Shier Winery

Actually, the lightning came after my success with the acid reduction. I followed the advice of Tom Mitchell and added tartaric acid to one carboy, bringing the pH from 3.4 down to 3.2. Then I packed the carboy in garbage bags with ice and loaded the bags and carboy into the fridge. One week later I racked the wine off beautiful crispy glacier-like tartaric crystals. The taste is vastly improved, with a mild bite, but no grapefruit aftertaste. Aging will help, but I didn't even need a TA acid test to know that the wine is now remakably close to bottling condition. In fact, after racking off the crystals, I decided to bottle the leftover wine from the bottom of the barrel for some pre-bottling feedback at work. The only finishing touch from here, besides aging in bottles, will be to try to get the color right. For that, I plan to use a clarifier PVPP known as Polyclar. Polyclar removes haze causing polyphenols as well as yeast cells, which give the wine an orange glow tint. I'm ...

I spoke with Tom Mitchell , the owner of Fall Bright vineyard, where I purchased the Riesling juice. Turns out that Tom purchased a portion of the 2008 Riesling grapes from another vineyard in the area, which he said was not his usual practice (now he tells me). He said that others who purchased the Riesling had experienced similar issues with acid, but mostly found the color to be too dark for their taste. He said he was conducting test to see about acheiving the proper color. I gave Tom an explanation of my starting and ending TA and pH numbers and the steps I had taken thus far. His recommendation was unique. He explained that I was likely not getting enough of a reduction from my cold stabilization because the pH was too high. He recommended lowering the pH to 3.2 by actually adding more tartaric acid to the wine. He said that when I place the carboy back in freezing conditions for one week, the acid will drop. I will give it a try. Since it is too late in the season to stabilize ...

I have entered mad scientist mode. After fining with a combination of Kieselsol and Chitosan and cold stabilization in the garage for two weeks, the wine tastes too tart. The initial touch to the mouth is sharp, which I kind of like, but the aftertaste is like grapefruit juice. Yeccchh . It seems clear from the taste that high acidity is the culprit. To be sure, I went out and ordered an acid test kit and a fancy electronic pH meter. The pH meter was pricey at $45. I calibrated the meter using 4.00 and 7.01 pH buffered solutions. All three carboys read a pH of 3.4. Pretty good for a white wine. Now for the real test. The test kit included sodium hydroxide and phenolphthalein with a test tube and syringe. To determine Total Acidity (TA), the wine is placed in the test tube with a few drops of phenolphthalein . Sodium hydroxide ( NaOH ) is added one drop at a time with the syringe until the wine turns pink. I performed the test twice. First time it took 4 cc of NaOH and the second t...