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To Fine White Wines

A method for clarifying white wine using isinglass.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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To Fine White Wines

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the isinglass

  1. Beat the isinglass into thin shreds with a hammer.

  2. Dissolve the isinglass by boiling it in water.

  3. Let the mixture cool until it becomes a stiff jelly.

Fine the wine

  1. Whisk some of the jelly into a froth with a little of the wine.

  2. Stir the frothy jelly into the rest of the wine in the cask.

  3. Seal the cask tightly and let it sit for 8 to 10 days.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Isinglass
A collagen-based fining agent that binds suspended particles and tannins so they settle out, clearing the wine.

The step that matters

Whisking the jelly into a froth with wine before adding it to the cask. Whisking spreads the jelly into fine, evenly dispersed particles. This lets the fining agent contact the haze-forming particles throughout the wine, rather than clumping in one spot where clearing would be uneven.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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