Gary from looking to brew white wine for the first time

[tysfoot]

Hi,
My name is Gary and I'm from Manchester, UK

Im thinking of buying my first 30l home brewing kit, there is a local homebrewing shop near me and gonna get all the equipment from there

The type of wine we like to drink is the white Riesling wine but i cant seem to find many reviews of the taste of this wine

my question is, does the starter wine kits taste similar to the supermarket wines we usually drink ?

i have been looking at the 30l California Connoisseurs Riesling so if anyone has had any experience in drinking this it would be great to know how it tasted


Thanks for your time guys

 

[cpfan]

Gary...

I hope you mean a 23litre Calif Conn Riesling. It makes about 30 bottles though. And the primary in the kit may be 30 litres, as headspace is required during primary fermentation.

When I ran a store, the Calif Conn Riesling was fairly popular, with several customers making it repeatedly. I haven't made it for mysefl however, so can't really comment on it.

Unfortunately the Calif Conn line has poor distribution in the USA, so you probably won't see many comments on it.

The store closed in 2007, so my notes are getting a old, but....
The kit makes up as a dry Riesling, so if you prefer one that is off-dry or semi-sweet, you will have to add some sweetening. The kit comes with elderflowers which some people like and others do not. Personally, I would not use the elderflowers and would keep it as a dry wine.

Steve

 

[tysfoot]

yep, sorry the 23l, got confused as it makes 30 bottles.

Im from the UK and there are a couple of website that sell it, basically i want a nice bottle of wine that would cost no more than £1.30 to produce so iam going to buy the equipment tomorrow and get some advice as to which kits suit me

Its getting very expensive now to buy nice wines from the supermarket, upto £8 for a bottle so if i can produce the same quality wine for just over a quid that would do me just fine

 

[cpfan]

Gary...

Give it a go. I've been making my own wine from kits since about 1999. These days my wife and I can't be bothered to deal with commercial wines as we prefer mine, and ours are much cheaper. We started with kits similar to Calif Conn, but these days usually buy the better quality, higher priced ones.

Steve

 

[tysfoot]

Great, Can you recommend the best tasting kits you have drank, i dont mind spending more for better quality

 

[cpfan]

In whites, I really like the Ken Ridge Showcase German Gewurztraminer. Definitely a standard in our house. It's from the same manufacturer as California Connoisseur (Vineco).

Back in 2006 or 2007 we traded for a few bottles of Ken Ridge Showcase New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. We enjoyed it and have been wanting to make a batch for ourselves, but we keep making Limited Edition whites instead, like a Ken Ridge Classic Limited Edition New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. (KRC unfortunately no longer does any limited editions.)

Our house red is Ken Ridge Classic Merlot. Red wines tend to improve a lot if you can age them several months MINIMUM. This merlot is pretty good young, but better a few months later, of course. Again lately we've been making mostly limited edition kits, and what used to be our favourite red has been discontinued. In the KR Showcase brand, we enjoyed the New Zealand Pinot Noir, and would like to make another.

I'm not sure what brands are available in the UK, and some (eg Beaverdale) are not available here. Basically any of the 15-16 litre kits should be very good. In the reds, many folks are only making the grape skin kits but I don't think Cellar Craft and RJ Spagnols (Cellar Classic Winery Series and En Primeur) are available in the UK. Perhaps the Ken Ridge Founder Series is available, and there's a couple of those I'd like to try, especially Australian Cabernet Shiraz as I've heard some strong positives about it.

I've mostly mentioned Vineco products above because I know that their kits are available in the UK. Plus I know and like Vineco kits (sold and made them for 6 years in a store). Cellar Craft is now a Vineco brand, so it may show up in the UK at some point. Winexpert kits are also available, and I have had good experiences with them as well. From Winexpert, I've recently made the Selection Limited Edition kits, but other Selection kits should be fine as well.

Hope this helps some, Steve

 

[tysfoot]

Wow thanks for the advice

I think im going to buy the California Connoisseur Johannisberg Riesling wine as we have always been a big lover of the Riesling wines but will definitely choose a better premium one like the Ken Ridge

 

[tysfoot]

Just a quick question, i have bough the kit today and started the primary fermentation stage but in the instructions it doesnt state yet to put the bubbler airlock in yet but in a youtube video i have seen he puts the bubbler airlock in straight after the yeast

Thanks

 

[Flem]

I'm assuming you're doing the primary fermentation in a bucket and not a carboy. The airlock is not necessary or recommended for primary fermentation. Just let the lid sit on the bucket, without snapping it down tight or cover the bucket with a towel. Good Luck!!