Also, I found it refreshing to read: "The finest white wines are made by selecting individual berries from the bunch." I subscribe to that! If I could, I would certainly select individual ripe berries by hand to make our wine, but alas, not very realistic or practical, but one can dream.
In this day and age of winemaking where there is a plethora of yeasts to choose from to yield specific flavors and aromas, this book also gives a list of preferred yeasts to use to accomplish the type of fermentation that was desired.
Towards the end of the book, Tritton gives a list of Do's and Don'ts of Winemaking which I tabulated, some "Don'ts" are really "Do's":
Do's | Don'ts |
Do use sound fruit | Don't forget to wash your fruit |
Do boil your fruit or add one or two Campden tablets if your fruit is over-ripe or unsound | Don't use metal containers for fermenting |
Do remember to sterilize wooden containers | Don't forget to wash all utensils |
Do remember to use the right amount of sugar | Don't forget to test the gravity of the adjusted juice |
Do remember that the gravity of fruit juices varies | Don't forget to use a suitable wine yeast |
Do remember to add a yeast nutrient to fruit wines | Don't forget to cover your fermenter during pulp fermentation |
Do insert a fermentation trap | Don't fill your container full till the vigorous first fermentation has subsided |
Do remember to have some spare wine for filling up | Don't allow an air space over any wine during secondary fermentation and maturing with the exception of sherry |
Do give sherry wine plenty of air | Don't forget that flower wines need fruit juice |
Do remember to add acid where necessary | Don't add sugar in the solid state, always dissolve in fruit juice or water |
Do remember that adding sugar or syrup at intervals makes for stronger wines | Don't forget to rack your wine at intervals |
Do top up your fermenter after racking, with water if no spare wine is available | Don't fine your wine unless it refuses to clarify after several rackings |
Do stir up the yeast deposit to help your wine to clarify | Don't forget that racking improves wine flavour |
Do remember that wines are stabilized by racking | Don't bottle your wine till it has been tested for stability |
Do remember to add one or more Campden tablets to wines which darken on standing | Don't add a Campden tablet to wine which is to become a sherry |
Do remember wine making requires patience | Don't despair, even poor wines improve on maturing |
When I wrote the blog, I thought about the puncutation of "Do's" and "Don'ts" so I had to look it up and am following the Associated Press usage on How to Punctuate Do's and Don'ts.
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