At the end of this period, siphon the wine from its sediment, with a plastic or rubber tube, into clean containers. At the same time dissolve and add a bit of the meta already referred to at the rate of ¼ level teaspoon per 5 gallons of wine. This will protect against off odors and spoilage but does not otherwise affect the wine.
Clarifying
Next, transfer the containers to a place where the wine will be thoroughly chilled, even down to freezing. This precipitates more suspended matter and unwanted ingredients, and encourages clarification.
Assuming that the wine was made in early fall, hold it in cool storage until after the first of the year. By then it should have “fallen bright” and be stable. To test its clarity, hold a lighted match behind the bottle.
The wine is then siphoned once again from its sediment, and another dose of meta added at the same rate of ¼ teaspoon per 5 gallons.
If the wine is brilliantly clear, one container of it may then be siphoned into wine bottles, corked or capped, and is ready for immediate use. Despite the common impression, most wine does not gain greatly by aging once it is stable. It continues to evolve, but not necessarily for the better.
The rest of the wine is held until after the return of warm weather to make sure there will be no resumption of fermentation, which would blow corks if the wine was bottled. By mid-May that hazard will have passed, and the wine is ready for its final siphoning, its final dose of the same quantity of meta, and bottling.
Fining. If in January the wine is not brilliantly clear, it should be “fined”. This consists of dissolving in a small amount of hot water and mixing in, at the time of siphoning, ordinary household gelatin at the rate of ¼ ounce (2 teaspoonsful) per 5 gallons. This will turn the wine milky when mixed in and will slowly settle, dragging all impurities and suspended matter with it. In two weeks to a month the process of “fining” will be complete. The wine is then ready to be siphoned from the fining sediment and treated as above.
Making White Wine
As we have seen, red wine is fermented “on the skins” in order to extract the coloring matter and other ingredients lodged in the skins. In making white wine, the grapes are crushed and the fresh juice immediately separated by pressing so that it may ferment apart from the skins.