Dessert Wine Guide: Port, Sherry, Madeira, and More 

Thanks for your very interesting post, here are some more tips for how to make wine… Use the correct equipment. Things like plastic buckets and bins come in different grades of plastic. You must use the food-grade plastic products not the cheaper buckets you might use to clean the floor! If plastic buckets and bins start getting scratched and grazed, replace them. The grazes will start harbouring microbes and eventually you’ll have a spoilt batch of wine. If stirring the must (the initial mix of fruit and water etc.) in a bin, scald the spoon with boiling water first to quickly sterilise it. Fill and top up airlocks with cooled, boiled water - not straight from the tap. Avoid metal spoons and sieves with fermenting wine - i.e. after the yeast has been added. Sometimes they can taint the wine. Avoid wooden spoons, which are hard to sterilise - plastic is far better. Reusing wine bottles is fine, ask friends to save them for you and check with local pubs or restaurants who are often willing to give them to you. Wash out immediately as a clean bottle will be a lot easier to sterilise when you come to use them. Rack your wine to clear it before bottling. That is, using a syphon tube, suck up the wine from one demijohn into another leaving the sediment (called lees) behind. The tubes with a base and valve are cheap enough and a make this quicker. Allow the wine to settle for a week and repeat if necessary before bottling Never judge your wine by the taste as you bottle it. Most often you will think it's a disaster. Some wines can take 2 years to mature. As a general rule, try a bottle after 5 or 6 months. If it tastes harsh, leave the rest for at least another 5 or 6 months. Allow time. Time is the great wine maker and you should never be in a rush. We’ve made wine that was nnine months in the demijohn before bottling and drunk it three years later. The next year it was even better! (Reference: Pavas grape plan site )

Have you found your answer for the correct way to store opened bottles of sherry?

This phrase was stolen from King Richard of England (the lionheart) after trying the original King of Wines 🍷 at his wedding on the island of Cyprus in the 1100's

​@@stelvis1984ify Ah yes Commandaria. I tried some years ago and it was delicious. I would love to buy another bottle.

Port, chocolate and lap dance goes together well 👍

@@WalterWhite-pr1qs 😂

Hi serpentarius51. Our favorite sweet wine that is great on its own - and is also wallet friendly, is Moscato. It's slightly effervescent, and has beautiful apple, pear and some tropical fruit sweetness, without being overly cloying. We like it before and meal or after, or even during, with spicy food. But, it's really terrific on its own. There are lots to be had at all price points - let us know what you find and what you think!

I know this is three years later lol but you should try pink moscato also!

Ports

@@jacktattis143 Australia doesn't have port

No its actually Port as he said. Porto is the region the grapes need to come from for it to be considered authentic Port and get the official label. Just Brandy vs Congac.

I don't know! It's the worst when you meet these people in the UK. I grew up in France and lived in Spain as an adult, and I just don't get this stupid act and rigmarole Anglos go through when in the presence of wine. Why is it that it attracts nobs in countries where it isn't even made, traditionally?