My first Amarone! (MM Renaissance) Pitched yeast about an hour ago. Awesome aroma and smell. No 'bitter' taste as I expected, but I guess that comes later. Thanks to recent posts on this I will not rack at 1.04 but wait. I don't want to spill one drop of this via volcano or otherwise.
It has been about 16 months since I first happened on this website and started what has become a truly wonderful hobby. Thanks to George and all you fine folks who have furthered my interest and been so helpful. There is so much more to learn, and with each batch I become a bit more comfortable with the process and am willing to experiment a bit ( with fruit wines mostly) I made a lot of 1 GL batches of fruit wine last year to see if I liked each, and now wish I had begun with larger batches. 5-10 bottles don't last very long.
All the kits I have purchased have turned out really well. I am convinced that they will continue to get even better as they continue to age. Favorites so far is the MMBarolo, Castel de Papa, and Rio Grand Rojo. TheWEmerlotisalso very good. My wife loved the WE chardonnay. My apple/peach wine is also a hit with her. My son loves it all.
Here are a few pics of my 12x12 basement room 'Brandywine Cellar' named after my street)where I spenda lot of my spare time now.From left to right you can see how my wine rack making has progressed. Not pretty, but functional. The last one is the 144 bottle rackthat I made from picsI foundsomewhere on the web. Itis the one with the GL carboys, etc on top, against the far wall below. Working hard to fill it up! Had to remove my flooring after the big Georgia flood you may have seen last week in the news. Fortunately, my shop vac and I were able to evenually contain what came in , but not until my new floor was ruined. It willremain unfinishedhenceforth.
Again, thank you to everyone for contributing to this great website and to the enjoymentofsomany people. So many wines and so little time indeed!