Do It YoUrSelF-DIY- perfect your wine

For the at-home wine maker

One way an at home winemakers can raise his/her wines to a higher level of perfection
is by employing the use of filtration. There are many improvements that can be made to a wine through filtration. One can enhance its appearance, shorten its aging time, lighten its body and color if so desired, or make the wine more stable, reducing the chance of re-fermentation while in the bottle.

Adding “polish and pizzazz” to a wine’s appearance is the number one reason wine entrepreneurs elect to filter their wines. Any wine can have its appearance remarkably improved with even the coarsest level
of filtration.

Coarse filtration can make a wine that already looks clear, become more radiant and brilliant than expected. It can take a particular wine one step beyond what is already visually okay. It adds a glassy, shiny and pure look to the wine that is simply appealing.

Performing filtrations with finer filters can shorten the time required for the wine to become fully mature. It does so by reducing the excess levels of tannic acid and other protein that are major causes f the harshness in young wines.

This finer filtration can also lighten the wine’s color and body slightly. This type of filtration would be appropriate for all white wines, many roses, blushes and most red wine.

There are also filtrations that can be performed on wines that are so fine as to render them almost sterile. This type of filtration can take a significant portion of the residual yeast out of the wine, making an accidental re-fermentation much less likely to occur.
There are two major categories of home wine filters: “Gravity
Feed” and “Pressurized” systems.

Gravity Feed Filtration:
Just as the name implies, these types of filter systems are performed with gravity as the only pressure. A gravity feed filter system only requires the at-home winemaker to start a siphon from the wine into the filtering unit.
These types of filter systems are very handy when filtering 1 or 2 gallons of wine at a time. This will perform a coarse filtration efficiently.

The disadvantages are that gravity feed systems are slower than pressurized systems taking an average of 30 to 45 minutes to filter 1 gallon of wine. They are also unable to perform finer filtration if need be.

Pressurized Filtering Systems:
These types of systems filter a wine by forcing it through filter pads under pressure. Some apply pressure through motorized pumps while others apply pressure manually through hand pumps. This is the most popular used technique used by wine makers.

While pressurized systems are more expensive than the gravity feed, they are capable of performing much finer filtrations if necessary, and do so at a higher rate of speed.

All pressurized filtering systems perform filtrations equally well. Even the finest filtration is no problem for any of these units. The main difference between them is speed. The more money a wine maker is willing to spend, the faster their filter system will be.Pressurized filtration systems can perform 1 gallon per 10 minutes all the way up to 1 gallon per minute.

TranSglass

Artecnica is a Los Angeles based design company that collaborates with the most established and emerging international designers to create inspiring decorative objects for the living environment.

Erico Bressan in 1986 co-founded artenica with Tahmineh Javanbakht. He is a native of Italy and an architect by trade, Bressan, he has spent many years as a computer electronic design engineer.   The focus of the business was architectural and interior design services for clients including Gianni Versace and Sebastian International. Bressan’s award-winning architectural work has recently extended to developing sustainable product design and architectural programs with foundations and design schools in the Dominican Republic, Brazil and California.

Tahmineh Javanbakht, an Iranian-born artist while American educated, has produced many commissioned paintings. She is a graduate of the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, where she has also taught experimental painting. Her designs have sold at specialty design and museum stores around the world. While collaborating with Enrico Bressan on several freelance projects, Artecnica was born. Javanbakht works and lives in Los Angeles.

One of Artenica’s most profound designers is Tord Boontje. He was born in the Netherlands and he studied industrial design at the Design Academy in Eindhoven  and then followed with his Masters for the Royal College of Art in London. Then Studio Tord Boontje was founded in 1996. He has worked on countless projects and has had group as well as solo exhibits in many museums mainly in Milan, London and New York.

Transglass is produced in Guatemala from recycled and reused wine and beer bottles. This environmentally friendly product is a great addition to any dining or coffee table, and makes the perfect gift. Transglass has been accepted into the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

“The idea behind the collection is to use what we have. We take away, we appropriate, we transform. Hard, sharp, clean forms, original colours, as found within the bottles. We believe that Transglass is a glassware collection with a contemporary beauty that shows a positive attitude toward the environment.” – Emma Woffenden and Tord Boontje

Although his creations are permanently in the MOMA, the public can also purchase other models online at websites ranging from Amazon.com all the way to idchicago.com, a design consulting and retail firm.

Colors and Shapes of bottles

Wine producers in Portugal, Italy, Spain, France, and Germany follow the tradition of their local areas in choosing the shape of bottle most appropriate for their wine.

Port Wine

• Port, sherry, and Bordeaux varieties: straight-sided and high-shouldered with a pronounced punt. Port and sherry bottles may have a bulbous neck to collect any residue.
• Burgundies and Rhône varieties: tall bottles with sloping shoulders and a smaller punt.
• Rhine (also known as hock or hoch), Mosel, and Alsace varieties: narrow and tall with little or no punt.
• Champagne and other sparkling wines: thick-walled and wide with a pronounced punt and sloping shoulders.
• German wines from Franconia: the Bocksbeutel bottle.
• The Chianti and some other Italian wines: the fiasco, a round-bottomed flask encased in a straw basket.

Burgundy Wine

Alsace Wine

Champagne

Bocksbeutel Wine

Chianti

Many North and South American, South African, and Australasian wine producers select the bottle shape they wish to associate their wines with. For instance, a producer who believes their wine is similar to Bordeaux may choose to bottle his wine in Bordeaux-style bottles.

The home wine maker may use any bottle, as the shape of the bottle does not affect the taste of the finished product. The sole exception is in producing sparkling wine where thicker-walled bottles should be used to handle the excess pressure.

The traditional colours used for wine bottles are:

• Bordeaux: dark green for reds, light green for dry whites, clear for sweet whites.
• Burgundy and the Rhone: dark green.
• Mosel and Alsace: dark to medium green, although some producers have traditionally used amber.
• Rhine: amber, although some producers have traditionally used green.
• Champagne: Usually dark to medium green. Rosé champagnes are usually a colorless or green.

Clear bottles have recently become popular with white wine producers in many countries, including Greece, Canada and New Zealand. Most red wine worldwide is still bottled in green glass.

Wine and high culture continued…

Now we will examine the thoughts and beliefs of Scientist, Artists, and Philosophers as well as the  presence of  wine in theology. These individuals range from Plato (427-347 BC) to Pope Pius XII (1876-1958).

SCIENTISTS

Wine is sunlight, held together by water.
Galileo Galilei, Italian scientist and mathematician, (1564-1642)
“The flavor of wine is like delicate poetry.”
Louis Pasteur—French chemist and microbologist (1822-1895)

ARTISTS

I feast on wine and bread, and feasts they are.
Michelangelo, Italian painter and sculptor, (1475-1564)

The discovery of a good wine is increasingly better for mankind than the discovery of a new star.
Leonardo da Vinci, Italian artist, (1452-1519)

“Cobalt is a divine color and there is nothing as fine for putting an atmosphere round things. Carmine is the red of wine and is warm and lively like wine. The same goes for emerald green too. It’s false economy to dispense with them, with those colors. Cadmium as well.”
(Letter to Theo van Gogh, 28 December 1885) Author Vincent Van gogh-  Dutch Artist (1853-1890)

PHILOSOPHERS

A remedy for the moroseness of old age.

Wine fills the heart with courage.

No thing more excellent nor more valuable than wine
was ever granted mankind by God.

School of Atens (Plato and Aristotle) --- Raffaello

Plato, Greek philosopher, (427-347 BC)

“The cheapness of wine seems to be a cause, not of drunkenness, but of sobriety.  …People are seldom guilty of excess in what is their daily fare…On the contrary, in the countries which, either from excessive heat or cold, produce no grapes, and where wine consequently is dear and a rarity, drunkenness is a common vice.”
“The Wealth of Nations”—Adam Smith —Father of Economics  (1723-1790)

THEOLOGY

“Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath and a glass of good wine.”
St. Thomas Aquinas- an Italian priest of the Catholic Church (1225-1274)

“Wine in itself is an excellent thing.”
Pope Pius XII 260^th pope  1876-1958

Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Ecclesiastes 9:7.

Wine is as good as life to a man, if it be drunk moderately: what life is then to a man that is without wine? for it was made to make men glad.

-Bible (Apocrypha)
Ecclesiasticus 31:27.

When this man tasted the water, which had now become wine, without knowing where it came from (though naturally the servants who had drawn the water knew), he called out to the bridegroom and said to him, “Everybody I know puts his good wine on first and then when men have had plenty to drink, he brings out the poor stuff. John 2:1-11 Bible

“This is the cup of my Blood, the Blood of the new and everlasting covenant; it will be shed for you and for all, for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me”. Mark 14:24 Bible

In Roman Catholic theology, “transubstantiation” (in Latin transsubstantiatio, in Greek μετουσίωσις (metousiosis)) means the change of  bread and wine into the Body and Blood, respectively of Christ into the Eucharist.

GREEK MYTHOLOGY

Bacchus(Roman) Dionysus (Greek)---Caravaggio

“The name of DIONYSUS means he who gives the wine” also “DIONYSUS does not wish people to drink a lot or get intoxicated; he wishes wine to relax people and create an atmosphere of friendliness. God DIONYSUS and wine help people loosen and become more affable and intimate.” (Moralia by Plutarch of chaeronea. Dinner of the seven wise men p156) Moralia is an eclectic collection of 78 essays and transcribed speeches of the Greek scholar Plutarch 46-120 AD

“DIONYSUS discovered the wine and taught mankind how to cultivate the vine. Also he brought much land under cultivation. He discovered the drink made out of barley, called by some zythos. In return for all this received most high honours by people.” Library of History chapter 4.

Diodor siculus— Greek Historian lived in 1^st century B.C.

Wine and High culture

Now we will look at how Wine has had an impact of society and culture throughout the times. We will first look at the thoughts about wine from many prominent Politicians and Writers.

POLITICIANS

“We hear of the conversion of water into wine at the marriage in Cana, as of a miracle. But this conversion is, through the goodness of God, made every day before our eyes. Behold the rain which descends from heaven upon our vineyards, and which incorporates itself with the grapes to be changed into wine; a constant proof that God loves us, and loves to see us happy! “

(The Posthumous and Other Writings of Benjamin Franklin (1819). p. 290.) Benjamin Franklin-Founding Father of the United States (1706-1790)

“Wine from long habit has become an indispensable for my health.”

“By making this wine vine known to the public, I have rendered my
country as great a service as if I had enabled it to pay back the
national debt.”

“Good wine is a necessity of life for me.”

“I rejoice as a moralist at the prospect of a reduction of the duties
on wine by our national legislature…. Its extended use will carry
health and comfort to a much enlarged circle.”

“Wine … the true old man’s milk and restorative cordial.”

Thomas Jefferson The third president of the United States of America and the Drafter of the Declaration of Independence  (1743-1826)

“Wine is inspiring and adds greatly to the joy of living.”

“Nothing makes the future look so rosy as to contemplate it through a glass of Chambertin.”

“I drink champagne when I win, to celebrate . . . and I drink champagne when I lose, to console myself.”
Napoleon Bonaparte, French emperor, (1769-1821)

In victory, you deserve champagne, in defeat, you need it..
Napoleon Bonaparte, French emperor, (1769-1821) also attributed to Winston Churchill Brisitsh politician (1874-1965)

WRITERS

A body without wine is like a dessert without sugar.

A pale woman can only be coloured with lipstick and rouge, and a pale man can only be coloured with wine!

Eyes of Magic, Awarded Plays 2, Act I, Scene II, 1st ed. November, (2000). p. 14.

-Mehemt Ildan a Turkish playwright (1965)

“Wine can of their wits the wise beguile,
Make the sage frolic, and the serious smile.”
Homer, “Odyssey (9th c. B.C.)

“Tis pity wine should be so deleterious,
For tea and coffee leave us much more serious.”
Lord Byron British Poet (1788-1824)

“Good wine needs no bush.”
——( As You Like It, Epilogue)
“Give me a bowl of wine,
In this I bury all unkindness.”
——- (Julius Caesar)
“Give me a bowl of wine:
have not that alacrity of spirit,
Nor cheer of mind, that I was wont to have.”
—— (Richard III)
“Wine is a good familiar creature if it be will used, exclaim no more against it.”
—— (Othello)

“Good wine needs no blush.”

William Shakespeare- British writer, Poet  and Playwright (1564-1616)

“Wine can be considered with good reason as the most healthful and the most hygienic of all beverages.”

“Wine is a food.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes— Poet and Medical reformer (1809-1894)

And that you may the less marvel at my words, Look at the sun’s heat that becomes wine when combine with the juice that flows from the vine.

Dante Alighieri, Italian author, (1265-1321)

“In Europe we thought of wine as something as healthy and normal as food and also a great giver of happiness and well being and delight. Drinking wine was not a snobbism nor a sign of sophistication nor a cult; it was as natural as eating and to me as necessary.”
Ernest Hemingway American writer and journalist (1899-1961)