Sip & Mingle- AUSTRALIAN SHIRAZ Wine Update

Hi Everyone - I have been meaning to send this wine-follow-up note for about a week. I had a visit from Mrs. Chung (aka Bridgette) yesterday which spurred me to get it out to you.

I want you all to know what's being done to our Sip & Mingle SHIRAZ. And to learn a little bit about the art of winemaking.

As you recall our Shiraz was started at our last meeting (September 4th) with the help of CoCo, and has been fermenting since. A specific gravity reading was taken to ensure that the wine is ready for the next steps.

A specific gravity reading is a measurement of density that helps to determine if fermentation is complete or incomplete. It is taken by using an instrument called a Hydrometer

The S.G reading was .992 so our wine was racked a few days ago. Racking is the process of transferring the wine from the Fermenting Pail (where most of the fermentation happens) to a glass carboy. This is done using a tool called an Auto-Siphon.

Racking is done for a few reasons; to separate the lees (sediment) from the wine and to move the wine into a glass vessel (carboy) that has a narrower opening (less oxidation). The wine is then fitted with an Air Lock.

Degassing is also done to drive off the carbon dioxide gas that has been dissolved in the wine. This has to be done before the following two steps: stabilizing and fining.

Stabilizing is stopping the fermentation and fining is making the wine go from cloudy to clear.

Your wine will stay here until the next steps which will be to rack again and filter just before bottling.

We will keep you posted.

Best Regards,

John & The Village Winemaker Team