Hi,
What a great resource and community you have established here. I have been reading for days, and haven't scratched the surface!
I just started making kit wines two months ago, so I have lots to learn yet. So far, I have three kits in various stages -- 2 in bottles, one in secondary.
I see that many people making kit wines are drawn to Amarone. For me, it was just the other way around: I started making wine so that I can make (and afford to drink) Amarone!
I first made a Cellar Craft Sterling Merlot. I figured that was a good way to gain experience, especially with a kit with a grape pack, without spending too much money. After that, I still wasn't confident I knew enough to tackle the Amarone, plus I wanted to make a wine that would be drinkable more quickly. I figured it will be easier to wait for the better wines to mature if I had some lesser wines available that were drinkable. To that end, I made a Vintner's Reserve Mezza Luna next. Finally, I started the Cellar Craft Showcase Amarone a bit over a week ago, and it is in secondary now.
One thing I figured out before venturing in to making kit wines: It is relatively easy to wait and let a wine age if you have plenty of it on hand! About 6 or 7 years ago, I built a small (~8 case) wine closet in my basement. My explicit goal was to experiment with trying to turn $10 bottles of wine into $12 bottles of wine
It was fun to try to identify which cheap commercial wines would benefit from aging. Most did well, a few are just okay. My plan is to build up a cellar full of kit wines so that I can primarily drink aged wines that I made. My rough estimates are that this goal will require 500 or 600 bottles -- I better get busy!! 
Thanks in advance for your help and camaraderie.
Paul
What a great resource and community you have established here. I have been reading for days, and haven't scratched the surface!
I just started making kit wines two months ago, so I have lots to learn yet. So far, I have three kits in various stages -- 2 in bottles, one in secondary.
I see that many people making kit wines are drawn to Amarone. For me, it was just the other way around: I started making wine so that I can make (and afford to drink) Amarone!
I first made a Cellar Craft Sterling Merlot. I figured that was a good way to gain experience, especially with a kit with a grape pack, without spending too much money. After that, I still wasn't confident I knew enough to tackle the Amarone, plus I wanted to make a wine that would be drinkable more quickly. I figured it will be easier to wait for the better wines to mature if I had some lesser wines available that were drinkable. To that end, I made a Vintner's Reserve Mezza Luna next. Finally, I started the Cellar Craft Showcase Amarone a bit over a week ago, and it is in secondary now.
One thing I figured out before venturing in to making kit wines: It is relatively easy to wait and let a wine age if you have plenty of it on hand! About 6 or 7 years ago, I built a small (~8 case) wine closet in my basement. My explicit goal was to experiment with trying to turn $10 bottles of wine into $12 bottles of wine
It was fun to try to identify which cheap commercial wines would benefit from aging. Most did well, a few are just okay. My plan is to build up a cellar full of kit wines so that I can primarily drink aged wines that I made. My rough estimates are that this goal will require 500 or 600 bottles -- I better get busy!! Thanks in advance for your help and camaraderie.
Paul
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