What’s New at ENOTOOLS

http://wineindustryinsight.com/?p=46261

As we wade into the early waves of Harvest 2012 (couldn't help that one), please remember that we still have the ability to source almost anything you might need to make wine this vintage.

This included yeast, enzymes, tannin, etc.

Call or email for anything your commercial winemaking operation might need!

“From a technical point of view, from a sustainability point of view, from a consumer point of view and from an aspirational, premium factor point of view, cork is the best companion to wine.”

Full story:
http://www.corkfacts.com/pdffiles/120725_Rusden.pdf

It's that time again. Your wine grape processing equipment needs to be ready for duty. Carlsen & Associates have trained us well and we will be there with food grade grease on very soon!

Here's the good news:
. The not as good news: we got bumped into more freight space and now have room to sell a few more and still stay beneath our allotted limit.



Also, A&K Cooperage is right here in Missouri and accepting orders for Missouri Oak, Minnesota Oak, or American/ French Hybrid barrels right now. The price is hard to beat.

Don't forget the racks!

We think co-inoculation is great: it saves time, energy, sleepless nights for winemakers, etc. The ML can be done a few weeks after primary, so you have less samples and analysis to make, less time to heat tanks / barrel room, and you can sulfur and stabilize your wine earlier. This technique however has risks, and it should be done properly. In particular, it is not the solution when people always have ML issue: it means that something is not optimal in their existing process, and this should be looked for and resolved before trying co-inoculation. Oxygen and temperature management are of the highest importance. Below is a link for more information on this technique.
You can basically add bacteria either 1-2 days after beginning of fermentation (early co-inoculation), or around 0 Brix (late co-inoculation), but adding bacteria in the middle of AF is the worst time. Late co-inoculation is a little safer because you can see if the fermentation curve looks good, and add bacteria. If the ferment is going to be sluggish, you should avoid adding ML bacteria then. Take care of yeasts first, before adding other microbes.

Download the Handbook for Co- Inoculation here.

Click Here to Download the Co- Inoculation Handbook

Buds have broken almost everywhere thanks to Mother Nature's new sense of timing. And you may not be thinking of corks.

It looks like we will be about one month early for harvest everywhere. This is troubling and worrisome for a lot of reasons. People who have shoveled snow on Mother's Day are especially nervous.

Being a winemaker/ GM/ Vineyard Owner has to be the most romantic way (short of parenthood and marriage) to completely stress yourself out that I can imagine. So without adding to your stress by mentioning all of the potential challenges involved between here and harvest, I would like to mention a point about winemaking that seems to warrant attention.

Once the grapes have been picked, several things could potentially go wrong. Power failures, stuck fermentation, spontaneous re-fermentation, stuck ML, spontaneous ML, and a whole host of microbial/ sanitation/ filtration/ oxidation/ reduction/Murphy's Law- related assaults on your wine can happen, right? I am not a winemaker by commercial standards. But isn't it mildly stressful to preserve and express the excellence that you strive for in the vineyard? I have been told that great wine is made in the vineyard and bad wine is made in the cellar.

It just occurred to me today that the closure is the last and final thing (under your watch) that can go wrong. It is the last means of protecting the wine and trying to make sure that it gets to the consumer in good form.

The Good News:
Buy your wine closures from a large, reputable, progressive, green, quality- minded cork company like Amorim and you will have one less reason to worry. Nobody has a monopoly on all of the good ideas. Amorim spend a ton of money on R&D and quality control for your wine closures every year. Take advantage of our training and their expertise. We will do whatever it takes for you to feel comfortable knowing that you have done what constitutes best efforts in putting your wines on predictable path for aging. We have a closure for every wine at every price.

Call us! We'll take one more source of stress off the list.

Read about the world's oldest cork tree here.

http://www.corkfacts.com/contpges/whismain.htm