Potassium sorbate, sweet wines, dessert wines, etc

Franco - There really aren't any significant disadvantages about using sorbate. I've read that perhaps one person in 10,000 or more can detect the levels of sorbate needed to protect a wine from renewed fermentation. For the rest of us, it does not affect the odor or taste of the wine. If you have a reasonably fresh package of sorbate, there is no reason it should not work. Sorbate does lose its effectiveness over time, so an opened package of sorbate that is several years old might not work properly. Use fresh stuff.

There are some people who feel strongly about not putting anything "unnatural" into their wine. For them, adding sugar after opening the bottle is a good solution. This is not always very convenient, though. If you add sugar crystals to wine that has been chilled before serving, it may be hard to get the sugar to dissolve. You can avoid this problem by adding sugar syrup instead, but then you need to keep a supply of sugar syrup on hand, making sure it does not spoil, etc. And this approach really doesn't work well if you want to give a bottle to friends or relatives. Personally, I also prefer to avoid adding things to my wine, unless there is a good reason for it. In this case, I think preventing renewed fermentation is a good enough reason.

I don't know that there is any very clear distinction between sweet wines and dessert wines. I would expect that a "dessert" wine would be at the far end of the sweetness scale. As the name implies, this is a wine you would expect to serve with a sweet dessert course, or by itself. Sweet wines would include a broader range of wines (most often white), some of which might make sense to serve with food other than dessert. But that is really a matter of taste. Pairing wines with foods is all about what works for you.

Doug

I would agree with everything Doug mentioned. I make some very fruity higher acid wines from North Eastern fruit such as Catawba, Cayuga etc along with other hybrids. If you don't sweeten them they are just too unbalanced as to acid to be pleasant. They are just better with some sweetness. Those are good anytime. Desert wines are often used at the end of the meal although anyone who tells you there are hard and fast rules about wines and pairings just does not realize the breadth of the subject.

Personal preferences often change with time. I do remember liking Lambrusco when I was much younger. I'm not sure anyone will ever convince me I need to make it for myself now though. There is a natural progression with wines where new wine drinkers prefer sweet to begin with then progress to simple whites, then more complex dry whites and then the same gamut with reds, from lighter to more full bodied.

I would say dessert wines don't actually fit into that progression; most people like at least one type or another and always do. I like cream sherry but not port. Go figure.

Some dessert wines have had alcohol added to them to prevent fermentation, a high proof alcohol is used to stop the fermentation. They are very stable at that point. The idea is to get the alcohol above the point the yeast tolerate.

Joe

I realize I talk about sterile filtering alot here.... please forgive me-

If I were to sterile filter my wine with full recycle (sterile filter and recirc back to the initial container to assist in removing impurities/building up cake) then what should I be afraid of?

What methods of failure are lurking that I'm not aware of?

And should I move to 0.2 micr> I would agree with everything Doug mentioned. I make some very fruity