Early Drinkable Wine

[Jwatson]

I would like to make a nice red that if I started now would taste good by June. I am interested in a chianti, valpolicella style wine.

 

[MN-winer]

There really is no substitute for time. You will hear that from all wine makers. But given a time crunch the Mist kits are always good early. Whites are also better earlier. When you add beefy style reds like you mention it gets a little dicier. I've heard that the WE Mezza Luna Red is a good kit early. I have the WE Luna Rossa kit in secondary now and I can tell already its going to be good early. It will get better if you leave it but this one tastes pretty good even only a few weeks old. Wait for some of the experts on this forum to chime in.

 

[cpfan]

Jwatson:

Most red kits are OK early. They definitely improve over time though. In the Ferment on Premises world of Canada, the 4 week kits are often consumed post-haste by customers. IE the kit is bottled one day, and all 30 bottles are gone 4-6 weeks later. So it depends on your tastes. If you're looking for a full bodied red, forget it.

But most valpolicellas are not full bodied, so thats a good choice. Bergamais kits (ie Beaujolais) are also lighter bodied reds. Try one of the better 4-week kits (Grand Cru, Ken Ridge Classic, or World Vineyard). Or perhaps one of the "regular" 6-week kits (Legacy, Selection Original, or Cellar Classic). Avoid the grape skin kits because they will need more time.

When I ran an FoP, the Ken Ridge Classic Merlot was THE best seller in our store, principally because it was a nice tastng red even when ridiculously young, and better with some age.

Which ever you choose, try to save 6-12 bottles for 9 to 12 months. Then you can decide for yourself if aging had any benefit.

Steve

 

[JordanPond]

It really depends on your taste. My wife and I like wine but are far from experts. Our first kit, a WineXpert Vintner Reserve Pinot Noir, has been good for us. 1 month after bottling wife loves it. Our second kit, WineExpert World Vintner German Thurgau, just went into the bottle. Initial sampling was very good. Again, we are not wine conisouirs (can't spell either). Our expectations are not as high as some plus being new to the hobby/obsession our patience is on the low side. We started with low to medium priced kits and are moving up the quality scale with the intent of making wine faster than we drink it. The lower end kits should be ready to drink sooner but have a lower potential to be excellent. We'll drink these as our more recent kits finish and age. Our first two kits were WineXpert but we are trying some RJ Spagnol kits. We have a Gran Cru International California Syrah that is almost ready to bottle. Won't have feed back on that for a while.

 

[robie]

I would not rely on any nice red kit being a good, early drinker. When I first started, I made two kits, which said the wine was drinkable in six months.

They weren't drinkable after the first 12 months! Of course that is just my opinion.

(I'm sure I will catch some flac from someone on this..)

If you want something to drink right away, do this -

Start a nice kit that you know won't be very good for a year are so. It will be worth the wait!

As soon as it gets out of primary, go buy a second carboy and start a summer wine.

Summer wines are sort of glorified wine coolers, except the summer wines are made from real wine, not beer. WineXpert, RJ Spagnol and others make great summer wine kits.

Whether red or white, they are pretty much drinkable right after bottling. I have made several of the RJ Spagnol and friends have made other brands. All of them were very nice. VERY NICE! Pour them over ice and add bits of your favorite fruit.

As a matter of fact, I have three summer wine kits - one started and the other two ready to go.

To be honest, you just might be disappointed trying to drink a nice, non-summer-wine red kit wine in only a few months.

The other alternative is to make a white wine. They are always better with age, but tend to be drinkable in a few months.

Good luck with your choice.

 

[tonyt]

There really is no substitute for time. You will hear that from all wine makers.

That said . . . I have a Cellar Craft Rosso Fortissimo that I tasted right after primary and WOW, I could begin drinking it at bottling. I won't, it's going to get 3 - 6 months aging.

Consider starting two kits one right after another. Drink the first kit early and let the second age as much as you can. You'll need two carboys but within a year you will have several anyway.

 

[Jwatson]

Thanks! I was actually looking at the Cellar Craft Rosso.

 

[MN-winer]

That said . . . I have a Cellar Craft Rosso Fortissimo that I tasted right after primary and WOW, I could begin drinking it at bottling. I won't, it's going to get 3 - 6 months aging.

I think it all comes down to taste and preference. I have the same kit and while I can tell the kit will be good, IMO its not worth drinking early. This kit, I've heard, gets really good after one year. I know plenty of people that drink expensive kits right away and they are happy with that approach. If you do drink early, save a few as cpfan says. You will be happy you did. I've done that with all my kits except the mist kits. Those are gone quick.

 

[BobF]

If you have whole grapes available, you might want to try this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonic_maceration

This is on my ToDo/experiment list with some chambourcin I have in the freezer. I have a batch from these grapes aging that were fermented in the traditional approach. It's very young and tasty, but will absolutely need a year or two in the bottle.

I'll be excited to be able to compare them side-by-side.

 

[philogeek]

It's already been mentioned, but I'd also suggest a summer wine. All of this is my own opinion, of course, but I'd regret building a wine that I knew I was going to consume before it had some maturation time in the bottle. Anytime I've feared running into such a situation, I've just gone to my local wine store and picked up a few bottles from there, rather than breaking out wine that might disappoint or fall short of expectations (mine and others).

I'd suggest a summer wine, but if you're set on an Italian red, you may still be able to pull it off by using a 4-week kit and starting it yesterday . That'd give you roughly 3 months in the bottle which could definitely be worse.

GL!

 

[tonyt]

Thanks! I was actually looking at the Cellar Craft Rosso.

There is nothing like drinking your first homemade wine so why put it off? If red wine is what you like . . . go for it. The self gratification of making your own adds enormously to the taste of that first endeavor. If you are a wine connoisseur (nothing like a good spell checker) you might be disappointed in kits in general. I love red wine, especially $60-$100 Amarones, $50-$90 Brunellos and $50-$75,California Cabs, $80-$$$$ Bordeaux. Do I drink them? Not very often, maybe twice a year. The other 363 days I love my $6-$12 kit wines. Although in a blind test my wife and I both selected our own 18 month old Brunello over a low end $30 store bought one.

In my inexperienced opinion you should start 2 kits as close together as possible. On the kit you want to drink early I would degas the H*** out of it and would consider not adding the final Kmeta to half of the bottles. That would give you 15 bottles that you could drink from about one month to 6 months then start on the 15 with Kmeta. But don't dare take my advice on that, someone smart should comment first about what you can and can't leave out.

 

[cpfan]

In my inexperienced opinion you should start 2 kits as close together as possible. On the kit you want to drink early I would degas the H*** out of it

You should degas BOTH wines thoroughly. Make that ALL wines.

Steve

 

[tonyt]

You should degas BOTH wines thoroughly. Make that ALL wines.

Steve

My bad, you can't be too OCD about degassing.

 

[AUwiner]

Aging is definitely good, but I did make a Ken Ridge Classic Pinot Noir a couple of years ago that was very good in only 8 weeks. This was a 4-week kit that I then bulk aged for 4 additional weeks before bottling. Admittedly it did continue to get better with time but I have bought many more expensive wines in stores that was not as good as the KRC when it was first bottled. If you just have to have a red right now this might be one you would like to try.

 

[phermenter]

I am surprised by how good the Winexpert World Vineyards Trinity Red is at only 4 months, though I don't plan to open a full bottle until at least 6 months.

It's not Italian, but it would go nicely with pizza or spaghetti or whatever.

Jim