We're less than a week away from bottling and all was looking good. Mike's SO2 measurements -- which cost $5 a pop for the cartridge -- indicated that there was plenty of SO2 in the wine to ensure long preservation, which is what I want for this prized Nebbiolo. Karen sent a sample of her Nebbiolo wine off to the lab, to compare measurements. Whereas Mike's test indicated SO2 levels approaching the legal limit and the threshold of taste (i.e., way too high), the lab indicated that she didn't have enough SO2. Uh, oh. (One piece of good news ... the alcohol level is at 15.6% -- we're talking about a big, chewy, red wine here folks.) So, here are the issues:
* How best for the small winemaker to test S02 levels without using the lab?
* Without a good method to use down at the farm, which lab in Southern California to use?
Looking forward to your answers soon, as we're itching to bottle!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
At the SD Amateur Winemakers' Association on Saturday I asked Lum Eisenman about the possibility of a filter stripping out flavor from the wine. He said not likely. What might have been a factor affecting the taste, he suggested, was excessive oxidation caused by the filter. Gerry Meisenholder, who also uses the Enomatic and swears by it, said that he uses two filters in series when bottling. One is a 5-micron filter, the second is a 1-micron filter. Mike has loaned me his 1-micron filter, suggesting that we try some bottles with it, and some without, and taste along the way to see if there's a difference.
Post a Comment