Wine-Maker’s Vocabulary

Acid: Where no acid is present in the vegetables or flowers used, citrus fruits can remedy this: oranges, lemons, grapefruit. These also improve the flavour subtly, e.g. the bitterness of grapefruit. However, citric acid crystals may be used instead allowing a teaspoonful per lemon.

Body: The fullness of wine.

Campden Tablets: Useful in wine-making for various sterilization or purification purposes. It is well worth adding these to sterilize the must as a matter of habit. Crush one tablet per gallon and add the crystals to the must when cool, so that the sulphur dioxide given off can kill any wild yeasts and bacteria that may be present. Add yeast 24 hours later.