RE>
> And another question. If you have to top up every week or so with 100
> to 200 ml of wine, where does that top up wine come from? How do you
> store variable volumes of wine for topping up? You can't take 100 ml
> from a carbouy. Do you bottle wine prematurely? I suppose you could
> top up with commercial wine and drink the remainder. What do you do?
>
I generally make more wine than my barrels will hold, and use the leftover
for topping up. I have a collection of smaller jugs and bottles from
1gallon - 125ml and break the larger amounts into smaller bottles to top up
from.

I usually top up about 80-125ml per week to the barrels, but my basement is
relatively cool and fairly humid.

I am curious about Lums comments regarding O2 exchange, because it is
precisely oxidation that concerns me - specifically with the frequency of
opening the barrels to top them up. I have read that some wineries do not
top up at all - they bung and roll the barrel to keep the bung hole wet and
then leave them for months. Strikes me as an odd approach but there you are.

steve