Being relatively new to home winemaking, I have some questions about a
sparkling wine I'm going to be making. I've decided to use a RJ Spagnols
Cellar Classic Chardonnay as the base - half will be made as a still wine,
the other half sparkled by la methode champenoise. My thoughts so far a

The TA is about 6.2 - I'm thinking I should probably bump this up to about 8
or so. Does anyone know if I'll have any problems doing this? (Ie: are kits
heavily buffered, etc)

Oak - I wasn't going to oak the wine (except for the still Chard) as I had
read in winemaker magazine ( http://winemakermag.com ) that oak tastes awful
in sparkling wine. However, on tasting the wine (on about day 30 so far) it
seemed lacking in structure, and I opted to add the oak powder that came
with the kit along with the kit finings - I'll rack in about a week. Do
you think that the oak will be detrimental to the flavour or beneficial?
I'm thinking that by adding it in conjunction with the finings any negative
effects of tannins/colouring will be minimized.

Finally - the wine has alc by volume of about 12.5% - I want to drop this
by about 1% before sparkling it - but I do not want to dilute with water (I
would have to add 1L water to the 11.5L I plan to sparkle in order to make
11.5% by volume). I have access to Chardonnay grape juice (I'm near RJ
Spagnols in Delta, BC) and am wondering if I used that to dilute if I would
be OK?

My thoughts are that I can measure the specific gravity of the Chardonnay
grape juice and calculate the amount of sugar in it - and adjust as
necessary for secondary fermentation (either dilute the juice a bit with
water or add sugar to it as the case may be). And of course, by using grape
juice of the same variety, I maintain more varietal character and
flavour - however, I am wondering if it would cause problems with clarity?

Anyone's thoughts and feedback would be greatly appreciated, as I have found
it somewhat difficult to find good solid information on sparkling wine
online.

Incidentally, one link relating to sparkling wine that I have found, and
which is excellent is:
http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/viticultu...7/463-017.html

- Brandon

Brandon

I am also gearing up to make sparkling wine for the first time in the next
few weeks. I am following Lum's instructions at:
http://home.att.net/~lumeisenman/chapt20.html another link is:
http://chem.csustan.edu/alchemist/champagne.htm
also if you check this group for sparkling wine discussions you will find
some very useful information.

I will be using a blend of Seyval Blanc and Vidal Blanc. I have heard of
making sparkling wines from Seyval but have not heard any reference to
Vidal. Both wines are dry, light and fruity but with a high TA because of
last year's weather in the East. My estimated starting alcohol is 11% and
the TA is around 10.9. The wines have been through MLF and cold
stabilization and have been aging for four months.

It is too bad I am in the east and you in the west or we could blend our
wines together and both be closer to the ideal starting points. I have no
experience in raising acid levels or calculating the residual sugar in juice
but for safety sake check your calculations and make sure you are not
starting with more than 24 g/L (3.25 oz./gallon).

Joe


My estimated starting alcohol is 11% and the TA is around 11.
"Brandon B" > wrote in message
news:0rQ7c.1363$Ct5.1100@edtnps89...
> Being relatively new to home winemaking, I have some questions about a
> sparkling wine I'm going to be making. I've decided to use a RJ Spagnols
> Cellar Classic Chardonnay as the base - half will be made as a still wine,
> the other half sparkled by la methode champenoise. My thoughts so far
a
>
> The TA is about 6.2 - I'm thinking I should probably bump this up to about
8
> or so. Does anyone know if I'll have any problems doing this? (Ie: are
kits
> heavily buffered, etc)
>
> Oak - I wasn't going to oak the wine (except for the still Chard) as I had
> read in winemaker magazine ( http://winemakermag.com ) that oak tastes
awful
> in sparkling wine. However, on tasting the wine (on about day 30 so far)
it
> seemed lacking in structure, and I opted to add the oak powder that came
> with the kit along with the kit finings - I'll rack in about a week. Do
> you think that the oak will be detrimental to the flavour or beneficial?
> I'm thinking that by adding it in conjunction with the finings any
negative
> effects of tannins/colouring will be minimized.
>
> Finally - the wine has alc by volume of about 12.5% - I want to drop this
> by about 1% before sparkling it - but I do not want to dilute with water
(I
> would have to add 1L water to the 11.5L I plan to sparkle in order to
make
> 11.5% by volume). I have access to Chardonnay grape juice (I'm near RJ
> Spagnols in Delta, BC) and am wondering if I used that to dilute if I
would
> be OK?
>
> My thoughts are that I can measure the specific gravity of the Chardonnay
> grape juice and calculate the amount of sugar in it - and adjust as
> necessary for secondary fermentation (either dilute the juice a bit with
> water or add sugar to it as the case may be). And of course, by using
grape
> juice of the same variety, I maintain more varietal character and
> flavour - however, I am wondering if it would cause problems with
clarity?
>
> Anyone's thoughts and feedback would be greatly appreciated, as I have
found
> it somewhat difficult to find good solid information on sparkling wine
> online.
>
> Incidentally, one link relating to sparkling wine that I have found, and
> which is excellent is:
> http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/viticultu...7/463-017.html
>
> - Brandon
>
>