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The times for degassing on the instructions are general. I have doubled the times and still had gas in the wine. Best thing is to degass more than you think then test it by putting some in a tube and shaking it. If you hear a Pffft sound after releasing your thumb then you need to degas...

I agree. Don't mess with the kit. It will be a nice lighter cab and you can use it as a top up wine if its thinner than you like.

It sure sounds like oxidation to me. I have some whites that are that old and they are still nice light yellow. It sounds like you did everything correct. Is it possible that the Kmeta you added was old and not as effective? Let some others chime in here. Bill

You may not have degassed enough and the wine giving up the gas. If you plan on letting it sit for a long time the gas will come out. It depends on the temp its stored at and how long you keep it stored in the carboy. Waiting until you have a carboy free is no problem. You may want to do...

What type of wines do you like? As someone said - Mist kits are ready right away. the WE VR kits dont' need much aging either. I just did a Luna Rossa and had my first taste last night and it was very nice for a young wine. I bottled it only two weeks ago and no bottle shock or anything.

For the most part, in wine kits, you get what you pay for. There are some exceptions. The Sterling group of kits and maybe WE's Luna Rossa and Mezza Luna kits are exceptions. I like my Old vine Zin sterling kit. Its 9 months old and is great. I've done a few CC Showcase kits and $ for $...

I've done two Showcase kits in the past 4 months and one is aging in the carboy. There were no labels in my kits though.

The Crushendo line up of the Selection Estate has skins. I believe they are discontinuing that line up so you may have to hunt to find any left. Not all Selection Estate kits are Crushendo.

I made this kit and the WE VR reisling. They've developed differently over time. At first I didn't really like either. Then the VR tasted better after being a year old. Now the complex flavors are gone from the VR and the SE Columbia Valley tastes great. You won't be dissapointed if you...

Thanks Tonyt. Obvioiusly I was expecting something more early but I'm content letting this one sit for a while. A few of my other wines are approaching 1 and 1.5 years and they are nice.

I like it. Why did you "need" to make a label this time (I'm just curious). Do you not make labels most of the time?

Thanks - I thought I read this was a young drinker, but if not I will hold off. It has lots of complex flavors now and is very rich, but it probably isn't ready yet. I've had some better kits that tasted great at bottling so I got worried with this one.

Sorry to bump this to the top. I just bottled this over the weekend to free up carboy space. It had kind of a sweet taste to it even though I know the SG went below 1.000 - just barely. Is this just a green tasting wine and I should let it sit in the bottle for a while? I tasted the oak and...

Don't take this for gospel, but I thought I read on one of these forums that Yeast can metabolize Splenda and the only difference between Splenda and sugar is a few molecules that makes us humans not able to metabolize it, therefore its no calories. Maybe someone else can add more.

I think it depends upon how long you can wait. All wines will clear on their own given time. If its not clear maybe you still have some gas in the wine that is suspending the particles. Personally I'd give it a few weeks and see if its progressing, and if not then hit it with SuperKleer or...

What city will you be staying at? There are obviously ton's of wineries and I think it depends upon what you are looking for. Some are very commercial and cost alot. We went to a little boutique winery that was in the town called Sebastapol, near Santa Rosa. It was a garage type winery...

Good for you for giving it a go. My brother in law spent 3 years in Saudi and made wine and beer, since you can't get anything else. I think he used to make trips to Bahrain or United Arab Emirates to get supplies. He was in Riyahd. Keep good notes and make small batches first to get a...

Does this belong in the joke area? If your serious, then we might need some more info eh? Like recipe, starting SG, time between rackings, etc, etc. Maybe it fermented dry? Take a risk and taste it.

Thanks everyone. It sounds like I could take the risk but I won't. I was trying to avoid driving 40 miles round trip to get something for $1.90. I am borrowing some from a fellow winemaker. Bill