Winemaking
Yeast in Wine – Port fermentation
One of the key elements, if not the most important after the grape in the winemaking process, is the yeast. Why is yeast so important? Because despite its small size (around 0.003 mm), this microorganism has the very important task of transforming fructose into ethanol, the form of alcohol present in wine. Yeast is present [...]
Wine Spirit for Port
There is still some confusion on people’s heads about Port winemaking. The basic details are not difficult, but when we talk about the spirit we use to fortify the must, sometimes explanations complicate what is easy simple. So very often I receive emails from people asking what wine spirit we use and how strong it [...]
Mechanical grape sorting system for premium wines
Now that the harvest is over, it is time to share with you one of the most amazing machines that the winemakers have now available (at a pretty high cost) to sort grapes. This new grape sorting system is working in Fundação Eugénio de Almeida, one of the most prestigious and serious wineries in Alentejo, making the [...]
2012 harvest in the Douro, in a blink
We are slowly approaching the end of the harvest in the Douro valley. After few days of rain in the end of September, the weather was pretty good, with temperatures around 20º and dry weather. Early this week, it rained again and it is just complicating our work. If the rain we got in the end [...]
Douro harvest 2012: by the seventh day it came the rain
Every single month since November 2011 has had a lower record of rainfall than the long term average. And now that we started harvesting, it rains. Is this possible? The whole year has been very dry, special during Winter when we had several weeks of dry weather, with the sun shining from morning till evening. [...]
What is TCA – cork taint and how t-cork is made
In spite of the important role that corks play in the wine show, we have not talked that much about it on our blog. As you may know, cork is a natural product coming from the bark of cork tree. When I was visiting Amorim’s T-cork stopper unit few weeks ago, I thought it was [...]
Fermentation stopped, work during Christmas
We are in December, very close to Christmas day, but we still have a red wine fermenting in our winery. Honestly, this is not a good thing. The alcoholic fermentation of this wine stopped before all sugars were transformed into alcohol, leading to a very tricky situation for the wine. So much that, if this [...]
How does the grape destemmer crusher work?
With the harvest gone, it is time now to talk about one of the most important machines that we use to make wine. The destemmer crusher plays a very important role in the whole process of making wine. This is how it works: First, the grapes get into a cylinder, which is rotating at high [...]
European Wine Bloggers Conference and a Live dégorgement
Another European wine bloggers conference gone. This time we met in Brescia, Franciacorta, Italy. As expected, there was a big focus on the sparkling wines from Franciacorta, which are nowadays known not only in Europe but a little bit everywhere. As I am not a fan of sparkling wines, I was satisfied to see other [...]
Douro harvest in the Portuguese television
During the harvest, all those that make a living out of wine are always more excited. Time also moves faster and few hours are left to spend with the family. But harvest is special, so much, that we want to make sure that those who visit the winery or that follow us on-line can have [...]
