I'm sure it will be delicious; easy drinking although a little less complex. Without skins it will also be ready to drink earlier. I wish I would have only use half the skins and gone light on the oak in my pinot kit. After a year it still tastes oak and tannin heavy.
You are suggesting one pack of skins only in the case of a Pinot Noir correct?
Yes, in my opinion I wouldn't go more than one in in the FWK pinot kit. Almost forgot to mention when I racked my Pinot there were a lot of tartrate crystals in the bottom possibly indicating excess tannins.
I bottled a Tavola w/no skin packs at 6 months -- it was drinkable a month later. It's fruity with nice body. IMO it's probably what you are looking for, as it's less robust. I will serve it to folks who are not heavy red drinkers, and it's a good salmon or turkey wine.
Crystals drop when the level of potassium bitartrate surpasses a saturation level. That's how cold stabilization works -- chilling the wine reduces the saturation point so crystals form and drop. OTOH, as reds age, tannins can precipitate, but that's a different process.
I Monti Mondiale (Pinot Noir) and it did not come with Grapes skins. I added about a third of the oak as I am not a fan of oak. The wine has been racked twice and still in the carboy, will probably bottle in a month or so. Preliminary tasting is that of surprise as it has exceeded our expectation. Best thing to do is take your time.
Yes, I have made three FWK's so far. Definitely a difference. As far as the extra oak, my choice would be to actually reduce some of the oaking-like the cubes. I don't particularly like an oak flavor, but to each their own. If you like an oak flavor in a pinot, go for it, but what is included is enough IMO. I would also tend to reduce the length of time the skins are in contact with the wine. In contrast, maybe try to cold macerate the skin packs for a while before pitching. Just ideas....
I have made 4 Pinot Noir kits by WE and RJS and have a FWK bulk aging now. All were premium kits but only the RJS came with skins. That one was bottled in Nov. of ‘21 and I have 10 or 12 left. it is very good now but it took a while. I thought for a long while before trying the FWK and considered the Forte but in the end I went with Tavola. I like Pinot that is medium bodied so skipped the skins. I’ll bottle it in a few more months and report back.
What advantage do you find to aging that long in the carboy? I typically do it 3-6 months.
Mainly that it smooths out the tannins so the other flavors can come through. It took me a while to get to this point. I went through a spell, based on advice from this forum, of making more wine than I could possibly drink to build up an inventory so I don’t have to bottle at 3-6 months. A less honorable reason is if it’s in a carboy it’s hard to drink it.
Ok….but bottle aging does almost the same thing, right? I guess you don’t have the micro oxygenation bulk aging like you do in a bottle with a cork.
To paraphrase Bryan (@winemaker81 ), aging in bulk keeps the wine more uniform. Yes, aging continues in the bottle, but each bottle is its own separate little batch.
Are you using only distilled water for these FWK’s? Do they clear with one dose of kieselsol and chitosan? Thanks!
I do use distilled water but not sure it is absolutely necessary. I skip the K&C and let time clear the wine.
I have thought about doing this. Do you notice a difference in the finished wine? How long does it typically take to clear then?
For what it's worth, it's been my understanding that it is generally better to use from the source spring water since it contains minerals the yeast may find beneficial and also adds more structure or minerality to the finished wine. Also some buffering capacity for pH.
There always seems to be a lot of discussion on using distilled, RO, spring, tap and well water. I started out using RO water in winemaking understanding the lack of minerals in it and the PH shift. Since our well water is so poor at my house, using RO was my only option short of purchasing water from the store. I like the taste of RO but understand the final wine taste might benefit from mineralized water.
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