Working with grape juice is often considered a first step in the winemaking ladder: kit to juice to grapes. A generally shared winemaking belief is that working with whole grapes is the goal and that one never goes “backward.” It’s just-not-the-done-thing! I used to believe that working with juice was okay if you were purchasing fresh juice for white wines that were not “aromatic,” such as for Chardonnay but probably not Gewurztraminer, where grape-skin contact was helpful in

There are no bad winemakers. There are just some who are less successful than others. But there are great winemakers. Some of these winemakers are professional, but many others are amateurs. Great winemaking knows no boarders or gender or training. Great winemaking is expressed in the glass. Who are these people and what guides them to repeatedly succeed where other diligent souls only occasionally get lucky? Is there some element or quirk in their character that propels them

There’s an old aphorism often quoted concerning wine quality: Good wine is made in the vineyard. It is certainly true that great, or even good wine can’t be made from poor quality grapes. Nor does excellence in the vineyard insure excellent wine. Like all aphorisms this one doesn’t tell the whole story. How you make the wine is just as important as the quality of the grapes. In an excellent year a good winemaker will “get out of the way” and allow the wine to express itself.

Even though wine yeast don’t really know this, fermentation has three stages: initiating, maintaining and finishing. Keeping the yeast happy by maintaining a sound, clean and ongoing fermentation is the most important aspect of winemaking. Failure to maintain an ongoing fermentation is called a ‘stuck’ fermentation, defined as “… a condition, undesirable in the production of dry wines, occurring when yeast activity has ceased.” In humbler terms, it is when the wine appears to

What makes a great wine? One you like drinking, of course. But, it’s not just the flavors in the wine, a great wine draws you wholly into the wine, tasting all its elements in balance. These elements are called texture, the sum of the wine’s parts. Texture includes acid and tannin. A wine with good texture doesn’t create a circus in your mouth. It doesn’t shout out one element such as oak or acidity. If you find yourself noticing an individual element on the palate, then the

Using a kit is a great way to make wine. No special equipment is necessary, except maybe a carboy, airlock and food grade hose to siphon the wine to clear the finished wine. The juice is already balanced when it comes to you to correct the acidity and sugar level. You just have to reconstitute the concentrate in the proper ratio and add the re-hydrated yeast. Your additives are included along with detailed instructions. What’s not to like? I started my winemaking passion with

Many myths surround sparkling wine, especially Champagne. For instance, Dom Perignon did not invent the process of intentionally bottling ‘stars’ as the French claim. Dom Perignon was trying to get the bubbles out of Champagne wine, which was then very much like the Chablis of today. Indeed, the French didn’t even invent this process! It was actually the English, yes the Brits, who first started making sparkling wine probably much like our pét-nats of today. Another myth is t

Yeast is designed by nature to ferment fruit juice, especially grape juice. Yeast enjoys the acidic medium, the plentiful sugar and the nutrients that are within the grape berry. So, why is it so hard to start and complete a successful fermentation? Perhaps it’s because yeast is not interested in creating “great” wine or the wine you have in mind when you, with great expectation, add that packet of yeast into your juice. Yeasts just want to have fun! The trick to great wine i

Louis and Madeline are a very talented winemaking duo I had the privilege of interviewing. In 2018 they won a Double Gold and Best of Show in the AWS judging for a 2016 blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot, 4% Petit Syrah and 4% Petit Verdot. I wanted to know how they did it. They told me that they entered that same wine in the 2017 AWS judging and though pleased with the award, it only received a Silver Medal. It was clear to them that something happened to that wine.

I have written previously that wine yeast has no desire to make good wine. These organisms only follow nature’s playbook: They just want to make more yeast organisms! So too, wine grapes also have no interest in making good wine: They just want ripe seeds! Both these organisms are seeking to reproduce and it is we humans who want to capture that process for our own purposes: We want to make great wine! At the core of these processes are acids, mostly tartaric acid. Grape vine

Working with grape juice is often considered a first step in the winemaking ladder: kit to juice to grapes. A generally shared winemaking belief is that working with whole grapes is the goal and that one never goes “backward.” It’s just-not-the-done-thing! I used to believe that working with juice was okay if you were purchasing fresh juice for white wines that were not “aromatic,” such as for Chardonnay but probably not Gewurztraminer, where grape-skin contact was helpful in

By kourofskywine on August 4, 2025 By Kevin Kourofsky Rosé has become extremely popular these past few years. Haunted by a history of...

By kourofskywine on August 4, 2025 By Kevin Kourofsky The Italians call mushrooms fungi. That sounds like a nicer way of saying fungus,...