How long do you typically age white wine kits?

[ZebraB]

I've read on this forum that you should wait at least 6 months till drinking a white wine kit, but I wonder how long do people who have been doing this a long time typically wait? I have an RJS RQ Chardonnay kit that is 8 months old and it is drinkable but not what I hope for. No off flavors or smells. Initial bland and then mouth tingles. Perhaps I just don't know what a young white wine should taste like and it needs more time or it is what it is.

 

[rustbucket]

Initial bland and then mouth tingles.

The white wines I make from kits usually are good at nine months and seem to improve over the next nine months. That initial blandness you mentioned may go away over the next few months. You won't notice much change after that. At the worse, you'll end up with a table wine. Chill it in the family refrigerator before serving it to the family. The coldness tends to numb your taste buds so, hopefully, you won't notice the blandness.

One thing that puzzles me though is you comment about "mouth tingles". My first thought when I read that is that the wine hadn't been fully degassed; so your tasting fizziness on your tongue. If that's what it is, you should decant the wine, agitating the wine as you do it, and leave it sit for 45 minutes to an hour before serving. That should get rid of the mount tingle.

 

[ibglowin]

A tingle on the tongue in a white wine could just be from low pH or high acid. Usually a good thing in my book. Time is your friend in this case.

 

[sour_grapes]

Or, as @rustbucket suggests, a little residual CO2. Also a good thing, in my mind, errr, mouth. As long as it is not overdone. If so, a little degassing is in order.

 

[Rocky]

As stated above, the "tingle" sounds like trapped gas in the wine. Suggest a simple test. Take a bottle, open it and remove a few ounces, maybe 4 or so, cover the top and give the bottle a few good shakes. If there is trapped gas, it should foam up. Let the foam subside and repeat. Give the wine a taste and see if there is any improvement.

 

[ZebraB]

I think my description might have been off because I don't believe it is residual gas. Perhaps harness is a better description. I did not add additional acid but I did add Joe's fpac of grapes with <1/2 grapefruit zest in primary. The last PH I took was 3.26 but this was just before fermentation. The only other adjustments is I added Opti- white and changed the yeast to Allegro. Plus I added a stick of oak while it was in the carboy. I'm really hoping that time will improve it. So I am curious how long you typically wait for whites?

 

[joeswine]

It's all subjective ,whites can be ready when you are. The only preference is yours.
The French call it New vouveau

 

[bkisel]

The most I'll do is 3 months bulk age followed by 3 months bottle age. Most of my white wine kits are low end and only get 1 month bulk and 1 month bottle aging before starting to pop the corks. Often enough there seems to be several bottles from a batch that are not consumed for a year or more.

 

[FermentoSapiens]

For whites I only use cheap kits, so I dont age them more than a few months. What you experience can be co2, but it can also be kmeta. The tip to aerate the wine is useful anyway. The latest white kit I made, I tried to do it as 19 liters not 23 as the directions said. I think I did not shake / stir the bucket enough, and the wine really smells like the yeast stop (whitch is kmeta and sorbat). It also tingels at the tongue. I think there are som residual co2 but the real sinner is the yeast stop in my case. I took all the bottles and emptied them today over to the carboy and did a lot of drilling. Its better now but can still smell the yeast stop in the glass. This batch I will let sit 3 months before use and also use a winebreather bottle/caraffel-thing I was gifted from my wife. Really useful thing that I love. Many commerdial wines also have too much kmeta, especially bag in box wines.

 

[ZebraB]

It sounds like many don't worry too much about aging for white wine kit. 6 month rule.

I was searching on this forum and there was a tread to another white wine kit that was split in two. 1 with extra oak in carboy and 1 without oak. The one with oak took much longer to be drinkable than the without oak, which was drinkable early on. So I am hoping that aging will help. Time will tell.

FYI. I had let this batch sit in the carboy for 4 1/2 months. I then filtered via the all in one wine pump and then used the all in one wine pump to fill the bottles. So with the aging and the vacuum, I don't believe that it is residual co2. I did use the full kmeta package. This was the last batch that I did that. I did learn since then to measure the kmeta based on PH. I don't believe this is a meta issue. My first batch I put full package + 1/4 tsp at 3 months. Those bottles definately had a Kmeta issue. This is different. It smells good and no medicinal taste. The initial taste is fine. It is just a harsh after taste.

 

[joeswine]

It's also good to cold stabilizeing it adds a body and clarification to the wine.

 

[ZebraB]

It's also good to cold stabilizeing it adds a body and clarification to the wine.

Thanks for the tip. I did not know that it added body and clarification.

 

[joeswine]

Bobby in the form of density at least I think so

 

[FermentoSapiens]

ZebraB, you are right about oaked wines, they take longer to age. Many oaked wines have a wet wood aroma, and in many cases it starts to fade after about 9 months and sometimes later. I think it will be more obvious in a white wine, but are not sure because I have not tried to oak a white wine. The only oaked wine I thought were drinkable at a early time was the eclipse barossa walley from winexpert. A syrah that tasted syrah and coconut from the oak. No wet wood aroma, just the expected flavours. It was really good already after 2 months in the bottle, but its a red. Normally reds need more time than whites, but with oak I believe whites will need as much time as many reds. My tip is minimum 9 months.

 

[winemaker81]

I agree with @joeswine -- it's all up to personal taste. Beyond that, it depends on the grape and fermenting conditions. I find that chardonnay and sauvignon blanc need a bit more aging time, and oak typically increases that.

I often open a bottle of white 3 months after bottling, and every 3 after that. This provides experience in how wines age, and it will satisfy a burning curiosity (if you happen to have it). I do the same with reds, but wait 6 to 9 months, as I know they need more aging.

A couple of years ago I made a verdicchio (Italian white grape) that was very crisp and delicious at the 6 month mark, and could be drunk earlier. It reminded me of a Vouvray, excellent with fish, seafood, and chicken. It's aging well, but with age it has lost that crispness, morphing into a nicely rounded wine of different character. I intend to make this again and will drink it younger, simply because I want that crispness, and can easily produce a more rounded whites using other grapes.

 

[GaDawg]

I agree with @joeswine -- it's all up to personal taste. Beyond that, it depends on the grape and fermenting conditions. I find that chardonnay and sauvignon blanc need a bit more aging time, and oak typically increases that.

I often open a bottle of white 3 months after bottling, and every 3 after that. This provides experience in how wines age, and it will satisfy a burning curiosity (if you happen to have it). I do the same with reds, but wait 6 to 9 months, as I know they need more aging.

I do the same (every 3 months) and I bottle 750 ml bottles ( usually 6 bottles) for that purpose.

 

[ZebraB]

Tasting every 3 months starting at 6 month mark sounds like a good plan. Education, curiosity and of course finding when a wine is drinkable.

 

[montanarick]

I use 375 ml bottles for sampling - saves wine that way

 

[Digital-monk]

I believe 6-12 months has been sufficient for the whites I have done. Not much improvement after that in my opinion.

 

[GaDawg]

The other question is when dose aging began. At the beginning of fermentation, end of fermentation, bottling, etc?
If I add oak to secondary I only add it to cleared wine. For me, that will mean an extra 6 weeks in the carboy.