Notes From the
Vintner
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Welcome
to our column. We hope that you will return to
learn interesting notes on wine, and related
subjects. Wine is a great gift from God to be used
for the enjoyment of man. It is a food, and should
be treated as such. It is meant to lift up the body
and lighten the soul. 2/1/02
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Now
is the time to
think about winning…We
all know that our wines are the best around. I mean, who can
make wine as good as we can - RIGHT. So now is the
time to form your plan to win the gold. We know that we have
the taste and need only a little work on clearing up the
wine for it to be the best ever entered anywhere.
Your wine should
be resting in a nice cool place, out of sunlight, and with
no air on top of the wine. Just by looking at the wine you
can see that it is a winner, right??? The
Cowie International
Amateur Wine Competition
is just three months away. And that ounce of GOLD is
waiting for you along with a couple dozen ounces of
SILVER. So make your plan to win.
Be sure that you
have racked the wine several times. Allow it to stand in a
really cool place (like 40 degrees) for a couple of weeks.
Use a fining agent if needed. This practice is always good,
for it allows the proteins along with other solids in the
wine to settle out. If you do not have a way of topping off
the wine (That is keeping the container full.), then try to
put a little CO2 gas on it to provide a cover next to the
wine against the air. Remember that air can hurt the wine.
You may want to use two fining agents: one that is
negatively charged, and one that is positively charged. This
would be using Bentonite and Sparkolloid to fine the wine.
If you have some browning, you would want to use Polyclar to
remove some of this off color. You may want to add some Oak
Chips to adjust the flavor of the wine. Now is the time to
make the plan…time is running out.
Remember that wine
making is an ART
that is tempered with Science. So let's go check out
this wine…Why yes, I
will have a glass.
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