RACKING THE WINE

One important step in winemaking is called "racking the wine." As wines age, some sediment drops down and collects at the bottom of the barrel. This sediment is called lees. The lees can add wonderful flavors and aromas to the wine if handled properly, but if left too long at the bottom of the barrel, it can also cause issues. The racking process involves siphoning off the wine from the barrel into another container, leaving the lees behind. The lees shouldn't be left on the wine for more than a few months. Most winemakers rack their wines at least 3 to 5 times. The wine is racked as many times as necessary to remove all the lees and when this is accomplished and the specific gravity is 1.000 or lower, the wine is ready for bottling.

Racking takes time and effort, but is not all that difficult... especially when you have several little helpers like we do!