Winemaker’s Notes for January 2025

Greetings again from the wine crafting cellar at Hermit Woods Winery.  

Ken and assistant winemaker Ben have been busy yet again.  

• In December we needed to help many new batches of wine progress by racking: transferring the wine from one container to another and removing the sediment, mostly dead yeast, that has settled since the wine was pressed off the fruit.
• We also collected chemistry data on many of our new wines since they have finished fermenting: ABV (alcohol by volume), free SO2 and pH.
• The NH State Liquor stores ordered yet another pallet of our very popular Cranberry Cider in 750ml bottles, so Ben and I prepared and delivered this in December.
• The end of the year brings inventory: an accurate tally of all wine making materials purchased in 2024, wines produced, wines bottled, and wines sold. 
• With our last batch of Crabapple Cider nearly sold out, we filtered and prepared our latest vintage and planned to bottle this very early in 2025.
• The holidays brought many familiar and new faces into the winery which is always a joy and we are very thankful for another wonderful year at Hermit Woods – see you in 2025!

Hope to see you here soon; stop by the cellar anytime. 

Cheers!