building a supply

[olusteebus]

Has anyone here built up an inventory at one time of kits. Some day aI may do that and it seems to best do this by getting some cheap kits (70- 75 bucks) for early drinkiers, some moderate kits (100 bucks) aged about 9 months to a year, and finally some more expensive kits 125 to 170) for ageing a year to three years.

I have a small inventory now but I would like to build one up.

What have you folks done?

 

[bkisel]

I can see that strategy working but it was not how I've built my stash over the course of the last 1 1/2 years since starting this hobby. Seems like you'd need to get more carboys than you'd eventually need to hold steady state.

 

[cimbaliw]

Over the past 1-1/2 years I have built a nice stash of about 500 bottles, Probably about 2/3 - 3/4 of the inventory is from kits the rest is Skeeter Pee, Dragon's Blood and Apfelwein. We drink 1 bottle/ night. Basically I've made 2 batches/ month, sometimes more to get here. I have a nice mix of different price range kits, IMO the expensive ones are definitely worth the money. No specific planning just making what strikes me at the time.

My system has evolved into making two batches simultaneously of reasonable similar wine i.e Chardonnay and Viognier or Merlot and shiraz. It's just easier. Sometimes I'll rack two 6 gallon batches to a 5 gal and a six gal carboy depending on topping up.

Don't think too much about it, just make twice as much as you drink until you reach goal then you can back off to maintain a steady state and not out strip your storage capacity.

Hope this helps.
BC

 

[pjd]

I also have ramped up production to outpace our consumption. I now have nearly 4000 bottles in the cellar and it is very enjoyable to go to the cellar, select a 3 year old wine that you haven't tried yet and have your wife complement you on how good that particular wine is. The downer is when she asks did you buy that one at Walmart?

 

[sour_grapes]

I also have ramped up production to outpace our consumption. I now have nearly 4000 bottles in the cellar and it is very enjoyable to go to the cellar, select a 3 year old wine that you haven't tried yet and have your wife complement you on how good that particular wine is. The downer is when she asks did you buy that one at Walmart?

4000? I salute you, sir! I was proud of getting to nearly 400!

 

[Runningwolf]

I have recently slowed production over the past year or so. Having over 1500 bottles in the cellar along with close to 40 carboys of wine in different stages I decided I reassess my inventory. The majority of the wines were early drinkers (1-3 years) from kits and fresh juice. In an effort to reduce this inventory I started making mostly all big reds and ports while drinking and gifting the current stock. I am ramping up production again using CA, Italian and local juice along with fresh fruit. My goal is to maintain 1299-1500 bottles with 60% or more with wines that will age 4-10 years or longer. I do very little or no kits or novelty wines anymore but I am considering making another jalapeno wine.

 

[cimbaliw]

"I now have nearly 4000 bottles in the cellar"

I am not worthy! Do you have any pictures of your cellar?

 

[pjd]

"I now have nearly 4000 bottles in the cellar"

I am not worthy! Do you have any pictures of your cellar?

Its too crowded, the camera cannot focus!

 

[Runningwolf]

Its too crowded, the camera cannot focus!

That's funny but true. My Wine Cellar is only 6x12 but I can very neatly showcase over 1000 bottles but I haven't been able to get a great picture of it. I need someone with a very wide angle lens. I also have three Sam's Club racks for the over flow outside of the cellar that holds 268 bottles each.

 

[ffemt128]

My current inventory is about 400+ bottles. I have another 36 gallons ready for immediate bottling and about 30 gallons that need stabilized and back sweetened. I haven't done a kit in a long time. My cellar goes anywhere from several 2009 bottles to bottled a month ago but a year old.

 

[FTC Wines]

My current inventory is 652 on the "cellar" wall @ 68* 84 in wine chillers, & 13 carboys in production! Running out of store age room. Just made 10 gals of Ga Peach Wine yesterday, not included in #. Wines are from 1 month bottled to 4 yrs bottled. SP & other early drinkers have allowed the inventory to build. Roy

 

[GaDawg]

I like your strategy, but I think you also need to factor in the time of year. For example, if I want watermelon / merlot (just bottled) I should have started in January.
I also think, for me in the sunny south, white wine does better in winter. Colder temp for fermentation.


Sent from my iPad using Wine Making

 

[richmke]

Start with a cheap kit, like Island Mist. they area ready soon, and if you mess up, no big deal. I tailor mine by adding to the Primary: 1-3 pounds of sugar to boost the alcohol, and 1/2 to 2/3 of the f-pack to significantly reduce the sweetness. The rest of the f-pack I add at the normal time to back sweeten.

2nd & 3rd kits would be the early drinker red and white.

After that, I just do top of the line kits, and the occasional IM for a summer wine.

 

[FTC Wines]

GaDog, I used to live outside Blue Ridge Ga. Sure miss the cool basement temps. But here in SW Fl my winery room is 68* year round! winery closet is 71* & house is 77* most of the year. So I can ferment in any of those temps which really helps & eliminates yearly cycles for me. Just picked up a bushel of Ga Peaches Mon on our way home, adding yeast tonight, smells wonderful already! Roy. Ps watermelon/Merlot sounds very interesting. Watermelon Wine is the only wine I ever thru out! Think it spoiled from too high a fermentation temp.

 

[JohnT]

Man, What a great thread!

Soapbox is now at my feet...

My inventory WAS about 2,500 bottles. I say WAS for a reason..

I learned the hard way that building inventory is wonderful, but only up to a point. Many wines can only last just so long. Corks, too can only last so long.

I had a special occasion recently and opened a bottle of my 1993 cabernet. This was a wine that (at the time) was truly worthy of aging. The color was beautiful, the clarity was good, but the flavor had sadly faded. The wine was like colored water. I opened three other bottles and they were all the same. The wine was simply not worth drinking anymore.

When I think of how wonderful the wine was, and that I could have enjoyed it at the time, I began to question my whole approach to inventory.

I took a weekend and tasted through all of my wines that were older than 10 years. Two were still in excellent condition, but many were either fading or completely faded. I ended (about 2 months ago) having an "old vintage" party with about 20 good friends. With 2 exceptions (1998 merlot and 1999 san gio), all wines tagged as over 10 years is up for grabs (for drinking first, then for taking home). The only rule was this.. At some point, clean and return the bottles to me.

So I basically had a good time liquidating my old stock. On some of the bins, I tagged "Please leave me 12" for the wines that were still very drinkable. Over all, I managed to lighten my inventory by some 700 bottles. We drank about 40, dumped about 100, and folks took home the rest.

Sorry (again) for the long story. This all went down very recently and I felt that it would be good to share.

So in summary..

- Seeing old wines go past their prime is much like a father's lament over not spending enough time with his kids... "Oh, the good times we should have had (but never did)".

- Aging wine is all well and good, but there is an optimal age for any wine. Try not to hang on to too much for too long.

- Never age an inferior wine. You will only be taking up space as there will ALWAYS be something better to drink. I held on to 6 cases of 1998 white burgundy (YUK!) and NEVER opened a single bottle. It is nice to have that space for better things.

 

[bkisel]

Wow! I'm amazed at the depth and breadth to which many pursue this home wine making hobby. I was thinking that for me more than say 200-300 bottles of maybe 5-6 varieties of wine would put me over the top.

 

[FTC Wines]

JohnT that's an amazing# of bottles. I'm hoping for a 3 yr supply, that's 1200+ bottles for us. That way I'll drink all my 3 yr old fruit wines and my 5 yr old Reds. Now the only wine that I'm aging really long term is a Amarone, almost 4 yrs old. Have some bold Cabs & Red blends in carboys for a year that I'll bottle & put 1/2 in long term cellaring. Still have a bunch of Peach & Apple that's 3 yrs old, thinking we need to get busy on that. Roy

 

[richmke]

I was thinking that for me more than say 200-300 bottles of maybe 5-6 varieties of wine would put me over the top.

It all depends upon your consumption and turnover.

Let's say that you drink and gift an average of 2 bottles per week. That is 100 bottles per year. If the average age of the wine you consume is 3 years, then that is 300 bottles worth of wine (some will still be in carboys) that you need to maintain.

If you drink/gift an average of a bottle a day, and have an average age of 5 years, then you are looking at over 1,500 bottles worth.

 

[olusteebus]

I have probably 250 to 300 bottled now. Some SP, a strawberry that I cannot stand (need to try it again) and a few other not too good wines. What I need to do is start making one or two kits a month and build up the stuff I really like to drink - Reds, chardonnays, other whites - and get to the point where I rarely buy wine and can easily age wine a year ormore. I think that is what I will start when I get back to my winery.

Thanks to all for the good info

 

[sour_grapes]

I have worked the math on this out in detail (under a set of reasonable assumptions). Let me know if you want me to share it.