That has been my experience up here in the North too; if you tell the tasting room person what you are after 9 times out of 10 the winemaker is only too happy to oblige if thwey are onsite. It depends on the time of year I'm sure, if you get them in the middle of bottling or at the harvest there aren't enough hours in the day so that could be all that was wrong.
Dandelion wine questionMiker, If you visit Jack Keller's dandelion recipe page you'll find a boatload of information as well as recipes. Two years ago I made both...
People up here don't seem to see you as potential compebreastion, they see you as a fellow winemaker with an issue. If winemakers in the Northeast are that agreeable I would expect that Southern winemakers would be even more accommodating if that's possible.
I may just fall into the right people accidentally but I doubt that.
Presque Isle Wine Cellars in Northeast PA caters to the small scale professional winemaker. Call them and ask them to ask Doug if he knows of any small wineries in your area that might be able to put you on the right path.
They have a huge selection of books, they can probably point you in the right direction there too. I'm thinking you might like the U of Missouri book better. I'll look through what I have here and see if I have something more practical for you. I got most of my technical books from Presque Isle and get most of my supplies there.
As to racking from a tank you already have good advice, you drain 3-4 of the tank first then start inching the hose down.
Joe
