Best white and red kits for early drinking

[BenK]

Looking for some fillers while my wine from fresh fruit sits in bulk aging. Looking particularly for

6-12 weeks to drink
Dry
Not terribly expensive

But post your favorites even if they arent dry or cheap, just make sure you throw up some notes about your top picks!

 

[GaDawg]

Winexpert Selection Luna Bianca

 

[DriftlessDoc]

WE California Symphony is dry, pretty good so far. Pacific Quartet is amazing but off dry.

 

[kyle5434]

Everybody's taste is different, and in terms of kits, I've only done dry red kits to date. But I haven't found any that are ready to drink that early - at least, that I enjoy drinking and that I wouldn't be embarrassed to share with anybody else.

I've done some 5.2 liter Fontana kits, some 10-liter WE and RJS kits, a 12-liter RJS kit, some 16-liter WE kits, and a couple of 18-liter kits, and even at 6 months none of them are quite "there" for me yet. My measure is, "Is this at least as decent as a $7 bottle I'd pick up at Trader Joe's?". I tasted a couple of Fontana bottles (Merlot and Malbec, both tweaked slightly) about a month ago at the 7-month mark, and they were noticeably closer to being ready than they were at 5 months. I'm going to try them again in about another month (at the 9-month mark), and I'm expecting they might be close enough to start enjoying by then.

As always, YMMV.

 

[pillswoj]

RJS Heritage Estates Pino Grigio - with the zest of 1/2 a grapefruit added (thanks @joeswine for the tweak) very drinkable a month after bottling. I am making my 3rd batch since the start of the year,

 

[Mismost]

Looking for some fillers while my wine from fresh fruit sits in bulk aging. Looking particularly for

6-12 weeks to drink
Dry
Not terribly expensive

But post your favorites even if they arent dry or cheap, just make sure you throw up some notes about your top picks!

 

[Mismost]

Fontana Malbec with Joe's tweaks and my own adds is a decent early drinker that does get better with time.

Also like the WE Mesa Luna Red...pretty good pretty quick

Island must Peach Apricot Chardonnay...add half the flavor to primary and sg to 1.07ish....not what most folks would call a good Chard but they will suck it down. Most folks will like this one

 

[Bts]

Wine Expert Vintners reserve Bergamais (Beaujolais), or probably any Bergamais/Gamay/Beaujolais kit for that matter. It's dry, cheapish, needs no tweaking, and is ready to drink out of the carboy at 4 weeks. Nobody will ever accuse it of being big or bold, but it's a nice smooth easy drinking red that compares to commercial Beaujolais pretty much as soon as you bottle it. It would be my suggestion to first time brewers who have nothing in storage or anyone in your situation who wants to be drinking a "real" red wine(not a cooler) at week 5 while the rest of their stuff ages. For white, practically anything will do. I've yet to make a white that wasn't pretty good immediately.

 

[WinoDave]

Wine Expert Vintners reserve Bergamais (Beaujolais), or probably any Bergamais/Gamay/Beaujolais kit for that matter. It's dry, cheapish, needs no tweaking, and is ready to drink out of the carboy at 4 weeks. Nobody will ever accuse it of being big or bold, but it's a nice smooth easy drinking red that compares to commercial Beaujolais pretty much as soon as you bottle it. It would be my suggestion to first time brewers who have nothing in storage or anyone in your situation who wants to be drinking a "real" red wine(not a cooler) at week 5 while the rest of their stuff ages. For white, practically anything will do. I've yet to make a white that wasn't pretty good immediately.

Wine Expert Vintners reserve Bergamais (Beaujolais), or probably any Bergamais/Gamay/Beaujolais kit for that matter. It's dry, cheapish, needs no tweaking, and is ready to drink out of the carboy at 4 weeks. Nobody will ever accuse it of being big or bold, but it's a nice smooth easy drinking red that compares to commercial Beaujolais pretty much as soon as you bottle it. It would be my suggestion to first time brewers who have nothing in storage or anyone in your situation who wants to be drinking a "real" red wine(not a cooler) at week 5 while the rest of their stuff ages. For white, practically anything will do. I've yet to make a white that wasn't pretty good immediately.

Agree, Vintners Reserve kits are pretty good and around $80 a kit. They are pretty good at 3 months.

 

[BenK]

i bought a beaujolais 100% gamay at the store today. It was a 2016. the fruit flavors and dryness are great but some of the spice notes dont jive with me, is the kit a similar experience?

 

[ceeaton]

i bought a beaujolais 100% gamay at the store today. It was a 2016. the fruit flavors and dryness are great but some of the spice notes dont jive with me, is the kit a similar experience?

What version of Beaujolais was it? It could have been an old sample as I believe spice notes are not normally part of the gamay taste profile (but earthiness is, which I think of as nice tasting dirt or even compost).

Beaujolais Nouveau should be consumed within 6 months of being bottled...Regular Beaujolais and Beaujolais-Villages (not Nouveau) should be consumed within 2 years of the vintage date on the bottle. Cru Beaujolais is usually safe up to 3 years, but some can even last to 10 years depending on the vintage.

 

[BenK]

beaujolais-villages is what I have. Ive had Noueaus before but from wisconsin grapes. never with traditional gamay.

 

[ceeaton]

beaujolais-villages is what I have. Ive had Noueaus before but from wisconsin grapes. never with traditional gamay.

Well, the bottle you bought was pushing past it's "better drunk by xx-xx-xx" date. Maybe that's where the spiciness came from? I've drunk and loved the same type wine before, usually the Louis Jadot version, and really enjoyed it (pairs with most any food, even pizza on pizza night).

 

[Elizajean]

Wine Expert Vintners reserve Bergamais (Beaujolais), or probably any Bergamais/Gamay/Beaujolais kit for that matter. It's dry, cheapish, needs no tweaking, and is ready to drink out of the carboy at 4 weeks. Nobody will ever accuse it of being big or bold, but it's a nice smooth easy drinking red that compares to commercial Beaujolais pretty much as soon as you bottle it. It would be my suggestion to first time brewers who have nothing in storage or anyone in your situation who wants to be drinking a "real" red wine(not a cooler) at week 5 while the rest of their stuff ages. For white, practically anything will do. I've yet to make a white that wasn't pretty good immediately.

I would say that the WE Vintners Reserve is a good place to start. I've made the Pinot Grigio and the Spanish Tempranillo, both good early drinkers.