Wine Bites Mag

Winemaking

Tips & Tricks Wine Bites

Getting Your Head Around Burgundy Part 11 – The Village of Pernand-Vergelesses

Discover what makes the village and wines of Pernand-Vergelesses unique!

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Winemaker Sessions

Jaysen Collins of Massena & JC’s Own Visits Wine Decoded HQ

Funny when you meet someone and there’s kind of an instant gel.
Jaysen Collins is one of those people.
He’s making some tasty vino. Pushing to do the things we love at Wine Decoded.

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Bathtub Winemaking Project

Wine Decoded Yarra Valley Shiraz 2016 Season Recap + Launch!

From Grape 🍇 to your mouth 🍷 it takes 3 years to prepare this tasty beverage!
Today we share the Season Recap with a 🎥 7min highlight real!

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Wine Bites

Q&A with Paul: “How does the percentage of new oak affect wine?”

Don’t get hung up the numbers, the numbers can lie! Taste it, looking for balance!

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Wine Bites

Q&A with Paul “Where do You Stand as far as No Addition So-Called “Natural Wines” are Concerned?”

There is a lot of confusion around natural wine, for several reasons: it lacks a consistent definition, consumers don’t truly know what it means, there are many makers that abuse the label and use it as an excuse for making bad wine.
My default position, the wine still has to be delicious in the glass and be begging for you to drink more no matter what name it has.

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Bathtub Winemaking Project

Dunking Stalk Teabags – Bathtub Winemaking Project Day 12

Spice, Perfume, Tannin .. some like it strong, some like it weak, some with a splash of milk, lemon, or a spoon of sugar!
We like our stalks in wine!

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Bathtub Winemaking Project

Buggy Moving Ferments are Cranking – Bathtub Winemaking Project Day 11 Episode 1

Guiding ferments during the peak of ferment requires wisdom & agility.
There is an infinite number of actions you can take & an equal number of things that can go wrong!

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Bathtub Winemaking Project

Just how do we get all the colour tannin and flavour out of our Shiraz berries? – Bathub Winemaking Project Day 7

Pumping over is just one of the ways.

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Bathtub Winemaking Project

Fermentation is Starting to Kick – Bathtub Winemaking Project Day 6

Our whole bunch Shiraz ferment is starting to kick. Now it’s time to think about fermentation temperature & ongoing tannin management

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Bathtub Winemaking Project

Wild Fermentation & Foot Stomping Whole Bunches – The Bathtub Winemaking Project Day 3

It’s school holidays and that can mean only one thing, time to put the kids to work stomping grapes!

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Bathtub Winemaking Project

Waiting for Fermentation to Start – The Bathtub Winemaking Project Day 2

All quiet in the Wine Decoded Tiny Winery. Fermentation hasn’t started yet.

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Winemaker Sessions

Winemaking Excellence – Fruit Sorting & Destemming at Yabby Lake with Tom Carson

Making exceptional wine takes thought and patience. Every step of the winemaking process presents you with a choice. In the winery, it begins when the fruit arrives.
Watch as Pinot Noir from Yabby Lake’s Block 2 is sorted by hand & some seriously impressive cutting edge machinery!

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Sampling Shiraz Wine Decoded Bathtub Winemaking Project V16 by Paul Kaan Feature
Bathtub Winemaking Project

“Squishing Shiraz Samples” Wine Decoded Shiraz Vintage 16 Episode 01

After a false start, the WINE DECODED Bathtub Winemaking Project 2016 is GO!
Big Shout Out to Dylan McMahon for helping us find some yummy fruit to play with!
Yesterday we sampled Shiraz from a beautiful vineyard in Seville East on the edge of Gruyere in the Yarra Valley.

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Wine Decoded Bathtub Winemaking Project V16E02 The Big Crush by Paul Kaan Feature
Bathtub Winemaking Project

“The Big Crush” Wine Decoded Shiraz Vintage 16 Episode 02

The Wine Decoded Bathtub Winemaking Project Shiraz is in the house! Nothing Like a 38°C day to Shift 140 Buckets of Fruit into Bathtub Fermenters!
It’s crushing time!
Check out all the action as we crush our yummy fruit, transport it to Wine Decoded HQ and bucket it into our 3 bathtubs for fermentation!

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Bathtub Winemaking Project

“Whole Bunch Festa – Part I” Wine Decoded Shiraz Vintage 16 Episode 03

We’re playing with Whole Bunch Shiraz this year
First time we’ve seen this fruit
Hope it gives us some beautiful perfume, fun texture & yumminess!

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Bathtub Winemaking Project

“Whole Bunch Festa – Part II” Wine Decoded Shiraz Vintage 16 Episode 04

Checking the progress of the Whole Bunch Shiraz Ferment!
Time to taste all the different components, whole bunches, whole berries, crushed fruit & juice!
Then we’ll have a think about what we’ll do next!

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Bathtub Winemaking Project

The Art & Science of Tasting Ferments – Wine Decoded Shiraz

Tasting a fermenting wine goes against everything you’d do when drinking a finished wine!
Check out how we do it.

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Tasting the Bathtub Shiraz V16E06 for Wine Decoded by Paul Kaan
Bathtub Winemaking Project

“Daily Rituals in the Wine Decoded Tiny Winery! Morning Rounds!” Wine Decoded Shiraz Vintage 16 Episode 06

Daily Rituals in the Wine Decoded Tiny Winery!
Always Tasting! Always Thinking!
Watch 2hrs of Action Condensed into a little over 4mins with an Explanation from our Chief Wine Hacker, Paul!

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Bathtub Winemaking Project

The Angels are Stealing our Wine: Topping Barrels 1 min Winemaking Quickie

We top up the Bathtub Winemaking Projects barrels every two weeks. This 1 minute winemaking quickie explains why!

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Bathtub Winemaking Project

Squishing Time! Firing Up the Basket Press for the WINE DECODED Bathtub Cabernet

The first and only press for Vintage 2015 is done and dusted! The WINE DECODED Bathtub Winemaking Cabernet was squished a few weeks ago, after 24 days on skins. The perfume and earthiness I was looking for have arrived. The texture has lengthened, developed beautifully and is looking good.

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Bathtub Winemaking Project

I GOT WOOD! Prepping French Oak for the Bathtub Cabernet!

Fermentation is winding down & it’s time to get our oak barrels ready to fill.
There’s nothing quite like the smell of a new French oak barrel.

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Bathtub Winemaking Project

Stalks! Stalks! Stalks! WINE DECODED Bathtub Winemaking Project Day 6 Tannin Management

We’re still focusing on tannin for the WINE DECODED Bathtub Winemaking Project. This time it’s all about giant teabags … full of stalks, not, tea! Just like the seeds stalks contain tannins, flavours and aromas that we want to guide and layer into the wine. Check the “teabags” and a detailed walk through steep the biggest teabag you’ll ever see in the video.

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Bathtub Winemaking Project

Bathtub Winemaking Project Day 5 – Working on Tannin!

Today’s one of the peak days during fermentation. Where about half way through now. The yeast are moving fast, sugar is dropping quickly, heat is being generated and alcohol levels increasing. It’s time to focus on tannin. This video explores some of the tannin management I’m doing this year taking a look at skins, seeds and stalks.

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Bathtub Winemaking Project

Filthy Good Vino Wine Project Day 2: Managing Fermentation

The yeast are starting to get buggy moving! Flavours are looking good!

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Bathtub Winemaking Project

Vintage 2015 Part 2: Time to Pick our Yarra Valley Cabernet – Filthy Good Vino Bathtub Winemaking Project

Beautiful day to pick our Cabernet for the WINE DECODED Bathtub Winemaking Project! We’ll be posting regular updates taking you through the winemaking process step by step for Vintage 2015.

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Measuring-Sugar-in-Grapes-2015-Bathtub-Winemaking-Project-for-Wine-Decoded-by-Paul-Kaan-Feature
Bathtub Winemaking Project

The Bathtub Winemaking Project is Go! Part 1: Samples from the Vineyard

Vintage is almost upon us! The first grapes for the WINE DECODED Bathtub Winemaking Project are about to be picked!

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Wine Bites

You haven’t lived until you’ve swum through a vat of vino! BUCKET LIST!

If swimming through a vat of vino isn’t on your bucket list, stop reading this now. Go and write it down … RIGHT NOW!

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Domaine-Bernard-Moreau-et-Fils-Vintage-1999-Picking-for-Wine-Decoded-by-Paul-Kaan
The Winemaking Years

Vintage 1999 Domaine Bernard Moreau in Chassagne-Montrachet, Burgundy, France

Every winter Australian winemakers head to the Northern Hemisphere in their droves

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Champagne Devaux Vintage 1999 for Wine Decoded by Paul Kaan Feature
The Winemaking Years

Vintage 1998 Champagne Devaux, Bur-sur-Seine and Legras et Haas, Chouilly in the Côte des Blancs

Working in Champagne brought pain & acid guts at one extreme. Inspiration & yumminess at the other

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