Iowa Wine Lab Comparison Project: Summer 2022 Results compiled by the Midwest Grape and Wine Industry InstituteSummary Summary Participating Iowa wineries were provided bottles of the same commercially available wine with identifying information removed. The same wine was also sent […] Read Moreabout Time to Get Technical: Iowa Lab Comparison Project
Author: Maureen Moroney
Bench Trials
As we finish up the stabilization steps for our 2021 wines and prepare to bottle them this spring…Read Moreabout Bench Trials
Recent Research on Steam Sterilization of Oak Barrels
Oak barrels, used widely in winemaking, are a major concern as a source of potential microbial contamination. They require labor-intensive care and maintenance, and the porous wood is notoriously difficult to thoroughly clean and sanitize. Confirming that sanitization procedures have […] Read Moreabout Recent Research on Steam Sterilization of Oak Barrels
Neutral-oak barrel fermentation improves protein stability in La Crescent wine
Goals La Crescent is a cold-hardy hybrid white wine grape bred for cold tolerance and disease resistance. As with many other North American hybrid cultivars, its high concentration of proteins leads to unwanted haze in wine. There is anecdotal evidence […] Read Moreabout Neutral-oak barrel fermentation improves protein stability in La Crescent wine
pH: On the up and up
One of the challenges with our cold-hardy hybrid grapes is that they tend to have high acid and low pH. This can make some winemaking processes more difficult, as well as resulting in an overly tart wine for consumers. For […] Read Moreabout pH: On the up and up
Defining Spoilage
What is a spoilage microbe? When it comes to wine microbes, a lot of times we think about splitting them into two categories: “good” and “bad.” In the simplest terms, we think of Saccharomyces cerevisiae as the “good” yeast and […] Read Moreabout Defining Spoilage