Alison Crowe

article Explore the history, benefits, and drawbacks of field blends — where varieties are traditionally grown, harvested, crushed, and fermented together instead of the more traditional post-fermentation blending of varietal wines. Plus, the authors share their own experience from their first adapted field blend with grapes from their backyard vineyard.

Back to All Issues Tips and techniques on testing your wine, plus guidance on gearing up your home wine lab. Also, advanced color extraction for red wines. technique Gum arabic is a natural anti-flocculant with a list of benefits that includes helping prevent tartrate crystals from forming, smoothing out young red wines, and adding mouthfeel to thin wines. Get to know this important additive every winemaker should have on hand.

Q. After malolactic fermentation (MLF) and a third racking, I measured my red wine’s pH and it was too high (4.05!). I added tartaric acid in stages until it reached 3.6, and after that performed cold stabilization. But now it tastes very tart. What is the cause? Is there a fix? Ako Shwan via email A. Your wine’s sharpness after adding tartaric acid is a classic case of how pH and perceived acidity don’t always play by the same rules.