Hmmm. Well, my wines go more like this:
1. Finish fermenting. Dry wines can go as low as .990. Once it's completely clear, and no longer gassy, it can be bottled. This is usually in about 6-12 months from the day I mix up the must. If you bottle a wine that's not clear, you'll have a ton of sediment on the bottle. If it's been finished fermenting for 6 months but still not clear, you can use finings if you want to.
2. If it's gassy, but ready, it can be degassed. I've never had to do it with any wine except a kit wine though. Kit wines are the only wines I've ever had to degas.
3. Decide if I'm going to sweeten or not. If I am, I rack onto 1 crushed campden tablet per gallon, with 1/2 teaspoon of sorbate per gallon. Let sit a couple of days.
4. To sweeten, pull out a couple samples of wine. Sweeten each one a bit, and see which one you like. Take the SG of that sample, and then sweeten the whole batch to just under that SG. What I mean is this- if you like it at 1.010, but it's not sweet enough at 1.006, sweeten it to about 1.008. For some strange reason, it always tastes a bit sweeter after it's been bottled for a couple of months. If you bottle it just a tad less sweet than you want, it should be perfect.
5. After sweetening, you can leave it in a carboy a couple of days just to ensure fermentation won't restart. When you know it's ok, you can bottle.
That's basically what I do. I don't sweeten many wines, so I don't often use sorbate. I always use campden at bottling, though, because it works as an antioxidant and preservative. I don't use much, but I use enough to keep the wine safe.
