Testing wine for Free SO2

Pictured above is our new aeration/oxidation apparatus for testing free SO2 in our wine samples.  As the fermentation progresses and we gain more knowledge about what we want our wines to express in their final form, it is becoming more and more important to understand the complete biochemical picture.  The interesting thing about wine making is that the more you know, the more you find out you don't know.  When we started out 18 years ago we just kept everything clean and hoped that our product would be good 8-12 months later.  In fact, the production facilities that the pre-packaged grape juice came from took care of all the pH and Total Acidity balancing and all we needed to do was add the yeast, rack the wine and celebrate the end product.  Now, even before the grapes come from the field we need to determining Brix and pH.  The must needs to be properly balanced with nutrients, yeast and SO2 and any imbalance can be a 500 gallon mistake.
One of the biggest challenges we are trying to meet is the proper preservation of our wines without adding too much of the sulfite which many people find offensive.  Many wineries just max the amount of Sulfite (SO2) up to the legal limit of 200 ppm.  However, with many drinkers finding Sulfites can cause them to have adverse reactions, we try to keep our SO2 levels as low as possible without running the risk of spoilage.  Since our wines are meant to be consumed fresh from the field this is a very achievable goal but the 10 degree variations in our SO2 measurements  using the quick and easy sulfite titrets left a lot of room for error.  Now our new apparatus promises to give us quick and very accurate readings in 10 minutes.  Most of the big wineries send their samples to labs to get their results but here at Cassel Vineyards we enjoy the science behind the results.  Its something about being a part of the process and having total control over as much of the production as possible.  Not only does it keep our costs low, but it also keeps our quality high.