We can now add some sulphur to protect the wine. Sulphur levels in wine are a constant question and the levels vary from wine to wine. Our wines are very low in sulphur and there are a number of reasons why. First of all sulphur is commonly added for protection at the vineyard to low quality, damaged and disease riddled grapes. However, the higher quality the grapes, the less sulphur is needed to be added.
Poor grape quality equals poor wine quality and at every stage of the winemaking process (of which there are three major ones) sulphur is added. Every time an addition is made the total sulphur content builds up. All of our handmade wines come from selected vineyards and I will only choose the cleanest fruit available – therefore no sulphur is added at the vineyard.
The second and most risky time is when the grapes are pressed and the juice flows into the vat. Instead of sulphur I add some gall nut tannin which is a highly pure extract of chestnut gall tannins. This contains natural oxidation enzymes which are more efficient at protecting the wine than sulphur. It also has the advantage of not losing the delicate aromas. This means we skip two out of the three major stages at which SO2 is generally added and therefore end up with low total sulphurs, and no headaches in the morning!
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