Other Kit Help Pinot Grigio

[dreppe5]

I am interested in making a Wine KIT Pinot Grigio. Does anyone have any suggestions of a KIT that is available now? There are a lot of brands out there and I just want to hear a few that someone has recently tried.

 

[derunner]

I'm currently making the Wine Expert World Vinyard Pinot Gregio. I thought I'd try a medium level kit and maybe try a more expensive one later. I think this one had some nice revews. Unfortunately, I can't tell you anything about it yet, other than fermantation went well and it smelled nice. It had a nice taste for a 3 week old wine. I plan to bulk age mine about 3 months and bottle around year end.

 

[cpfan]

dreppe5:

Haven't made one for a few years, but I remember enjoying the Ken Ridge Classic Pinot Grigio. When I ran a store, a couple of customers really liked the Vinterra Pinot Grigio. If I was to make another, I'd probably go with the Ken Ridge Showcase Italian Pinot Grigio, but have no personal knowledge of it's results.

Unfortunately these are all Vineco kits, and are tough to find if you are in the USA.

There's lots of other PG kits that are probably just fine too.

Remember that Pinot Gris is basically the same as Pinot Grigio.

Steve

 

[b52spider]

Just bottled the RJ world Pinot Grigio about a month ago. Turned out great and ready to drink. Took a bottle to a party the next day and everyone liked it. Can't wait to taste it after a few months in the bottle. Light and refreshing.

 

[ShaunDanz]

My wife is a Pinot Grigio snob. I've made six Pinot Grigio kits in the last ten months -- I know, pretty ridiculous. Earlier this week, we opened four bottles of four different wines. Here are her favorites.

Grand Cru Voigner / Pinot Gris (I realize it's a blend, but it came out on top)
Selection Estates Italian Pinot Grigio
Reserve du Chateu Pinot Grigio (tied with the Selection estates and cost 1/3rd the price!)
World Vineyard Italian Pinot Grigio

I'm currently making a Grand Cru Italian Pinot Grigio as well but it's only three weeks old. I made another Selection Estates Italian Pinot Grigio last December that has already been consumed. I'm not sure I will make that kit again for a while though as I don't think it warrants such a high price, especially after discovering the website finevinewines.com, which has an assortment of nice Pinot Grigios. I can give you more tasting notes on any of these if you would like and also some suggestions that helped me make the Pinot Grigio in the way that my wife prefers. In summary though, all of them turned out really well and they exceed the wine that she normally buys.

 

[Bacci]

I'm getting ready to start a RJS EP Pinot Grigio, it's 18 liters of juice and supposed to be from Italy. I haven't seen many reviews or shared experiences with this En Primeur varietal in forums, but should be top of the line with white wine kits.

 

[derunner]

I can give you more tasting notes on any of these if you would like and also some suggestions that helped me make the Pinot Grigio in the way that my wife prefers. In summary though, all of them turned out really well and they exceed the wine that she normally buys.

Shaun,

I'm not the OP, but I would be interested in your tasting notes and suggestions. I am making the WE World Vinyard Italian PG currently, but will be making more PG in the future so I appreciate your comments on any modifications/aging that you did.

Thanks.

 

[ShaunDanz]

Well, these are just my preferences, and I'd love to hear others. These aren't tasting notes persay, more of a preference.

My wife prefers dry, clean-finishing whites. She has a very acute sense of smell and taste and most wines have offensive tastes and smells to her. She prefers Pinot Grigio's with a pear or peach smell & flavor to them. Even a little hint of lemon or citrus will work too. Other than that, she honestly isn't high-maintenance!!

So, the trick for me was to try to bring this out with a kit wine. The only modifications I've ever made with Pinot Grigio's is with yeast, temperature, and time. By time, I'm not just talking about aging but also racking. The first couple Pinot Grigio's I made had a bit of a musty smell, which did mostly go away over time. For me (and by me, I mean my wife!), what seems to work best was to keep the Pinot Grigio off the lees as quickly as possible. I keep the fermenters at 75 degrees to speed up fermentation. I tried DC-47 yeast in one batch and it didn't seem to make a difference in the smell/taste of the wine and was very slow to ferment. I stick with the EC-1118 now.
5 days in the primary
10 days in the secondary
I rack the wine off the lees before degassing and clarifying. It doesn't matter what the instructions say, I rack it off. It takes longer to clarify, but my objective is to lessen the amount of time the wine has in contact with the lees.
28 days of aging and then I rack it again
14 days of aging and then I bottle.

So, of all the Pinot Grigio's I've made so far, the Grand Cru Pinot Gris / Voigner has come out the best. I've never smelled or tasted a wine quite like this and I'm willing to bet there are not a lot of people who have. I'm normally a dry red drinker, but I really like this wine. The tasting notes for it say the following, which I find 100% accurate: Extremely aromatic white wine that opens up with apricots and pear notes. Dry and medium bodied, it finishes on a refreshing fruit forward note.

So, I don't know if any of this is helpful, just my two cents.

 

[dreppe5]

I would love to see suggestions yuo have form making and tasting note. Please send me when you have some time. Thanks for your help!

 

[dreppe5]

I just saw you had already posted them. Thank you!

 

[chitownwine]

Thanks for your reviews. As far as the Reserve du Chateu Pinot Grigio I see on amazon they have a four week box kit and also a 6 week bucket kits, which kit did you do that you thought was great.

To add one review I have made the cru select plantinum which the taste I didn't think was true to a pg. have made the Vitners reserve pg for half the price which I thought was better

 

[ShaunDanz]

I did the four week Reserve du Chateau kit. If you make it, be prepared to add a LOT of water as it is a very small kit. You may want to only make it to 5.5 gallons as my starting SG was 1.080 doing it to 6.0. The last two Reserve du Chateau's I made, I made them to 5.5 gallons and the SG was 1.094 on the BC Style Pinot Noir and 1.090 on the Italian Nero D'Avola Cab. These are both aging at the moment but I've sneaked some tastes and they should come out good.

The Reserve du Chateau's are early drinkers. You should be able to drink the Pinot Grigio in four months or so. I let the reds age for six months. I made these so that I can let my good kits age longer. From here on out, I'm only making good kits though as I have built up enough inventory that I can wait.