Filtering, Bottling & Corking FAQ

Q. My wine doesn’t taste very good at bottling time, is this going to improve?
A. Wine that is young or “green” can be sharp and acidic tasting and this will improve with time. When the wine has matured the flavours will smooth out and mellow.

Q. Do I have to filter my wine? What is the benefit to filtering?
A. You do not have to filter your wine, doing so removes sediment better than racking and gives wine a “shine” that is not possible otherwise. Secondarily, it removes yeast, this is important if your wine contains residual sugar, filtering lowers the risk of fermentation in the bottle.

Q. Can I use screw top bottles for my wine? Can I use screw top bottles with corks?
A. Re-using screw top bottles is not recommended, the threads can chip and you cannot be sure how good a seal you have. It’s also not a good idea to cork a screw top bottle, the neck is not as strong as a bottle made for corks and may break, also the neck shape means the surface of the cork that touches the bottle is much lower.

Q. The instructions say that if I am planning on aging past 6 months I should add an extra ¼ teaspoon of sulfite, I might keep a couple bottles that long – should I add extra sulfite?
A. Sulfite dissipates over time as wine ages, if you are planning on long term aging all of your wine before you drink it, add sulfite. If most of it will be consumed before 6 months do not add the sulfite, as you will get a sulphurous flavour (like burnt matches) in your wine.

Q. What is Metatartaric Acid?
A. Metatartaric acid is added to wine that are very high quality juice as these kits are likely going to have bitrate crystal dropout (wine diamonds). Wine diamonds are totally benign and not a fault, but some people prefer to not have them in their wine. If metatartaric acid is added to the wine it will keep the crystals in suspension for 18 months or more, it is an optional step.