WineXpert Sparkling Riesling

[Joanie]

A friend and I had the first official bottle of the Sparkling Riesling I made last year. It had lots and lots of teeny tiny bubbles and it was especially delicious with a very moist and rich chocolate cake! Oh yeah!!!!!!

 

[NorthernWinos]

Sounds good to me....

 

[Joanie]

It was/is! Thank you so much for all your help with it, NW!

 

[JWMINNESOTA]

Joan, how many "unofficial " bottles have you tried?

I think everyone getting into this hobby should make a sparkling wine soon into it, so they don't look back and wish they had! If done sooner I would of celebrated with my own as well this holiday season.

 

[Joanie]

LOL I gave one bottle to my daughter and she said it was good but I didn't have any of it so this was the first "official" bottle!

 

[Bert]

You must have some strong will power Joan....I know I couldn't leave it alone for that long...

 

[Joanie]

I think it helps that I don't drink much! (Is that blasphemous for a winemaker to say?)

 

[rgecaprock]

I'll have to try some sparkling wine one day and I know I will be looking to Joan and NW for help. But my main focus this new year is to get the heck out of these apartments and into a house. That will happen, hopefully by the end of April.
Gotta have more Room!!!!!
Ramona

 

[uavwmn]

I know you must be very excited to move into a house in April!! That is right around the corner!!


More room for wine and friends!!

 

[uavwmn]

Joan, that sounds like a good idea for Christmas gifts next year.....Sparkling Reisling!! Which kit was it?


Sounds like it turned out delicious. The cake also.

 

[uavwmn]

Joan, since I haven't found a "Sparkling" kit, I am assuming there is a different process to get it "Sparkling". lol

 

[Joanie]

WE makes a sparkling kit. It's a three gallon one and Wade has used it. I like Riesling so decided that might make a good sparkling wine. I used the Columbia Valley Riesling kit. Northern Winos was a great help when I had questions. It's some extra, kinda fussy work, and you do end up christening yourself when you degorge, but it was well worth it!

Love your signature... sooo true!

 

[Jwhelan939]

Dumb question, but how do you add the carbonation to the reisling? Does it change the flavor in any way?

 

[Joanie]

No question is dumb!! Questioning is sign of an intelligence! A dumb person wouldn't think to ask or care what the answer was!

After the wine has finished it's primary fermentation and it's ready for bottling, you mix it with champagne yeast and sugar water. You bottle it in champagne bottles, cap them and put wire baskets on them. The yeast goes to work on the sugar in the bottles which produces the carbonation.

I suppose it changed the flavor some but it's tasty!

 

[Joanie]

PS You can sparkle any wine!

 

[Jwhelan939]

that would be neat for my peach apricot chardonnay kit. How do I know how much sugar water to add? Do I use the whole pack of chapagne yeast in the carboy?

 

[Joanie]

Read here...

http://honeycreek.us/sparkling_wine.htm

and here...

http://www.finevinewines.com//Wiz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1206

These should answer your questions!

 

[Joanie]

It's better to add the sugar water and yeast in a primary pail as it's important to keep the yeast in suspension. (It has a tendency to settle out and you want and need a good supply of yeast in each bottle.) It's easier to stir as you bottle in a primary.

 

[Jwhelan939]

I have a six gallon of Peach apricot Charddonay. I was thinking about trying this with half of that. If I only wanted to power 3 gallons would I still Use 1 3/4 of sugar and a whole pack of the champ yeast? Are the plastic caps reusable? Im getting pretty excited about this idea. How do I know if my bottles can handle the pressure, asside from seeing if they blow! Is there any type of markings on the glass I should look for?

 

[Joanie]

The WE sparkling wine has you add 1 1/4 cups of corn sugar to their three gallon batch. I don't know how table sugar and corn sugar compare. If you PM me your email address, I can send you a PDF file of WE directions for their kit (VERY confusing to me!!).

Wade can help you with this too as he's done the kit...actually 2 of them together.

Sparkling Peach Chardonnay sounds wonderful! You can use a fining agent but you can't stabilize it or the second yeast won't work.

As for bottles, you HAVE to use champagne bottles. Regular wine bottles can't take the pressure. I'll bet there are a lot of them showing up at recycling centers...go stock up! You can reuse caps and baskets but they are cheap enough as to not be worth the risk to me.