Oak in Craft Winemaking

Oak in Craft Winemaking

​Oak in craft winemaking is used to add aroma, flavour, complexity and body, which is sometimes referred to as mouthfeel. Certain commercial wines are aged in oak barrels but when you make your own wines at Steveston Winemakers, it’s done in glass carboys. So how do...
Craft Winemaking 101 – Free Virtual Course

Craft Winemaking 101 – Free Virtual Course

We’re excited to be offering you a free virtual course – Craft Winemaking 101. Originally conceived as a quarterly in-person event, our Craft Winemaking 101 course morphed into a virtual one because of COVID-19. Many organizations are offering free courses...
Crafting Your Wine Step 4 – Filtering

Crafting Your Wine Step 4 – Filtering

Filtering captures particles in your wine and it’s done 1-2 weeks after fining. Since fining, the wine has been sitting on the second shelf in the front row where we’ve been constantly watching as fermentation stops and clearing proceeds. We’re...
Crafting Your Wine Step 3 – Fining

Crafting Your Wine Step 3 – Fining

Fining is the process of adding an organic agent to your wine creating a bond with suspended particles to make them easier to filter out of the wine. It takes place sometime between 1 and 5 weeks after racking, depending on the kit. Your wine is in secondary...
Crafting Your Wine Step 2 – Racking

Crafting Your Wine Step 2 – Racking

What does racking your wine mean? Racking or siphoning your wine is done to remove solids that have settled in the bottom of the Primary Fermenter. In my first blog about the winemaking process, I took you through step 1 – starting fermentation. Primary...