Oak is often spoken about in winemaking and in tasting notes but what is it all about? Over centuries, wood has played more and more of an important role in winemaking. It started off basically as timber vessels just to store wines. Over time winemakers found that white oak in particular, was in fact passing on flavours to the wines. They found it also added texture through tannin and helped the colour retention in wines. Winemakers began to understand which varieties of timber best held wine and which ones imparted the best and most desirable flavours. We now have three...

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We have all heard about Rosé, with its beautifully aesthetic pink colour. However, what is Rosé wine, and how is it different from red and white wine? When Rosé wine is made it is made by crushing the red grapes with the skins and then leaving them to macerate for anywhere between 30 minutes to 24 hours. The juice is then strained off those skins, but the deepness of the colour depends on how long this process is done. The longer the wine is spent ‘on skins’, the darker the rosé will become. The time can depend on the winemaker...

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Most would assume that wine is vegan since it’s just liquid grapes, but you might be surprised at what is sometimes added to wine to help in the winemaking process. When wines are being made, they are often cloudy because of the residue and sediment from the grapes. These do naturally drop out, but it takes time. To speed the process up, wine makers use fining agents to clarify the wine and take away these solids quickly. These fining agents are animal derived like egg white, milk powder, isinglass (gelatine from fish bladder) or fish oil - which is why...

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You might have heard the term ‘smoke taint’ by some Australian wine makers over the past few years, and you might be wondering what smoke taint is and how it affects your wine. Think of grapes a bit like a sponge – they are porous and can suck up parts of their surrounding environment. In Australia and the USA, the wine making process can be affected dramatically by extreme weather or events. Australia has had more than its fair share of fires in the past few years with most of our states having various fires in the past 5 years....

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