I started it in early march with the idea that I wanted a dry but fresh and somewhat complex wine for summer. I infused some oak chips with rum, but only had them in for a week something early on with the hope that the harshness would dissipate with gases and what is left behind becomes subtly integrated in the wine. I was going for notes and slight tannins as opposed to the super dry that was my autumn wine.

While fermenting it was about 19-21°C in the room with a cold draft by the floor that probably made it more like 16-18°C down there. I didn't think of picking a yeast ahead so I went with the generic one that came in the box.

It's been a very interesting ride in this relatively short period of time. The fermentation was very slow, as expected by the temperature and draft. It stopped bubbling but had plenty of sugar left in it so I racked it to oxygenate, added yeast nutrients and kept swirling it gently daily until I got it going again.

Last taste was a month ago and it was not good, hoping it would mature after bottling and otherwise make it a learning experience. Today, much to my surprise, it is young but damn delicious already. Great taste, great mouthfeel. Tannins but not overly so, hints of vanilla, oak and rum. Easy to drink and yet some interesting flavours to explore. It's all I was hoping for.

But now I have a new problem. While bottling it, I accidentally overfilled some bottles that I balanced into a glass, and then clumsy me spilled the last splash from the vessel into the glass too.

Now I'm sitting outside on a lovely warm and sunny Sunday afternoon, glass in hand, the wine is oxidized and can not be returned to the batch. I'm not sure what to do about it. Please advice.

I ordered a cheap chinese optical refractometer from Amazon to use for convenience instead of a traditional hydrometer. It seemed accurate enough after calibration, I don't expect magic or lab results. Ballpark is fine by me.

I got suspicious when my cider and wine have kept stopping at 1.020-1.025 and nothing I whatever I tried would only make them bubble for another few days and reduce a couple of degrees Oe. So I did a reading with my hydrometer to verify. Yep, the SG for the cider ~1.000 and with the wine in negatives.

Checking out the refractometer it says it is for beer.

Is there a difference for wine and beer refractometers? Is is this refractometer, cheap chinese ones in general or is it me?

Cheers

Edit: twas me

Apropos "it's better to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond"

From "The Ferryman: Legends of Nanyang".

Yes, it's the 1990s.

I've seen enough of the internets to know this is a must have. Damn, if I was in America this would be a business idea in itself.

Edit: If you nick this idea and make it your business - YOU'RE WELCOME! I only ask kindly of you send a yearly donation to Doctors Without Borders or some similar organisation.

I was having a bad stressful dream like I often do. But then I realized I was just dreaming and that I don't want to dream this shite. So then I dreamed something else.

That was nice.

If somebody theoretically wanted to watch all seasons of the amazing show New Zealand Today when the official streaming is geo locked and has blacklisted VPNs in NZ - how would they theoretically do it?

Theoretical cheers

How much difference does different yeast strains really make? Is it perceptible like what kind of apples you used or is it delicate nuances when doing a blind tasting?

BUMPSIES: Update and discussion on bitters/aperitif in comments

This particular little wine was supposed to have the fruits in it for ten days. I forgot all about it over Christmas stress so the fruit has been soaking for over a month. I racked it today and boy does it have an aftertaste of the zest. Do you think it can be recovered? Will the zesty bitterness reduce from aging? Or can I do something else about it?