Taken with HP/Palm Veer. I had an opportunity to stop in here during a bike tour of Napa Valley and enjoyed a wine tasting, including 2011 Sauvignon Blanc, 2009 Chardonnay, and a 2009 Syrah. I enjoyed the wine tasting with friendly people.

If you wonder about what professionals winemakers drink, you’re not the only one. It’s a curious thought to think of what the real professionals have take after they are done at their places of work which are usually the big wineries or their own establishments. After doing all the work in measuring and checking the wine through various stages and instructing others on what to do, what do they drink? Do they stick solely to the wine brands that they brew or do they opt for something much more different. Perhaps tasting their own wine on a daily basis affects their sense of taste so much that they cannot resist the need to taste other wines and give themselves the opportunity to taste another flavor.

You have to consider the position of these winemakers from their own point of view. Think of a situation where you were in an establishment and all you could eat was two types of food every single day. Even if these two types of food were your favorite meals, you would still tend to get tired of them rather quickly and you would want to opt for something else. This is the same thing with many winemakers and the wine that they create. They aren’t really different from the rest of us. With the over five thousand varieties of wine that are available, why would anyone want to restrict themselves to only one or two?

Some interviews have been conducted among a number of popular winemakers in the state of California. One of the winemakers who makes Chardonnays almost exclusively was reported as saying that when not working he had a passion for German wines especially the Riesling kind. One other winemaker also said that he preferred Rieslings during relaxation or when eating out. The whole point was they tasted rather different from his own wine. This was the same answer when another California winemaker was asked about his preferences. It appears that the Riesling was the favored choice due to its difference from the wines that they make. These wines tend to be comforting, light and with a subtle flavor. Certain others feel that by drinking these wines they learn to make wine exactly what it should be.

Certain other people had a preference for wines of the Spanish or Italian flavors. The taste was perceived as lighter as and gentler than what they made. Other people were reported as saying that they tended to enjoy a wide variety of wines. Wine to them was big part of their lives and the larger the amount of varieties that they tried, the better they were able to do their jobs as winemakers better.

Despite the fact that these people made certain wines, the fact that they tasted other wines gave them as sense of perspective and value in terms of the wines that they were creating. By tasting other wines they had something to compare their products to and understand better whatever it is that they were creating.

In some cases you may find it desirable to stop the fermentation process before it comes to a stop on its own. The most common reason for wishing to stop the fermentation process is that you have found the wine already has the exact amount of sweetness that you prefer and you do not want it to progress any further.

By stopping the fermentation at that point, many winemakers believe that they can preserve the amount of sweetness that the wine has already produced. If you want a really sweet wine, such as a dessert wine, this is certainly understandable. The idea behind stopping the fermentation process is that if you allowed the wine to continue fermenting it would become less sweet as time went on. When the wine became completely dry, the fermentation process would eventually stop on its own without any intervention from you.

As a result, there are several different methods that home winemakers tend to use when attempting to stop the fermentation process in order to preserve the sweetness. None of these methods work very well; however. Let us examine each.

One of those methods is using either Campden Tablets or Sodium Bisulfite. It should be noted that fermentation will not completely stop using these methods. You should also be aware that the chance does exist for some live yeast to be left in the wine, providing the opportunity for the fermentation process to begin again. In fact, it is not unknown for the process to begin again even after you have bottled your wine and stored it. Obviously, that would not be a good situation and would result in some really poor wine.

Another common option used by some winemakers is Potassium Sorbate. Generally, Potassium Sorbate is used for the purpose of sweetening wine. When it is used for the purpose it is commonly after the fermentation process has already been completed and you are ready to bottle your wine. The Potassium Sorbate is then added with sugar. The purpose of the Potassium Sorbate in this instance is to prevent the yeast from fermenting sugar that has just been added. When added prior to the end of the fermentation cycle; however, Potassium Sorbate will not kill the yeast; it only makes it sterile. This means that it stops producing but it doesn’t stop the fermentation. In other words, it does not prevent the yeast from fermenting the sugar and turning it into alcohol.

If your goal is to preserve the amount of sweetness that is already in the wine, the best way to do this is to actually go ahead and let the fermentation continue on its own until it is completely finished. After the yeast has had an opportunity to settle over a couple of weeks, you will then be able to siphon the wine off and then add some Potassium Sorbate with some sugar.

Keep in mind that it is really imperative to allow the fermentation process to finish before you add anything like Potassium Sorbate or more sugar. If you are not sure whether the fermentation process has finished, you can check it using a hydrometer. Remember that this is the tool that you use to check the alcohol content of the wine. If the process has completed, there should be a reading of no more than 1.000 on the hydrometer.