A brief history of … blog posts

Those of you following this blog might have noticed by now that I like space and everything about it.  Which is why this blog post, and particularly its title, pays homage to Stephen Hawking, writer of the book ‘A Brief History of Time’. While the following content will be nowhere near as complex or intellectually stimulating as the work of Mr Hawking, it is similarly quite focused on science (the science of winemaking, to be exact) and it will provide a couple of highlights of the past year’s blog posts.

Truly a mixed bag

Some of the topics that were discussed included fermentation tannins and rot management, the treatment of sunburned grapes, the role of organic acids in oenology, sparkling wine production, eliminating pinking (and plastic) from wine, de-alcoholising of wine, fighting spoilage microbes without sulphur dioxide, BIOProtection, and oak alternatives. Visit our blog section to read more about the specific topics mentioned above. Or just keep reading as I briefly revisit a couple of blog posts.

Don’t let this (rotten) joke be on you

It seems that there are still some wine yeast suppliers (and winemakers) clinging to the belief that bentonite can remove laccase and tyrosinase from rot affected must. Don’t be fooled – this is pure broscience! Bentonite won’t work, so rather use oenological tannins to do the job. Click here to read this blog post. And speaking of broscience, the entire November blog post was dedicated to the unfortunate occurrence of broscience in winemaking. If you like seeing myths and broscience debunked, click here.

The beginning of the end of PVPP in winemaking

The caption above also happens to be the title of our June blog post. It is not only about our brand new Oenofine® range (sans PVPP) which can be used to prevent pinking in white wine, but also serves as an important social commentary on our obligation to protect Mother Nature. Or at the very least, do as little harm as possible. To read more about the Oenofine® range and its other fining actions in must and wine, click here.

Sulphur dioxide is so yesterday

If you still think that sulphur dioxide is the be all and end all of wine preservation, then it’s time to smell the sulphur dioxide. Or roses. Or coffee. Or whatever works for you in this particular context. In the two blog posts, titled ‘Tackling wine microbes with (or without) sulphur dioxide’ and ‘Comets and BIOProtection – more alike than you would think’, I wrote about the use of products other than sulphur dioxide to not only manage microbial spoilage, but also oxidation during winemaking. Click on the above-mentioned titles to read more.

Where did all the alcohol go?

The July blog post was about the removal of alcohol from wine, a trend that is globally on the increase. Here is an excerpt from that blog post: ‘I vaguely recall my brother, also a Trekkie, while watching the episode with me decades ago speculating that the intoxication aboard the Enterprise was caused by a virus that somehow converted water to ethanol. While us modern day humans (compared to our cave dwelling ancestors and not the crew of the starship Enterprise) do not yet have the technology to convert water into ethanol, keep the lights on in South Africa, or even build warp drives, we do know how to lower the alcohol concentration in wine.’

After alcohol reduction, the winemaker might feel that some structure or length might be missing from a wine. Our yeast products (which include highly specific mannoprotein fractions) and ageing tannins are highly popular and effective in rebuilding reduced alcohol wines. I mean, sugar and acid can only go so far, right? Click here to read more.

And that’s it. Our first full year of blog posts is almost at an end. But don’t despair! As long as you keep reading, I’ll keep posting relevant, practical, and technically accurate oenological content. The sarcasm and dark humour are, of course, bonuses. 

See you in 2024!