: skip to main skip to sidebar Chez Ray Winemaking Trials , tribulations and . tips Sunday , June 24, 2012 2010 Vintage Cautions and Explanations Original posting , October , 2011 : WARNING , my 2010 Chez Ray reds were , for the most part , unmitigated disasters . nbsp Virtually every one had elements of vinegar in the outcome some mere hints , some dramatic vinegar flares . nbsp There were two things I did in 2011 that were different from prior : vintages 1 For aging in plastic pails , I intentionally replaced the plastic wrap Saran Wrap barriers which I had successfully used in the past with wax paper , thinking that this was a more organic way to go , likely to generate less unintentional toxins in the resultant . wine 2 I neglected ok , ok , FORGOT to sulfite the wines after malolactic
Image via Wikipedia I’m sitting here, sipping on a very expensive Chardonnay; lots of oak, 100 percent ML. It’s considered one of the best. Malolactic fermentation simplified: A + B = C Acid + Bacteria = Cream. The Acid is Malic, the same one found in Apples and lots of other fruit. The winemaker adds [...]
South Africa has a long history of wine, going back to the Dutch settlers. The wines, however, never received much distribution to other parts of the world, due primarily to trade sanctions during the latter part of the last Century in reaction to apartheid. When apartheid finally ended in 1994, South African wineries had hoped [...]