Hi Seb:

Okay, I will take it back a bit even though the gist remains - I think
we do tend to overthink things in some areas and this is one of them. I
didn't specify the microns on the filter but I did say "fine", so from
what's readily available, something like the 0.5 micron Minijet pads
should be enough - you can run it through twice if you're really
concerned.

By no means I don't want to disparage amateur wines! The difference in
this context is that commercial enterprises absolutely cannot afford
problems like those so even if the chance is small, they have to take
all precautions. We have the liberty to play around a bit and I see
this as an advantage - yes, we can get occasional problems, but that's
the price one should be willing to pay in search for better results. I
don't want to produce faulty wines, but I am interested in finding the
sweet spot for the tradeoff between safety and quality, so that's where
I am coming from. I might be particularly sensitive to sorbate but I do
find it objectionable both in taste and smell in the regular
recommended doses.

I do agree that you might want to play it safe with expensive juice,
like icewine or late harvest.

Pp


Séb wrote:
> if the wine is fined and clear and
> > filtered on top of that with a fine filter, the chances of
> > refermentation are pretty remote. You can't afford refermentation if
> > you sell the wine but us amateurs, it's not such a big deal.
>
> Hi Pp,
>
> Sorry but I don't really agree with these two sentences. Finning a
> sweet wine and filtering it will not assure a stable wine in regard to
> re-fermentation as long as you don't go below 0,45 micron filtration.
> The way you write it mean if I have a clear finned sweet wine that
> where filtered ( you did not mention anything about the tightness of
> the filter media ) it won't have a lot of chance for re-fermentation.
> This is I think false, you have certainly more than 50% chance of
> re-fermentation if you do not filter with 0,45 micron. Filtering with
> 0,50 micron with no sorbate is maybe around 10% chance of
> re-fermentation but I will never do it again ( I did in the past and
> had one re-ferment ).
>
> For the second part you say this is no big deal for amateur if it
> referment. Again, it's like saying if you have a fault in your wine
> it's no big deal as we only are amateur ? I think we should all try
> to make the best wine possible whatever we are amateur or pro. A sweet
> wine that is stable in regard to re-fermentation is a well made wine.
> A sweet wine that where not correctly stabilize and re-ferment will be
> hazy and will have an innapropriate fizzy + could have off-flavors.
> Don't forget that if we talk about icewine for example the real juice
> is quite expensive and one should take "extra" care
>
> Séb