Spoiler: Every Winemaking Operation Can Do These Things The 2025 vintage is shattering assumptions and rewrote the rules – giving some regions a reminder what a good harvest feels like, and other regions struggled under accelerated conditions. While some producers clung to outdated practices (yes, that means you if you still think 65°F counts as […]
Fermentation
Maximize Beauty in White Wine Making
Tips for Improving White Winemaking Processes I can tell a lot about the quality of a winery’s wines by tasting three white wines on their tasting menu. Why? While there are some exceptions to this generalization, most white wines are straightforward in whether they taste “good” or “bad.” If a winery has issues selling their […]
5 Tips for Succeeding at Harvest this Year
It’s hard to believe another harvest season is sneaking up on us. While there is probably TONS of work to be done in the vineyard, it’s also time to start preparing the winery for harvest. Do not let cellar preparation get away from you. Any good winemaking team will tell you that one of the […]
Back to Enology, Part 5: “Wine is Made in the Vineyard”
And the Argument for a Wine Quality Focus: Part 2 “Folklore has it in America that quality and production are incompatible: that you can not have both. A plant manager will usually tell you that it is either or. In his experience, if he pushes quality, he falls behind in production. If he pushes production, […]
Back to Enology, Part 4: “Wine is Made in the Vineyard”
And the Myth that Winemaking is More Art than Science: 1 of 2 Posts With the start of the 2024 harvest, I felt it prudent to address one of my least favorite phrases echoed across the wine industry, “Wine is made in the vineyard.” Taken literally, and one would think that filled wine bottles sprout […]
Back to Enology, Part 2: Formula Wines are Sophisticated Wines
This post is a part of the “Back to Enology” series in which I, Denise Gardner, take time to explain the science behind concepts misunderstood (or mythological) in winemaking practices. Part 1 discussed Misconceptions around sulfur dioxide additions to wine. A full reasoning behind this “Back to Enology” series can be found at the end […]
