Winemaking - Wine Secrets Advice from Winemakers Sommeliers ampamp Connoisseurs

In Wine Secrets, forty of the world’s top wine experts share the tricks, techniques, and wisdom they’ve learned through decades of experience. Celebrity chef Jacques Pépin shares the best uses for leftover wine in the kitchen. Sommelier Oliver Boru proves that you sometimes can judge a wine by its label. Restaurateur Piero Selvaggio tells diners the best way to send back an unacceptable bottle.Sale at book sale library

For the past ten years, I have gradually come to appreciate a good glass of wine, but recently came to the realization that I had actually LEARNED very little. I could discern some obvious points about dryness and such, but I had absolutely no grasp of the basics of wine tasting and varietals.

What I was looking for, essentially, was a compact yet in-depth, accessible yet technical review of wine in general. Something that would cover the basics of tasting, region, production, etc. There are certainly a lot of options out there (including some 400- and 500-page textbook-like behemoths), but Wine Secrets fit the bill above and beyond anything else.

The book is a portable hardcover gem that provides the perfect level of detail for any newcomer or lazy novice (like myself.) If you feel at all intimidated by some of the more expansive standards like Zraly and Parker, this book is your launching point.

Most wine books are terribly written. There’s a reason for that. We have too many wines and too few adequate concepts to communicate exactly what to expect from them — something impossibly complicated by the fact that each and every food will alter the experience of the wine it’s paired with.

The state of wine knowledge is especially difficult for the waiter. His job is to communicate clearly and quickly, to summarize, clearly explain and help the guest make the right decision. Yet those who make explaining wine their business are, perhaps by nature, attracted to endless detail, fascinated by the differences in terroir yielded by south facing limestone slopes versus north facing limestone slopes. Even if I shared their interest, as a waiter I don’t have time for it.

Enter Wine Secrets. Marnie Old has assembled winemakers, chefs and sommeliers to tackle all the important issues. More importantly, she’s has edited them into precision and focus. She’s given me concise ways to describe almost every issue that will come up at the table in a way that illumines rather than obfuscates. Every waiter should have this book.

Can I use isopropyl alcohol to sanitize winemaking/cidermaking equipment?

I already sanitize equipment but occasionally a sanitized item will touch something which has not been cleaned. In this case, it is useful to hit it with something from a spray bottle instead of sending it through the whole sanitation process again.

If not, is vodka an acceptable alternative?

Many thanks!

Answer
I would not use isoprpyl alcohol or vodka. Some of the best sanitizers and cleaners are:

B- Brite- cleaner/sanitizer that removes fermentation residues

BTF-Iodophor- a good sanitizer that doesn’t corrode stainless steel

Campden Tablets- inhibits harmful bacteria and yeasts. This does contain sulfites that some people are allergic to though.

Chlorine/household bleach- very effective in sanitizing

CL-9 sanitizer- a concentrated chlorine-based sanitizer in granular form

One Step- non-toxic, environment friendly sanitizer

Potassium Metabisulfate- antibacterial agent that produces bacteria/yeast inhibiting sulphor dioxide gas.

Soda Ash- product used in winemaking to sweeten new oak barrels.