This week three of our MoreWine! staff, Tristan Johnson, Shea Comfort, and Cory Grosshart and lots of our equipment are at the Wineries Unlimited show in Richmond, Va.  This is the largest show on the East Coast for Commercial Winery Equipment and I believe our 8th year displaying at the show.  

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Home Winemakers Warned About Moth

Compliance agreements required for movement of grapes to, from or within quarantine areas…

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Hello out there, this is my first post in my search for the perfect bottle. As in all Quests, it will be full of questions as well as  thoughts and observations.As of this post I sit on my couch and its a beautiful winter morn, in the cellar at this point are a Australian Shiraz/Viognier Blend waitting to be… Continue

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I test my must's TA using a PH meter by adding .10N Sodium Hydroxide to my must sample until a pH of 8.2 is reached.  I then use a formula to calculate the TA.  Before I test my must I make sure I filter it and bring it to a quick boil to force out any CO2 that may be present.  I then let it cool down to room temperature before adding the sodium hydroxide.  When I use my pH meter the reading does not stabilize at 8.2 for more than 5 seconds or so and then it begins to…

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A bit of a curious question: I recently acquired a very small oak barrel. Being small with the volume to oak ratio I have already aged all my wine in the barrel. Now I know the best way to keep an oak barrel conditioned is to keep it filled with wine, but I don't have enough of that. I also would rather not use a sulfer stick for such a small barrel. So I'm considering just buying some inexpensive vodka and filling the barrel. I figured that the vodka is quite sterile and, therefore, should… Continue

Well, I missed harvest. But I did decide to pick up two pails of White Salmon Chardonnay from Brehm Vineyards. I've got them fermenting in a couple of 6-gallon plastic buckets, and both are about halfway through fermentation. I'm getting nervous about them, because neither is fermenting very actively. Both bubbled moderately well for about six days, but there's little to no movement now on day 8. However, both are still foaming at the surface. I'm reading 6 degrees Balling on one tank and 10… Continue

I just pressed on on Saturday night. Brix was at -1 1/2 Ph at 3.7. I put into my stainless vat for 24 hrs, then transfered to (2) 60 Barrels. I put the airlock on them but no bubbels? I amnot temp controlled but the temp in my garage is around 50-60 right now(even colder this morning). I still have not added SO2. My questions...

Is the Malo-lactic done or even started?

If its not started can I still inoculate?

Welcome to my new Video Blog about making wine from Brehm Vineyards Frozen Must. You've probably seen all the hubub on our site about the Brehm must and how much we love it - I wanted to take that a step further and chronicle the process of working with Brehm must from start to finish. Really, its about the same as working from fresh fruit except for the very beginning - since there's no crushing involved.



This fruit is Brehm's 2009 State Lane Cabernet Sauvignon from the valley floor… Continue

Ordering a pair of barrels. Delivery to Chelan/Manson. Anyone want to piggy back and share freight.Four barrels per pallet, so two more and freight probably$75. Buying refurbed/rebuilt/toasted red barrels. Barrels are $150 or so plus freight.
Let me know.
Anyone barrel fermenting reds? Can you walk me through the process a bit? Treat it just like placing it in stainless with a air lok bung?
How about racking and lees?