them, you'll like them, but they won't be game changers for most people. You're unlikely to take extensive notes on them, remember them for years, or rave about them to your friends. However, there's more to the story than just simplicity...

The Scandal(s):
The 2001 vintage was not a universally good one for ol' Beaujolais Nouveau... Some winemakers were accused of making such terrible wines that year, that a lot of it had to be destroyed, in order to salvage the reputation of the other producers who'd made wine that year- a sort of "one bad apple" situation.

OK, so not the biggest deal- moving on... right? Well, kinda. In 2005, one large producer in the region also had a pretty crappy year. In order to avoid throwing out the whole batch, they secretly blended in some higher quality wines from other vintages (big no-no in France- or anywhere really, but especially France) and did not label the wine as such. Word got out and people were NOT happy. They felt they couldn't trust wines from the region. Then in 2007 (yes, again! the aughts were not good to Beaujolais,) 100 producers were accused of illegally adding sugar to their wines at the beginning of fermentation (a process called Chaptalization.) To the average wine drinker, these things might not seem like the biggest deal, but to the international wine community, it was just another series of reasons not to trust wines from the region or expect quality from them...

So... What Now? :
Are you wondering what to make of all this? Understandable. Well, I think my bottom line is "give it a whirl!" I'm personally excited to see what the 2013 vintage will have to offer. I've been underwhelmed by Beaujolais Nouveau in the past, but am willing to give them another chance- and, I'll say, on behalf of the region, I've had some pretty tasty Gamay reds that were not Nouveau, so give those a try too! Head to your local wine shop and give them a try!

Best yet, check out these food pairings for Gamay wines and wines from Beaujolais (hint- it is versatile...) Chicken, Salmon, Morroccan lamb. Mmm.

Questions? Comments? Boring? Overwhelming? Share in the comments! (Sonja, thanks as always, for reading and commenting!)

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WHAT is that crud in my wine!?

7/25/2013

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The photo on the left shows a web of crystals in an unfiltered, unstabilized bottle of rose. On the right, you see crystals left on the edge of the glass from the last pour of a (different) bottle.

Maybe you’ve had the last of a white wine bottle (or a rose) and found what looked like tiny shards of glass in it? Or maybe you’ve had a red with lot of dark crumblies in the bottom (as evidenced in the picture on the upper left, they can even form long, crusty chains that are sort of ring shaped in the bottom of the bottle.) I remember wine tasting once in college and being sure there was a fragment of stem in my glass (which, knowing what I know now, unless it was put there as a joke by the tasting room staff is pretty much impossible.) It was likely a decent sized chunk of sediment...

So, what is this sediment? Should you be worried? Should you return the bottle and demand a refund?
Relax.

These little crystals are tartrate salts (usually in the form of potassium bitartrate) and are likely the byproduct of tartaric acid additions early in the winemaking process. Acid is usually added in cases where the fruit is overly ripe or imbalanced in terms of sugar vs acid.

Tartrates are usually fully settled out of the wine before bottling by chilling the wine in a large stainless steel tank. The salts precipitate out due to the cold temperature and the wine is then removed, leaving the salts in the bottom of the tank. However, the solubility of tartrates is also affected by other components such as alcohol content. So sometimes not all of them successfully settle out. Or sometimes the winemaker may not have anticipated a need to cold-settle them to begin with (especially in red wines.) Then, depending on the temperature changes they experience in your house, in the fridge, the grocery store or the semi truck in which they were transported, those salts may become crystallized again and settle out into the bottom of your bottle.

They’re a little crunchy on your teeth, so you may choose to just toss out the dregs if you find them (or, if you're feeling fancy, use a decanter and leave the salts in the bottle,) but they won’t hurt you. And hey, if you find some and are curious, feel free to fish them out of the glass and give them a good crunch! Yum! (or at least “meh!”)

Did you know?
The beautiful photo on my homepage was taken in Beaune (which is in Burgundy) on my only trip to French wine country. It was back in 2007, before I'd really delved into this journey- I'd love to go back knowing what I know now!

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Orange Wine (Made from Grapes!)

6/29/2013

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I first read about orange wine this year and was pretty intrigued. It isn’t the easiest thing to find, but I got my hands on a bottle and cracked it open this past week with some friends. Apparently it is a rising trend right now in the wine world, so I decided to give it a go.

The name is a little misleading, as it is not wine made from oranges- rather orange wine is made from white grapes, but due to its processing, it takes on a deep golden, orange (I’d call it marigold) color. Now, normally when you make white wine, the stems are removed, and the grapes are pressed immediately. You don’t want the juice to have contact with skins and seeds, and you definitely don’t want to crush the seeds up in with the juice, since they contain lots of bold, bitter, spicy components such as tannins. However, with orange wine, the grapes are kept whole (sometimes even including the stems!) and fermented for a few weeks. Often they’re even fermented in clay vessels, allowing for a little (or a lot) of oxygenation and breathability that traditional stainless fermentation tanks do not offer. The resulting wines are unusual in that they more closely resemble red wines in taste and smell than they do whites.

The one I sampled, a 2008 Cosimo Maria Maini Daphne, comes from Italy and retails between $25-$30. It is made from Trebbiano grapes and according to the label, was not fined or filtered before bottling. I can see a little cloudiness in the glass, which in that case, makes sense.

It smells like a red wine. It has a teeny floral aroma from the traditional Trebbiano characteristics, but has a spicy, leathery aroma. If I were blindfolded, I’d definitely peg this as a red. It also has a sharp, botanical aroma that reminds me of a spirit, like maybe a gin… I expected it to have a more alcoholic taste based on this smell.

The first thing I tasted in the mouth was a fresh, tart, lightly floral flavor. However, then the bitter took over and ran back along the sides of my tongue. Even though it is only 14% alcohol (which is high for a white wine,) it did taste almost fortified because the herbally flavors have a burn reminiscent of spirits.

I tasted it alone, but am thinking it would benefit from some food. Even just cheese and crackers. It’s likely not something I’d choose to sit and sip on its own, but I’m glad I tried it. If you are in a restaurant that serves orange wine (it’s pretty trendy right now, so you might have an easier time than you’d think,) order a glass. It’s definitely worth experiencing- once… or more if you love it!

Cheers!

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But How Do They Get the Bubbles in There?

5/21/2013

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Firstly, I'm sorry I skipped a week of posting! My dad was visiting, and we had such a good time, I just didn't squeeze a post in! But, here I am, back on track...

In a previous post, I’d mentioned that sparkling wines are made in two basic ways. I’m going to go into a little more detail here about the more traditional methods now because I think they’re pretty interesting (the quickie, contemporary method is to just inject CO2 into the wine. Done.)

The older method, formerly widely referred to as Méthode Champenoise, is now pretty commonly just referred to as the “Traditional Method.” This is because the French are pretty dang picky about anything not made in Champagne bearing the champenoise label. The basic gist of how wines are made sparkling under this method is that they are fermented normally, but then undergo a secondary fermentation in some sort of enclosure (bottle or tank) and the bubbles come as a byproduct of that fermentation. The grapes are usually picked earlier, so that the starting wine has a higher acidity and lower sugar. Then, a sugary wine mixture and yeast are added, and the wine is bottled and tightly sealed (no sulphur dioxide is added here- in order to not kill the yeast.) Thus the carbon dioxide released by the yeast in this secondary fermentation is trapped in the bottle. The wine is then aged on this yeasty sediment (even though they’ve died) for varying times. The French have all sorts of laws relating to how long the wine must sit on the yeast, ranging from about 1-8 years. At this point, the winemaker is faced with getting the dead yeast cells and sediment out of the wine, without losing all of the precious carbonation. What to do?

Well, it’s actually pretty smart! The bottles undergo a process called riddling. They’re put into a rack that tips them upside down at an angle. Every day, they’re gently shaken and rotated till all of the sediment falls down into the neck of the bottle. Traditionally this was done by hand. Yes, a person would go in every day and shake and turn the bottles! Today, it’s usually done by machine. Even in Champagne. Then, the very top of the neck (or bottom, as they’re upside-down) is frozen. When the cap of the bottle is taken off, the ice plug shoots out, the bottle is topped up with a wine that is pH and sugar balanced, then it is corked, caged, and ready for labeling and sale! Voila! It’s neat that in this method, the wine undergoes the secondary fermentation in the same bottle it is sold in.

A twist on this Traditional Method is the Transfer Method. It seems a little silly to me in that the bottles undergo the secondary fermentation, but then are dumped into a tank, the wine is balanced for pH and sugar, and then is filtered and re-bottled. I think the reason they do this is to avoid the riddling process and speed things up a little. And even though it is done under pressurized conditions to avoid losing carbonation, I’d think it’d be not as fizzy, would risk oxygenation or microbial contamination, etc.

Another way of carbonating the wine is the Tank Method. Here, the secondary fermentation takes place in a large tank (pressurized to keep the carbonation in) and is then bottled from there. It is not as well-regarded a method because it doesn’t allow for the extended contact with the dead yeast cells that the other methods do. It is also sometimes referred to as the "Charmat Method."

To sum up (that was a lot of info, I know,) many modern wines are made by injecting CO2 into the wine like soda. Traditionally produced wines undergo secondary fermentation in the bottle, are aged on the dead yeast and stuff (lees) which is then removed and they’re bottled! The Transfer Method does the secondary fermentation in the bottle and aging on the lees, but then dumps the wine out of the bottles in order to remove the sediment. It’s then rebottled. And the Tank Method does the secondary fermentation in a large tank, but is not aged as long on the lees.

That’s it! That’s generally how sparkling wines are made!

Did you know?
Wine lees consist of dead yeasty sediment (actually a combo of live and dead yeast cells along with teeny tiny particles of grape left in the wine.) There is a French phrase called “sur lie” which means “on the lees.” Many sparkling wines are aged “sur lie,” as described above, but many other wines (usually whites) may also undergo extended contact with the lees. This imparts a sort of toast flavor to the wine and can be used to take a hard bite off of acidic whites.
Really extended contact time with the lees (months and months and months and months) in barrel or tank is referred to as bâtonnage, but as these cells start to decompose, the wine has to be stirred around frequently to keep a rotten egg smell from taking over. Ick.

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Wine Kit 4: Bottling!

4/16/2013

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About a week ago, I decided to test the pH of my Pinot Blanc using some litmus strips (you dip them in wine and they change colors based on its pH) I got at my local brewing/winemaking shop. They’re not highly accurate, as they really only give you a general range, and you’re just checking the color on the strip against the colors on the bottle, but it’s better than nothing, and I’m not to the point yet where I can afford or have room for my own little lab. The strips placed it at about 3.4 pH which is right where it should be (I even tested a commercial dry white, just to make sure I was reading the colors correctly.) This acidity made me wary of my original plan to play with some citric acid additions. I was confident it was ready for bottling as is.

I got super busy this past week and didn’t have the chance to get it bottled as I’d hoped. I finally had several hours at home on Sunday afternoon and decided to give it a shot. However, I wanted to make sure I liked how the wine tasted before I committed to bottling.

I cleaned and sanitized my thief and pulled a half glass. The color was a lovely bright yellow and it was crystal clear. The nose, as with my past kits, is pretty sweet and fruity smelling and I anticipated it would taste similarly (the other 2 kits were pretty true to their smell.) However, this one was much drier and more tart than the Sauvignon Blanc I did last year. It is almost too tart for drinking on its own- but I have a hunch it’ll mellow in the bottle and will be very good with food. However, definitely no acid additions are necessary!

Look at that lovely color and clarity!

As a side note, the wine smells and tastes a little dusty to me- this was also true of the other kits I have done, and I suspect it is due to my inability to filter the wine (I just don’t have the equipment.) I think what I’m detecting is the bentonite clay, which is added to clarify and pull out suspended solids from the wine. The good news is that it seems to dissipate with time. So I’m setting a few aside specifically for cellaring and will evaluate how they come along as time passes.

I also realized that because I had let the kit go much longer than the instructions recommend (stupid busy schedule,) I needed to add a little bit more SO2. This will prevent oxidation in the bottle as well as keep any yeasties or bacteria at bay.
I checked the recommendation for the campden tablets I have on hand and added just one to get the right level. (I prefer using powdered potassium metabisulfite, but this is what the local store had, so I went with it. I'll get powdered again next time...)

Anyhow, on to bottling!

Getting the wine into bottles took me a little longer this time than anticipated because I wound up sloshing my carboy around a lot getting it onto the table. (My hands were slippery and I was terrified of dropping it, so it took a few tries, darn it. Plus, I’ve been neglecting the gym and am turning into a weakling.)

This meant that I stirred up a lot of the bentonite clay in the bottom and the previously crystal clear wine got cloudy. I then had to wait for it to settle out overnight… Bummer.

You can see how clear it is at the top and how cloudy and mixed up it is at the bottom... sigh...

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Wine Kit Step 2

3/22/2013

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The photo on the left shows another reason to stay with it- you can see that my auto siphon wants to tilt to the side, even with the clip! On the right, you'll notice the wine filling the bottom. Also, see the towels in the background? You'll always want to have plenty of towels ready.

This is one of the easier steps of the process. Again, the most time-consuming part of this deal is cleaning and sanitizing. Don’t skimp!

This is where it is time to get the bottle/carboy washer hooked up to your faucet. It makes cleaning that glass carboy MUCH easier. Be warned though, if you accidentally push down on the little bar that sticks out from it and there's no carboy over it, you’re going to get really wet. You and probably your entire kitchen.

So, get your racking wand, tubing, auto siphon, 6 gallon carboy, bung (yes, it is a bung and it has a hole- get over it,) airlock, hydrometer, and test jar ready cleansed and sanitized. Again, I use all 3 cleaning ingredients on everything. Something I didn’t mention before but probably should- in case it isn’t common sense: wear gloves. Your skin will thank you. Yes, they are food safe chemicals, but they’re still chemicals.

Once you’ve gotten everything all cleansed and sanitized, draw a sample of your juice from your fermenting bucket (again, I skip the thief here because it is easy to scoop a sample out from the top of the bucket- you’ll need the thief once you’re dealing with a carboy.)

How are your brix? Mine were actually very low- a good thing. (Again, follow the recommendation on your kit.) This was the best fermentation I’ve had in terms of not having residual sugar after the primary fermentation. I’m guessing this has to do with the particular yeast strain in this kit- it did mention that it was an especially dry fermenting yeast (yay!) So I may not wind up playing with acid additions like I’d planned. We shall see how things taste/how the pH turns out.

I also waited 4 days beyond what the kit recommended before this initial racking into my carboy- mainly because I had out of town company and just couldn’t get to it till then. It seems to have worked out well for me. (For those of you following along at home, I did this step on March 7th.)

In order to transfer your wine from your big bucket to your first glass carboy, you’ll need to get the bucket up onto a higher level. I use my kitchen table. I have hardwood floors, so I like to just roll up all the rugs, put my bucket on a towel and pull it into the kitchen. This helps in that A) I am slight of frame, so I don’t have to haul about 8 gallons of liquid across my whole apartment, and B) it helps prevent lots and lots of agitated sloshing in the bucket. Remember, you put bentonite clay into it last time and it has settled at the bottom with the yeast lees (dead cells) and other sediment. You want to leave most of that in the bucket, so you don’t want it all sloshed and mixed back into your wine.

Ultimately, I gave it one big hoist up onto the table and then let it settle for about 15 minutes or so while I got everything else ready to go.

Attach your tubing to the racking wand (the shorter end of it) at one end and your auto siphon at the other. (I actually get this all hooked up when I’m cleaning them at the beginning. That way, I can just siphon cleaning materials out of one container, into a bowl, and then back into the other container again. This thoroughly cleans the inside of your tubing and other equipment with a turbulent force. You’ll still have to clean the outside- obviously.)

With the bucket on the table, set your clean carboy a few feet away on the floor. This’ll help gravity help you-and by keeping it a distance away, will help keep major loops and kinks out of your tubing.

The auto siphon has a clip on it. Set it down in the bucket, clip it to the side, and make sure the tip isn’t at the very bottom. You don’t want to suck all the clay, lees, and sediment into your new carboy. The idea is to leave the sludgiest part behind.

Then take your racking wand, which also should have a clip on it, and slide it down into your carboy, clipping it to the side of the glass lip. (This is visible in the photo on the right above.)

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