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Latest NewsCelebrate 20 years of Limited Edition 
Each year, from January to April, Winexpert releases limited quantities of five very special wine varieties of award winning quality. It's hard to believe, but 2009 marks the 20th Anniversary of the industry leading Selection Limited Edition program. For this year's release, to commemorate the occasion, Winexpert will be bringing back five of the most popular Selection Limited Edition varieties of all time providing winemakers with the greatest line-up of Limited Editions ever offered!
POSTED October 1st, 2009 | 0 COMMENTS | POST A COMMENT Introducing 4 New Products This September Winexpert is proud to announce four new products this September, including: Selection International Chilean Sauvignon Blanc, Selection International Australian Grenache/Shiraz/ Mourvèdre, World Vineyard South African Chenin Blanc and World Vineyard Italian Barolo.POSTED September 9th, 2009 | 0 COMMENTS | POST A COMMENT Chocolate Raspberry Port is back Winexpert is pleased to announce that for a limited time and by pre-order only, you can make and enjoy Chocolate Raspberry Port - gold medal winner at the 2008 and 2009 WineMaker Amateur Wine Competition.POSTED June 3rd, 2009 | 0 COMMENTS | POST A COMMENT Ask The Vintner"What is the best way to handle the yeast?" If you look at the instructions in your wine kit (and please, do), they will likely instruct you to sprinkle your packet of yeast directly on to the must. Yet if you read the yeast package (and many winemaking textbooks) they recommend rehydrating the yeast. If the objective is to deliver the maximum number of yeast cells to the must, which technique is best? Do I Need To Use The Fining Agents? "Why is it necessary to add the fining agents (package #4) before transferring the wine must off the sediment that has built up in the carboy bottom? Wouldn't it be more efficient for package #4 to be added after the sediment has been removed?" It seems the clearing agent has to do more work to clear the wine by adding it with the sediment still in the carboy, especially when you're stirring this sediment up in the process. This one fools a lot of people, as it does seem at the outset that you'd want to get rid of the sediment first and then add the clearing agent, particularly when the wine in the carboy otherwise seems clear. The temptation is so great, many winemakers DO switch the steps themselves. This is not wrong - it's just less efficient, believe it or not. Organic foods are distinguished by three factors, according to the 1998 NOFA-NJ Organic Certification Standards & Procedures Handbook. They are produced: That's all really keen, but what exactly does it mean? How to Prepare Your Corks - The Basics Corks are made from the bark of cork-oak trees which are stripped when they are 15-20 years old. The virgin cork is coarse, but as the cork renews its tissue, successive strippings at intervals of 10-15 years yields a closer grained product - cork tissue that is threaded with small ducts called "lenticels" which have woody walls. Corks make excellent stoppers for sealing quality wines over an extended period of time. This unique material has low density, compressibility and impregnability to gases and liquids which make it ideal during long spells of contact with liquids (i.e. wine) The Preparation The Optimum Method is to bring a pot of water to steaming level, put as many corcks as required (usually 28-30) in the pot and cover it with a lid. Be sure to turn the stove OFF. Leave for 5 minutes MAXIMUM, remove from the water, then proceed to the corking process. Make sure the corker has been sterilized (with 'Pink Stuff ') prior to inserting the corks. Elimination of CO2 from Your Wine Elimination of the carbonic gas by heating and refining of the wine THE HEATING OF THE WINE (between 30 C and 40 C) AFTER FERMENTATION permits the elimination of the carbonic gas and helps to refine and mellow out the wine. It increases the aging and makes it smoother. The wine will continue to mature in the bottle. Attach a heating pad (80 w) AFTER FERMENTATION to the carboy to heat up the wine between 30 C and 40 C. Should You Filter Your Wine Kit? Should you filter your wine kit? Yes, if you want to. For the most part, however, kit wines clear to complete brilliance without filtration. To see if your kit is brilliantly clear, take a sample glass into a darkened room and shine a flashlight through it. The one thing you don't want to change in the instructions is the mixing and stirring of the kits. To make a properly balanced wine, you need to stir the full 23L volume vigorously, prior to pitching the yeast. This is crucial: The concentrates are so viscous that they don't mix easily with the added water. Indeed, unless the must is well stirred, it will stratify, with the top layer being very dilute (below specific gravity of 1.050) and the bottom layer extremely concentrated(sometimes above specific gravity 1.100) Not only would this throw off any attempt at a specific gravity reading, but the top stratum will ferment rapidly, until the yeast in exhausted, while the bottom layer will not ferment successfully at all. This will leave a weak tasting wine, low in alcohol and high in residual sugar- not a desirable result. Winexpert uses sulphite for an anti-oxidant. It prevents oxidative browning and that stale, sherry-like smell. Sulphite and sorbate inhibit the reproduction of spores, moulds, fungi and yeast. The deal is, spoilage organisms in very small groups are not a danger to the wine. It’s when they multiply up to ‘culture strength’ that they can do damage to the wine. By fermenting the wine dry, we remove the sugars that they would need to multiply. By fining, we reduce the populations significantly. By filtering, we reduce it a bit more. By adding sulphite and sorbate, we prevent the populations from rising again, and spoiling the wine. More & more commercial wineries are now using synthetic closures. There are a few things to keep in mind when using our synthetic closures. Use a 4 jaw floor corker. Hand corkers don't work as well. "My kit has two packages of oak chips in it. Am I supposed to add both?" Yes. Wherever Brew King's instructions call for the addition of a certain item, you are required to add ALL of the packages of that item found in the kit. This goes for packages of oak, fining agents like isinglass, and so on. The do-it-yourself sommelier; The Home Vintner elevates art of handcrafted wine
The do-it-yourself sommelier; The Home Vintner elevates art of handcrafted wineCalgary Herald Johnson Calls for Synthetic Closures One of the world's most influential wine writers has come down firmly in favour of synthetic closures - just as the cork industry struggles to retain the trust of the UK market. UK wine guru Hugh Johnson (pictured) has urged readers of his latest Pocket Wine Guide to 'buy your daily wines from suppliers with the courage to use modern stoppers'. In the introduction to the 2003 edition of the annual guide, which has sold seven million copies and is in its 26th year of publication, Johnson cites the accepted industry view that between five and ten per cent of all bottles are 'corked' - tainted with TCA. |
