Early (but good) Drinking Kits

[ithink2020]

I'm just getting back into wine making after about 10 years. I've started a batch wine from Frozen Grape Concentrate (currently in secondary).

However, I'm looking to make some early (but good) drinking kits to stock up and to get back into the swing of things, before getting some bigger, longer aging kits.

Looking for suggestions.

 

[cmason1957]

Since you want to drink them sooner, rather than age, go with the lower to mid range price point, that's those that are under $80-100 for 30 bottles. Pretty much make them according to the directions time-wise, don't add extra tannins or oak. Let them sit in the bottle about a month or two, start drinking. If you are more into the sweeter side, what WineExpert used to call Island Mist, with the alcohol bumped up by about 4 lbs of sugar and some extra added grape concentrate are pretty good right out of the carboy. Chill them down just a bit and go for it.

It's harder for me to give actual names, since WineExpert just changed the naming of their kits.

 

[Denis whalen]

I've been drinking wine expert island mist blood orange sangria the last two weeks and I love it, added a few lbs of corn sugar as well. It's really sweet my wife and her friends we have given some to enjoy it as well

 

[Doug’s wines]

Whites Generally drink earlier. We do the wineexpert eclipse sav Blanc as an early drinker. Usually very happy with it in 3-4 months. The comparable new kit is the Private Reserve, but I haven’t tried it yet.

 

[TonyP]

You don't give an indication of what you'd like so I'll offer a twist on the earlier comments. I agree to look in the $80-100 range for what you may think of as midrange kits. These kits make 23 liters / 6 gallons in 5-6 weeks, finished and ready to drink although aging for weeks or months improves them. Possibly consider Winexpert Vintner's Reserve and RJ Spagnols Cru International.

 

[joeswine]

Try cheaper price point Kit's.

 

[laxarwolf]

I'm just getting back into wine making after about 10 years. I've started a batch wine from Frozen Grape Concentrate (currently in secondary).

However, I'm looking to make some early (but good) drinking kits to stock up and to get back into the swing of thi.comngs, before getting some bigger, longer aging kits.

Looking for suggestions.

Welcome back, and welcome to a whole new world of kit opportunities. I am fond of a couple of early drinkers. you probably already know this stuff but, Ill start with the obvious... Merlot, Pinot Noir, and Shiraz are good early drinkers... especially in the midrange and lower price point kits. The winexpert kit...Diablo Rojo is really excellent as an early drinker (and is surviving the changes at winexpert) Lots of jammy flavors, and even some tobacco notes from the heavy oak. wineloversonline.com is a great source for cheap and medium priced kits. You get what you pay for, a decent if not great every day drinking wine, and it's so affordable you can add the optional grape packs, oak...etc to craft a pretty darn good wine. Hope that was helpful. I should add labelpeelers.com is a great place to shop for winexpert kits.

 

[joeswine]

Laxarwolf, good reply and spot on. Don't forget tweaking cheap wine kits for moving on down the road.

 

[ithink2020]

You don't give an indication of what you'd like

I like dry red wines (Zin, Merlot, Cab, Pinot), but not opposed to anything.

Welcome back, and welcome to a whole new world of kit opportunities. I am fond of a couple of early drinkers. you probably already know this stuff but, Ill start with the obvious... Merlot, Pinot Noir, and Shiraz are good early drinkers... especially in the midrange and lower price point kits. The winexpert kit...Diablo Rojo is really excellent as an early drinker (and is surviving the changes at winexpert) Lots of jammy flavors, and even some tobacco notes from the heavy oak.

This is what I was hoping for! Looking for what people have found to be good early drinkers. I'm going to be adding the Diablo Rojo to the top of my to do list!

Don't forget tweaking cheap wine kits for moving on down the road.

Doing this is on my radar as well. However, I think I need to do a couple kits per the instructions to get back into the swing of things. The Frozen Grape Concentrate I started might have some issues. I stared it on 4/21/2020 with as SG of 1.090. Racked into secondary on 4/30/202 @ 1.024. I racked the bulk into a 3 gallon carboy and the remaining ~3 liters into a gallon jug. Last night the wine in the Gallon jug (which had a LOT of headspace) showed little sign of fermentation so I racked into a 1.5 liter bottle and a 750ml bottle. While doing this, I took a reading an the SG was around 1.030! My basement temp is around 68 and I had a brew belt wrapped around the carboy and jug. The SG reading of the wine in the carboy was about the same. I know I should have wrote down the numbers... Anyways, I've heard of wine getting really gasses in the secondary and throwing the reading off, but I've not had that happen before. I used some of the wine from the bottle and topped up the 750 ml bottle and the carboy. Going to walk away from them and check things again in a week. Oh, the wine in the carboy still has little bubbles raising and bubbles every few minutes.

 

[TonyP]

I like dry red wines (Zin, Merlot, Cab, Pinot), but not opposed to anything.

This is what I was hoping for! Looking for what people have found to be good early drinkers. I'm going to be adding the Diablo Rojo to the top of my to do list!

I originally suggested Vintner's Reserve and Cru International but from what you've added about reds, I'm confident Vintner's Reserve is the way to go. Reds generally require more aging than whites but Vintner's Reserve will easily be ready to drink in your timeframe. You'll give up much of the improvement aging creates in more complex wines but that sacrifice will come at the benefit of early drinking. Note that Vintner's Reserve doesn't include skins which will help in allowing early drinking.

One comment on Diablo Rojo, it's an excellent Vintner's Reserve product that meets your early drinking needs but it's distinctive, different from the wines you've mentioned in part because it's off-dry. There are dry reds in the Vintner's Reserve category that are closer to your description although Diablo Rojo is very popular..

 

[szap]

I originally suggested Vintner's Reserve and Cru International but from what you've added about reds, I'm confident Vintner's Reserve is the way to go. Reds generally require more aging than whites but Vintner's Reserve will easily be ready to drink in your timeframe. You'll give up much of the improvement aging creates in more complex wines but that sacrifice will come at the benefit of early drinking. Note that Vintner's Reserve doesn't include skins which will help in allowing early drinking.

One comment on Diablo Rojo, it's an excellent Vintner's Reserve product that meets your early drinking needs but it's distinctive, different from the wines you've mentioned in part because it's off-dry. There are dry reds in the Vintner's Reserve category that are closer to your description although Diablo Rojo is very popular..

I second the off dry. I have used 1/2 the f pack at the very start and 1/2 per instructions. One thing I will say about it, our friends who are not dry red drinkers love it!

 

[ithink2020]

I have used 1/2 the f pack at the very start and 1/2 per instructions.

How do you keep the f-pac fresh after opening?

 

[sour_grapes]

How do you keep the f-pac fresh after opening?

Fridge is fine, or, if you are worried about it, you can freeze it. I put it into Mason jars and refrigerate it.

 

[ithink2020]

wineloversonline.com is a great source for cheap and medium priced kits.

Don't forget tweaking cheap wine kits for moving on down the road.

I was looking at Winloversonline.com. Nice pricing and free shipping! How do the 11.5% kits compare to Vintner's Reserve? Or how do the 7% kits (tweaked: made to 5 gallons, capitalized, added raisins & oak) compare to the Vintner's Reserve?

I know it is subjective but would love everyone's thoughts.

Thank you!

 

[TonyP]

How do the 11.5% kits compare to Vintner's Reserve? Or how do the 7% kits (tweaked: made to 5 gallons, capitalized, added raisins & oak) compare to the Vintner's Reserve?

I haven't compared ABV of kits. ABV is more closely associated with style or varietal. To illustrate, within reds Beaujolais, Burgundy, Bordeaux, and Chianti are often in the 12.5-13.5% range. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, and Syrah are in the 13.5-14.5% range. Zinfandel is 15-16%. This is just an illustration of typical wines to show categories.

 

[joeswine]

It's always been my contention that regardless of the wine style or type, once you know what your taste buds like you can recreate it,not hard.
Sometimes as wine makers we need to sit and read about items that are of interest to us in the making of wine,
Then once understood we then apply.
Capitalizetion is one of them.
Learning how to read and understand what you're reading and applying it.
All kits are different and the same ,learn the process by reading the instructions and understanding them.
Then ask the questions the replies will make better sense, trust me.
Just my thoughts . Read about the chemicals used ,the how and when
Take the time to read , it's them most important thing you can do for yourself, then ask questions.

 

[TonyP]

It's always been my contention that regardless of the wine style or type, once you know what your taste buds like you can recreate it,not hard.
Sometimes as wine makers we need to sit and read about items that are of interest to us in the making of wine,
Then once understood we then apply.
Capitalizetion is one of them.
Learning how to read and understand what you're reading and applying it.
All kits are different and the same ,learn the process by reading the instructions and understanding them.
Then ask the questions the replies will make better sense, trust me.
Just my thoughts . Read about the chemicals used ,the how and when
Take the time to read , it's them most important thing you can do for yourself, then ask questions.

Joe, a very good, worthwhile, and different slant on the topic. I have to take some exception to your initial comment. Recreating what we like isn't all that difficult but creating it the first time can be challenging, at least for me.

On your capitalization (sp) point, it may relate to varietals / styles. If so, I think there's a never ending debate on the subject and grammar experts have a different slant versus wine connoisseurs. For example, I think "Pinot noir" is grammatically correct and how it's used in Wikipedia, but Merriam-Webster says "pinot noir" while Wine Enthusiast and Robert Parker use "Pinot Noir".

 

[joeswine]

Thinking outside the box has always been my style.
Sometimes with not so good results and that wasn't a bad thing the failures allowed me to understand the what when and how I failed but how I can correct it in the future.
Reading and Reading's, I learned to read and then read articles and chemicals used in our field, cause and effect ,then to appy what was learned.
I don't mean to preach , home wine makers can make as good as wine as commerical wine makers .
So to the new wine makers I say ,learn to read about our craft ask questions ,take a chance to think outside the box plan your work then work your plan .

 

[Doug’s wines]

@TonyP I could be wrong, but I believe Joe was referring to Chapatilzation. Autocorrect always seems to “fix” that to capitalization (need a wine makers version of autocorrect!).

You may have been kidding but just in case you aren’t aware chap·tal·i·za·tion is the correction or improvement of must by the addition of calcium carbonate to neutralize acid, or of sugar to increase alcoholic strength.

Doug

 

[ithink2020]

I haven't compared ABV of kits. ABV is more closely associated with style or varietal.

I wasn't clear... I was wondering how the finish product (the wine), overall, of the Wine Lover's kits compares to that of the Vintner's Reserve. I can get two Wine Lover's Kits for almost what it will cost me to purchase a Vintner's Reserve kit. If they are close in comparison, I'm thinking to going that route. I understand there will need to be tweaks. I'm not opposed to that.

And I have been reading. Pulled out the wine making books I have and going back through them. Formulating plans for a couple Wine Lovers kits, based off the info provided in the tweaking cheap kits thread.

I guess I just need to jump in and find things out for myself.