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I'm working on a little experiment using AI and winemaking. I'm trying to train an AI model on winemaking. It's certainly a long way from perfect, but an interesting concept. I've seeded the model with some popular information and it uses it's AI language model to converse with you. If we...

Opened a friend's wine and my wife and I noticed this soap-like oil slick on the surface of the wine once poured. It was a Cab Franc from a few years ago. A few swirls and it's gone but I just wanted to get the consensus thoughts on this. The wine smelled and tasted great, but it's a little...

With grape harvest just around the corner, it's a good time to plan and order your supplies. I placed our order last week and the vendor commented that it's very smart, especially this year, to order way ahead of the crowd. He said there will likely be shortages of "your favorite items" if you...

Hello, I'm a grape winemaker with no experience outside of grapes....maybe a couple batches of Skeeter! I have a friend, @Bijendra Lal Dangol, who is located in Nepal and learning how to make wine and cider. He is a sponge for information. I recently informed him of this Forum and he just...

It is my pleasure to introduce @Bijendra Lal Dangol to the Forum. He is a winemaker from Nepal who I met and is very enthusiastic about learning how to make great wine. Please join me in welcoming Bijendra to this global Forum!

This is the first year we tried non-saccharomyces yeast. When used to start your fermentation, it's supposed to add much to the "complexity" of the wine. They say it increases roundness and mouthfeel of the resulting wine and also increases flavor intensity. There are different types and...

First impressions of using Non-Saccharomyces yeast: We used a strain called Prelude from CHR HANSEN. Prelude is a pure strain of Torulaspora delbrueckii to be used in combination with your Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain of choice. This non-Saccharomyces yeast strain has been carefully selected...

Curious to hear from those who for whatever reason, pressed their must before it was complete. At what Brix reading did you press and did it complete after pressing? I understanding those looking to keep some RS but for those that don't want a sweet wine and pressed prior to completion, did it...

http://sdaws.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Oxygen-Updake-in-Wine.pdf

For those who are fermenting this Fall, it's about time to solidify your essential supplies before you're faced with the mad rush and possible stock outs. We ordered early last year and it did relieve a little stress. There's already enough stress waiting to get final confirmation on your...

We experimented with this using 5 pounds in our bin at crush last season with our Cabernet. So far, the results are really good. So good, that @NorCal and I and other partners will be crushing our Cab Franc and Petite Syrah into oak chips once again this coming season. So what are the...

This season we crushed our Cabernet at @NorCal 's. I was taking home a 60-gallon barrel, a 30-gallon barrel and a 30-gallon tank. We used a "great" high velocity pump (5 gallons in 40 seconds!) to pump it from the bin where it was settling, up into the barrels which were already in our truck...

For anyone wanting to sit through a long video of this year's Tempranillo project with @NorCal and @busabill. https://youtu.be/NE7ZuDT81hE

Time is flying by. The last of THREE bottling sessions of our 2016 Rhone blends will be this weekend, then we can start focusing on the 2017 plan. Together with @NorCal, we are planning on Cabernet Sauvignon, Tempranillo and Chardonnay. Over 7100 pounds of grapes!! A lot of logistics...

Had an interesting experience with our Syrah this season. After crush, the pH was high, around 4.0. We added tartaric acid, doing small additions to our 2 bins, and re-testing. Between both bins, we re-measured around 3.6. We then began fermentation and followed that with MLF. We are now...

NorCal and 4score pressed their Grenache on Saturday. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsDkYHqRibU

Bought bottles with a lip but just noticed the sleeves aren't wide enough. Anyone solved this problem?

If you are tired of battling with H2S (rotten egg, burn rubber) problems, check out these no-H2S yeast choices from Renaissance. One of them is very heat-tolerant (up to 95 degrees F). Apparently, this tech is from research done at UC Davis where they found one yeast culture (out of thousands)...

Anyone ever try CLOS yeast? We (Norcal and I) are planning on trying CLOS with this year's Syrah and also with our Grenache. We are in northern Cal and harvest is usually in late August and often in hot temps. CLOS seems to tolerate hot ferments and also good for high brix picks. We also...

Our own "NorCal" has made it to Winemaker Magazine once again. The previous time with his wine storage cabinet/room with a/c that he built and now with his wine bottle carry case that he made to bring a case of wine with him on a flight. Check it out if you get the magazine. Cheers to NorCal...