Other Good Morning and Merry Christmas from Va.

[msfgroup]

Good Morning

My wife and I have just embarked on the hobby of wine making and learning the art of it. We of course will be making our wines from kits and have just purchased our first equipment. We want to make a quality wine and would like input on kits that have performed for other forum members and what has worked for them. As I said WE ARE BRAND NEW and actually know nothing about what we are starting to do. We like rich bold reds and nice crisp Chardonnay as well as a nice Pinot Grigio. That being said any input will be most appreciated "not into cheap" want quality wines.

We have a lot of questions and will try not to bog down the forum with simple elementary stuff but want to apologize in advance if we do.

I guess the first crazy question is in reality how long should these wines from kits age before actually presentable. I have heard across the board from right when bottling to 3 years I am hoping somewhere in between.

We want to wish all of you a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and thank you in advance for any input you may care to Share.

MSFGROUP

 

[roger80465]

Welcome to the forum and your (soon to be) obsession! It is a very rewarding hobby but does require patience. Good wine can take some time.

Sweeter wines can be ready in 3-6 months, but dry wines can take more time. Reds will typically need 12+ months to be presentable but 18-24 months seems to hit the sweet spot for many of those. Dry white wines can be ready in 6-12 months.

Pinot Grigio and a light, crisp chardonnay can be drinkable in 6 months but really begin to shine at 12.

I suggest you start a combination of the above so you can have some wines ready early while your bold reds age. Also do a forum search on wines like Dragon Blood and Skeeter Pee to see if they can fill an early gap for you. They are typically sweet but can be fun wines for early consumption. Be patient and you will be well rewarded. Most of all, have a great time doing it. Merry Christmas.

 

[Julie]

Welcome to WineMakingTalk and Merry Christmas!

 

[msfgroup]

Wow julie

Julie

I am speechless oh my goodness are you making all of this at home? I have one primary and one carboy and associated "stuff" to make 6 gallons of what ever we decide. Probably a Nice Merlot and Chardonnay I am getting another set of fermenters this week. You should be proud I have never heard of a lot of your selections but have to admit that they sound amazing. Thank you for your list. All I can say is WOW

MSFGROUP

 

[msfgroup]

Thanks Roger

Thanks Roger for your input and YES I can see this coming an obsession quickly especially after seeing Julie's post. We are excited about this venture and know we will want to do some "faster" wines for the summer to enjoy while our aging is in process. Thanks again.

I think I need more equipment!!!!!!!!!!!

MSFGROUP

 

[David219]

Merry Christmas and welcome to the forum!

Making quality wine at home is fun...but maybe a bit frustrating at the start because it takes what seems to be SO LONG to be able to truly taste the fruits of your labor. At least it seemed that way to me.

I would suggest making a white wine first, if your first endeavor is to be a kit. I make mostly reds, but the few whites I've done seem to come around quicker...by summer, or early fall, you can be enjoying your first "batch". The reds will easily take over a year.

Time is your friend in the crafting process, especially when clearing. Aging has benefits with regards to many things in wine, but with kits in particular, I believe the allowance for natural de-gassing over time is something I didn't appreciate until I had a bunch of kits under my belt...and had made some ok, but somewhat gassy, wine in my early attempts. The bottling time-line in the instructions relates the EARLIEST time the wine can be bottled, not necessarily the BEST time to bottle.

Good Luck!

 

[corinth]

Welcome to the forum and Merry Christmas!

Corinth(ed)

 

[PhilDarby]

Merry Christmas and welcome.

On top of equipment, you`ll also need to allocate yourself a storage area.

Hope you enjoy the new found hobby ;-)

 

[Boatboy24]

...I am getting another set of fermenters this week...
MSFGROUP

See? It's happening already.

This hobby can be addictive. Be careful. Welcome aboard. All sorts of great people here willing to share ideas. There is no such thing as a dumb question.

Regarding your question on aging: "It depends". It depends on the wine, it depends on your taste and willingness to wait. In general, white kits are pretty good at 6 months, and definitely ready at 12. Many will be good at 3 months, but you will notice some changes beyond that. Reds are good at 12, but in my experience need 18-24 for the higher end kits. It's worth the wait though.

 

[heatherd]

Welcome to the forum and the hobby.

 

[NorCal]

Welcome, it's a nice, knowledgeable bunch here (pun intended). the VA in the title caught my eye, as it has negative connotations in winemaking, that hopefully you will never have to experience.

 

[msfgroup]

Thanks Everyone

I want to thank everyone for there help THIS IS GONG TO BE FUN and addictive. I have a guy coming to the house to build a "winery room" and storage racks. As usual the H$bby fun begins.

One more question about aging I am seeing a LOT of talk about BULK aging in Carboys vs. Bottles. Again, BRAND NEW and all input advantages vs disadvantages would be very much appreciated

Thanks again everyone!!!!!!!!

MSF GROUP

 

[David219]

Wine improves with age, whether it be in a carboy or in a bottle.

The advantage of bottle aging is that the wine is best protected from exposure to oxygen, but least protected from human consumption. The cork seal also does not allow for the escape of any latent CO2 remaining in the wine.

Carboy aging allows for the slow release of CO2 with time, but the wine needs to be protected from oxygen. This is accomplished by making sure sulfite levels remain adequate enough...either through testing free SO2 levels or just making periodic additions of KMeta. The additions of KMeta recommended in the kit instructions are probably good for around 90 days of total time from pitching yeast through bottling. Carboy aging past this time is likely to require further KMeta additions.

I think the degassing benefit of carboy aging is huge. I invested in a Vinmetrica 300 to test for free SO2 so that I don't have to guess about KMeta additions...and I also age in a barrel, which tends to chew up SO2.

The biggest thing I would say is that time is generally your friend. Don't be in a rush to bottle...or make the "mistake" that I did in my early attempts, thinking that by following the instruction timeline exactly (like, OCD exactly) would mean that my result would be most ideal. The hydrometer readings are much more critical than the calendar timeline, and the bottling time recommended in the instructions merely gives the earliest time one should consider bottling.

Hope this helps!

 

[sour_grapes]

Welcome to the forum. I won't try to add to the excellent advice you received above, but just wanted to say "howdy"!