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Oak aging is a crucial step in winemaking, during which the organoleptic properties of wine are modified. Various parameters affect the chemical composition of oak, and botanical origin previously has [...]

One of the latest trends in winemaking equipment involves the egg-shaped wine tanks that have found their way into many wineries. There is a great deal of myth surrounding the [...]

If the old adage in business and real estate is correct, and success is all about location, some may have said winemaker Ben Parsons wasn't making the best decisions when [...]

Jared and Tracey Brandt of Donkey & Goat winery in Berkeley, Calif., were working for tech companies in the San Francisco Bay Area when they decided to take a one-year [...]

Part one of this series, 'Oxygen Status at Bottling,' which appeared in the November 2016 issue of Wines & Vines, briefly mentioned the potential benefits of oxygen but focused more [...]

Potassium (K) is the major cation in ripe grapes, accounting for about 75% of the total mineral cations. Grape juice pH is strongly correlated with grape juice K and largely [...]

Oxygen is an important element that can alter the chemical and sensory properties of a wine through oxidation. All wineries need to understand both the impact that oxygen can have [...]

Small wineries have multitudinous obstacles when making high-quality wines. In many respects, as home winemakers who have become commercial winemakers will attest, it is easier to make 5,000 gallons of [...]

Materra | Cunat Family Vineyards' goal from the start was to design, build and equip a new winery for high-quality wine production and efficient operation. Based on the quality of [...]

Wineries producing fewer than 500,000 cases annually don't generally have enough inventory to indulge in 'alternative' packaging options. Bagin-box, refillable kegs and single-serve formats can drink up large quantities of [...]

Waste flows from the winemaking supply chain contain wastewater (generally treated inside the winery or sent to municipal plants via sewage systems or by truck) and solid waste such as [...]

Bottling is a complex and delicate step of the winemaking process that requires a lot of professional expertise. Maintaining wine quality during bottling, storage and shipping is one of the [...]

Given oxygen, stable temperatures and a supply of sugar, yeast will happily get to work powering a fermentation. And perhaps at the microbial level, the yeast do not even perceive [...]

Among the new crush equipment at Comstock Wines in Dry Creek Valley sits an old, well-used basket press. It's the press that Sandy Comstock used to make wines with grapes [...]

The Finger Lakes is New York's largest winemaking region, and it is best known for its high-quality Rieslings--from bone-dry to lusciously sweet. Among the latter are a small (but growing) [...]

While variation in oak barrels' contribution to wine is generally accepted by winemakers, this variation can have unintended impacts on wine composition and the economics of production. To reduce this [...]

When Cairdean Vineyards opened in 2014, much of the initial press coverage focused on the food. A winery with a restaurant is a novelty in Napa County, which long ago [...]

Imagine a facility where the best equipment and high-tech laboratories are dedicated to the study of enology and viticulture in Washington state. Imagine that facility is dedicated to researching unique [...]

Michael Shaps started Virginia Wineworks south of Charlottesville, Va., with his business partner, Philip Stafford, in 2007. They called the business 'Wineworks' to reflect the industrial feel of the building [...]

The old adage 'great wines start in the vineyard' is indeed true. However, perhaps a more accurate statement would be: 'Great wines start in the vineyard and end on the [...]

The owners of Law Estate Wines made major investments in design, construction and winemaking equipment to produce estate wines of high quality in an exceptionally simple manner. Located on a [...]

New bottling equipment has been installed at the LangeTwins Winery and Vineyards in Acampo, Calif., to expand bulk wine, custom winemaking and juicing services in addition to wine grape production [...]

A Zinfandel Heritage Vineyard Project was initiated by Dr. Jim Wolpert of the Department, of Viticulture & Enology at the University of California, Davis, in the early 1990s with the [...]

Sinegal Estate is one of Napa Valley's newest wineries, but it inherits a long tradition at the St. Helena property it now inhabits. In a similar fashion, owners David and [...]

Everyone in the wine industry organizes how they keep track of their work in ways that are unique, and virtually everyone now keeps some digital records. Furthermore, in the digital [...]

Are you ready for the 2015 harvest? Wines and Vines reviewed the crush pad equipment and operations at some of the best-equipped premium wineries to see what types of destemmers, [...]

Winemaker Chad Joseph grew up in the Central Valley town of Visalia, Calif., where he worked agricultural jobs from an early age. He first spent time around grapes during high [...]

Geneva, N.Y. -- When spring semester classes started Jan. 26 at Finger Lakes Community College in Geneva, students found the new Viticulture and Wine Center ready for their use. For [...]

As direct-to-consumer sales become more and more vital for boutique wineries, many are enhancing their consumer experience to attempt to become prime destinations. Perhaps the ultimate example is Castello di [...]

When grapegrowers and winemak-ers hear the words 'challenging environment,' most think of regions that have extreme temperatures or precipitation. Those conditions lead to further consequences once grapes travel from the [...]

TCW EQUIPMENT Top quality service and equipment for your complete winemaking needs Santa Rosa, Calif. P: (707) 963-9681 F: (707) 963-7739 W: tcwequipment.com E: info@tcwequipment.com What's new: New L-Inox pneumatic [...]

One Napa Valley red wine that has a long production history and consistency in style and taste is Freemark Abbey's Bosche Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. With an average case production of [...]

Oak barrels have long been used in fine winemaking--initially for easy handling of wine during production, storage and transport. Oak became accepted for its positive effects on wine development, namely [...]

Finished in June 2013, the new Presqu'ile Winery is several things at once. It's an impressive piece of architecture and design as well as a showcase of top-of-the-line winemaking equipment [...]

Winemakers are challenged with allowing a specific lot of grape juice to achieve its full potential as wine and maintain that potential for as long as possible. Not all grapes [...]

When most American Viticultural Areas are established, the only noticeable change is that wineries in the designated area add the AVA's name to their wine labels. The members of the [...]

SIP (Sustainability in Practice) certification in 2013. The vineyards were planted at elevations between 950 and 1,150 feet in Carmel Valley and the hills of the Santa Lucia Highlands. A [...]

Law Estate Wines produced its first vintage in 2010, and the 2013 harvest was the first in the new winery. The winery is 18,000 square feet, which includes the hospitality [...]

For the first time, the American Society for Enology and Viticulture will hold its national conference in conjunction with the annual meeting of the ASEV-Eastern Section. Usually ASEV holds its [...]

Mount Eden Vineyards, a 40-acre estate in the Santa Cruz Mountains above Saratoga, Calif., has a history shrouded in mystique nearly as thick as the fog that occasionally surrounds its [...]

WARNING: This column, normally about winemaking topics, is entirely devoted to grapegrowing. Worse, it makes fun of several long-cherished beliefs about grapes and their contribution to wine. But at least [...]

In the March 2014 issue of Wines & Vines, described the basic wine laboratory and discussed the minimum laboratory equipment and analytical procedures for soluble solids, total acidity, pH, ethanol, [...]

Conserving resources and treating wastes In addition to improving the quality of wine and efficiency of winemaking, technology can help minimize the need for public utilities as well as improve [...]

Comparisons, sometimes heated, between making wine with oak barrels and making wine with various barrel alternatives--oak staves, micro-ox, etc.--have been thrown around for a couple of decades now. While much [...]

Perched on a bluff high above the slow and muddy waters of the Missouri River sits a small A-frame cottage that was the humble start of one of the largest [...]

Williams Selyem director of winemaking Bob Cabral grew up around grapes, but not in the famed Russian River Valley. It was on his family's ranch in Escalon, located in California's [...]

In winemaking, as in so much of life, it's possible to have too much of a good thing. A bumper crop in the vineyard is great, but over-cropped vines make [...]

Sulfur dioxide was first used in winemaking when the Romans discovered that if you burn candles made of sulfur inside empty wine vessels it would keep them fresh and prevent [...]

Winemaking involves encouraging cooperation with microbes we want, and discouraging participation from microbes we do not want at all, or do not want at the time (for example, Saccharomyces in [...]

Properly aged and toasted oak, sourced from the proper species and growing climate, imparts desirable flavor characteristics to wine when used in the traditional fire-toasted barrels. The chemical composition of [...]