Quoin Rock Winery | Winemaking Philosophy

Winemaking is kept as simple as possible without compromising on quality. Whilst never being dogmatic in our approach and always striving for best possible quality, the following guidelines are used to create wines that are unique and authentic:

Fermentation

Natural (non-inoculated) ferments are generally used with cultured yeasts only being used as a corrective measure should a natural fermentation not complete. Whilst natural fermentations might be dominated by indigenous cellar strains that may have originally been established from a cultured strain, our experience is that wines made from non-inoculated ferments are generally more complex than those made with cultured yeasts.

Enzymes

Enzymes are not used and all settling occurs naturally with gravity.

Acidification

Tartaric acid is not used to increase acid levels in the wine. Natural acid levels are used as an indicator of ripeness and considered in deciding when to harvest.

Chaptalisation ( sugar addition ) and Osmosis

No osmosis or water addition is used in the wine making process and addition of sucrose ( chaptalisation ) is never necessary.

Fining and Filtration

These are kept to a minimum and we strive to produce wines which will not require a fining prior to bottling. Albumin (egg white), bentonite, isinglass and casein are mostly used as fining agents when fining is required. Wines are not pre filtered before bottling although a conservative filtration may be used during bottling.