One of the benefits of working with a winemaking consultant is having someone readily available reminding you to prepare for harvest. Harvest sneaks up on all of us. Every year! Without fail. The time is now to prepare the cellar for the 2021 harvest season. Here are some suggestions, tools, and resources to get you […]
Fermentation
Grapes Have Disease? Try These Wine Processing Options
Most grape diseases have an influence in wine quality in a detrimental way. Winemakers, however, can make processing decisions to help minimize that negative influence from grape disease on wine quality. For a full list of production choices when dealing with diseased fruit, please visit the webinar and downloadable notes, “Creatively Perfecting Wines from Challenging […]
2020 Harvest Brings Challenges to Winemakers
This year has thrown a lot of challenges towards us all, and the harvest season seems to be no exception. Depending on the grapes’ growing location, there may be unexpected challenges winemakers are going to have to overcome in order to produce quality, commercially sound wine. Below summarizes the key observations I have seen to-date […]
Yeast Strain Selection vs. Yeast Nutrition
As a consulting winemaker, I have made the general observation that winemakers tend to take a lot of time in selecting yeast strains to ferment grapes. Many spend significant time deciding if the marketing terms related to wine descriptors they expect to arise by the end of primary fermentation are what they desire in their […]
Four Virtual Winemaking Lessons You’ll Want Before Harvest!
For many of us, harvest is at the edge of beginning. As I am a firm believer in preparing for a successful harvest, I want to review a few tools available through dgwinemaking.com as à la carte purchases. Details for purchasing these lessons is at the bottom of this post. Creative Wine Styles for Hybrid […]
Fermentation Nutrition Explained
One of the easiest ways to reduce incidence of hydrogen sulfide development is by making specific nitrogen adjustments during primary fermentation. As mentioned in the last blog post, poor nutrient management can also lead to stuck fermentations. Years of research has shown winemakers that a must’s starting nitrogen concentration varies from year to year. Thus […]
