How to Improve Your Red Wine

Wine can, in fact, make itself, but it's up to us to make great wines and showcase the quality of the fruit we use. Step one is ultimately finding sound, well grow grapes. Step two is deciding what style of wine you wish to have in your glass once everything is said and done.
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Yeast Tips:

Rehydrate your yeast selection according to the manufacturer's instructions. This prepares the yeast cells for the hard work of turning your high sugar must and juice into delicious wine. Rehydration nutrient like Go-Ferm can provide another boost to your yeast's health

Providing adequate nutrient for the yeast is an important way to prevent stuck fermentations and yeast stress off-flavors.

Using an organic source of nitrogen (source of nutrient) added in the first few days of fermentation can greatly improve yeast performance. Products like Fermaid K & Fermaid O are made from deactivated yeast and supply an organic nitrogen source.

Cap Management Tips:

With a sanitized spoon or punch down tool break up the floating skins and seeds in the fermenter twice a day. This keeps the skins in contact with the wine and increasing alcohol to extract more color and tannin. This also aid in preventing the cap from drying out and getting moldy.

If you are using different yeast strains in different fermentors, sanitize you punch down tool between batches.

Avoid crushing seeds on the bottom of your fermenter during punch downs. This will lead to a bitter, astringent character that will be hard to overcome.

 

MLF Tips:

Keep your wine stored in an area over 65ºF for 3-4 weeks or until you confirm the completion of MLF.

Keep your fermentors topped of during MLF, oxidation may still occur in underfilled vessels.

Do not make your first SO2 addition until MLF completes.

Oak Cube Blend Tips:

These blends are designed for use in a six-gallon batch and the whole pack must be used to achieve the intended results.

Minimum recommended contact time is 8 weeks, but start sampling at 6 weeks and remove the cubes once the wine has achieved the desired oaking levels.

To get more flavor and less tannin, use more oak cubes for less time, for the reverse use less cubes for a longer time.

Tannin Tips:

Add tannins to the wine a minimum of 6 weeks before bottling to allow full integration.

Add tannins slowly during a racking to ensure homogenous mixing.

To prevent over addition, do small scale trials to judge the right amount to add to your wine.