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Just curious- what makes a kit wine drinkable immediately vs one made from scratch (eg pressing the grapes)? Guessing the kit wine is at lower TA which makes it drinkable sooner but has less aging ability…. Am I on the right track? Anything else?

Hi- this wasn’t a kit- I picked 200 lbs of Zinfandel grapes at a local farm. It’s my first attempt with grapes rather than a kit. I did add enzymes so I’m not too worried about the shorter time on the skins. I will update in a few days as the fermentation progresses. Thanks for everyone’s input.

Thanks for the input. I will be gone about 3 weeks which is why I’m concerned. I have a few more days before I need to commit. Hoping SG will be close to 1 but fermentation always seems to go slower towards the end. Good to know that a premature press won’t be catastrophic. :).

Hello- I have about 11 gallons of Zin fermenting on their skins. Brix is down to 6 but I have to leave town in a few days. What happens if I press the wine before SG goes below 1? I understand I will lose a few days on the skins but won’t it continue to ferment in the secondary? All the...

I saw a post a while back that suggested checking Craigslist. Sure enough I found a relatively local source for Zinfandel in Hemet CA. Grapes not yet ready for harvesting but grower said no problem handling my request for ~200 lbs. I will need to pick myself but I guess that’s part of the...

Many thanks for all of the information. Gives me lots of directions.

Hello- I’m looking for some sort of chart that shows average days to ripeness for the various grape varietals. Obviously it can vary from year to year but would still be a nice baseline. Somewhere I saw a reference for cab sav at 180 days from bud break. Would like to see something similar...