Cherry wood in white zinfandel and questions on making it sparkle

Generally the wisdom seems to be that if you want an easy life you just do what your kit instructs so you can be confident it will turn out right. I know you wouldn't be asking if you didn't feel like researching and experimenting though :)

I believe 'time' is the main way to clear / settle out wine. The effect of gravity on the particles in the wine apparently 'always' clears it 'eventually'. Saying that I've had hazes and wines that didn't seem to clear by themselves and have used various agents. I don't mind using clearing agents in those circumstances one bit. But I'm not a winehead yet!

Jim

kit with the intention of making most of

stages. The kit contains a few things

reads: Clarifier, add last after

any alternative methods of clearing the

kit at the start because I thought it

I agree with the above. Especially for the first few kits, make them the way the instructions say. After you gain some experience (and have a backlog of wines stocked up) then try experimenting.

As far as the cherry wood, it probably will do nothing. It is surprising which woods will impart flavor and which will not. My understanding is that woods like cherry, pecan, and walnut will impart very little flavor. I would think any wood used to smoke meat would be good but not so. This is not from personal experience but rather form people who have experimented a lot.

Ray

potassium sorbate is the chemical that inhibits yeast reproduction... It does not kill yeast.

The Anchorage Fishwrapper and Litterbox Liner Press

I can't speak to the cherry wood but f you do add wood toast it next time. Raw wood doesn't do anything good to wine for the most part. As to toasting you can do that in an oven set to >350, probably more like 450 F.

As to sparkling the wine, if you are just going to carbonate it with a tank it doesn't matter what you use to fine or stabilize. If you are doing it naturally you may want to cut back on adding the sulfite and definitely don't use the sorbate.

The general process for naturally sparkled wine is to:

Start on the lower end of alcohol, 10-11%. Start with higher acid levels usually around 8g/l. Get the wine cleaned up with time or fining agents. (Both are good, since you are probably considering a fruity style, use the fining agents). Add a very precise amount of sugar and some new yeast to the batch (EC

1118 is a good choice). As soon as that starts fermenting bottle it using crown caps and champagne bottles.

Joe