Fruitiness taste

[Hypno]

Hello, have a wine marker trio from RJS and a winexpert Amarone started in December. I have let them clear on their own and today filtered them. Being my first kits and having no reference I just want to know what that strange fruity taste is..I’m almost turned if by it and don’t think I can drink these wines. Did I do something wrong? Should I just dump them?

 

[Tim3]

What you’re referencing is the famous “kit wine taste”. I think all red wine kits have that, almost chemical, taste. Some describe as fruity but I agree it’s off putting. Anyway, some hide it better than others. For example the RJS line seems to have less (in my opinion), and the RJS Super Tuscan is barely detectable. That said, I’ve never experienced it with the white wine kits. I doubt you did anything wrong, as what you’re describing is very typical. Age can play a big part in reducing that flavor profile also, but if you’re sensitive to “kit wine taste”, like I am, it will never really go away.

 

[wineh]

It could be KT, but it could also be that kit wines are generally fruit forward. If the fruitiness reminds you of bubble gum, it is likely that you are sensitive to potassium sorbate. If you are not back-sweetening your wine, and your sanitation is good, you can skip the potassium sorbate. Do not skip the potassium metabisulfite. By the way KT goes away after a while.

 

[Hypno]

Its a weird taste indeed. I have added nothing to my wines except bentonite oak and k-meta.I haven’t used any clearing agents and have been aging in carboy. The Amarone I have racked and filtered and had a taste, I compared it to my trio and the same fruity flavour.

 

[heatherd]

Skip k-sorbate and age for awhile to offset KT.

 

[JWT_Can]

I am experiencing this overly fruity kit wine taste in my RJS En Primeur Super Tuscan and Amarone. I am at 1 year and still have that flavor though it is fading. This could be why many recommend aging for 2 years or more. Hoping it resolves in the next year!

 

[Hypno]

Strange taste in both kits. Im hope if it’s not poor sanitation or over oxygenated. I might start another and follow the instructions perfectly to see what results I get.

 

[Tim3]

If you want a quick test try a white wine kit. If you experience the same off flavor you’ll know it’s your process and not the kit. But I have a hunch you’re sensitive to that kit taste! If you read about the red kit production process to get color and tannin quickly from red grape skins you might understand why your red kit wine won’t taste exactly like a typical commercial wine. It’s called thermovinification.

https://winesvinesanalytics.com/col...le/81370/Thermovinification-Heats-Up-Interest

 

[Gilmango]

If you want a quick test try a white wine kit. If you experience the same off flavor you’ll know it’s your process and not the kit. But I have a hunch you’re sensitive to that kit taste! If you read about the red kit production process to get color and tannin quickly from red grape skins you might understand why your red kit wine won’t taste exactly like a typical commercial wine. It’s called thermovinification.

https://winesvinesanalytics.com/col...le/81370/Thermovinification-Heats-Up-Interest

Good read, thanks, this part seemed most related to the Kit Wine Taste issue:


Based largely on tasting at this point, Bisson and Bogart think thermovinification gives a big boost to fruity and especially berry components, making them quite intense early in the life of a wine, rather than being doled out slowly over time after standard fermentation. Exactly what these compounds are isn’t known (that’s part of what they will be researching), but some of Bisson’s candidates are generic fruity esters—maybe lactones, maybe the fruity as opposed to floral noriseprenoids. Whatever the mix, her initial hit is that heat results in wines that are more intensely berryish but less complex.

Cooking varietal character?
These chemical hunches dovetail with reports from a number of sources that thermovinification can make for very good, sound, solid wine, but at the expense of varietal character. Pumping up the fruit and burning off the rough edges can have a downside in the loss of distinctiveness. I called Bob Kreisher at Mavrik North America, one of the firms specializing in fixing up problem wines by removing VA, smoke taint, excess alcohol and the like. I had noticed that thermovinification wasn’t in their list of wine treatments, and Kreisher says the omission is deliberate: They looked at the technology and decided they weren’t fond of what it could accomplish. “It has everything to do,” he says, “with the commodification of wine; it enhances fruit character, mostly by eliminating everything else.” He thinks the role of this technology ultimately resides in high-output winemaking.

Read more at: Thermovinification Heats Up Interest Copyright © Wines & Vines

 

[winemaker81]

@Hypno, keep in mind that the wine is very young. DO NOT dump it. If with time you still don't like the wine, it's still good for cooking and for wine drinks. I made tacos the other night and added half a bottle of red to the meat instead of water.

In recent years, I'm experiencing KT in the cheaper red kits, and in some mid-range red kits. The higher end kits don't seem to have it.

However, I recently bottled a Winexpert 10 liter Cabernet Sauvignon, and it has no KT that we can perceive. At the 7 month mark it's actually quite good, good enough to drink now. This was a complete surprise.

 

[Hypno]

@Hypno, keep in mind that the wine is very young. DO NOT dump it. If with time you still don't like the wine, it's still good for cooking and for wine drinks. I made tacos the other night and added half a bottle of red to the meat instead of water.

In recent years, I'm experiencing KT in the cheaper red kits, and in some mid-range red kits. The higher end kits don't seem to have it.

However, I recently bottled a Winexpert 10 liter Cabernet Sauvignon, and it has no KT that we can perceive. At the 7 month mark it's actually quite good, good enough to drink now. This was a complete surprise.

We’ll see how it goes, I’m going to rack my winemakers trio this weekend and see how that tastes. At the moment I’m not at all tempted to make another kit. I’m going to try the frozen or just wait till fall and do it the old fashioned way.

 

[wineh]

We’ll see how it goes, I’m going to rack my winemakers trio this weekend and see how that tastes. At the moment I’m not at all tempted to make another kit. I’m going to try the frozen or just wait till fall and do it the old fashioned way.

Southern hemisphere fresh juice should be available soon!