Other Poll: How long do you bulk age?

[Daisy317]

Do any of you folks actually ever drink your wine? LOL

I have tried very hard to let it bulk age for 6 months with varying success. I usually end up running low and have to bottle it. Then I try to let it continue to age in the bottles until I run out and have to start drinking it. I've bought several more carboys in the last few of months and currently have 8 of them full and aging. But alas, the wine racks are starting to look a little thin, so I'm going to have to bottle one of them pretty soon.

In the last 3 weeks, I've taken drastic measures and I currently have another 10 kits in various stages of fermentation and clarification. I'll be kicking off another 6 Chilean buckets in April.

Is it me? Do I just drink too much wine? How do you folks let this stuff age for so long? Inquiring minds...ya know!

Yes... but a lot more of the wine I make "disappears" from my house when people visit me.

I find a balance in drink vs. age wines by alternating kits and splitting kits. If it is something I want to keep and age I might add more stabilizer to the batch before bottling or letting it bulk age since I have a bunch of carboys now. Sometimes I'll split the batch and add extra to one half and let it sit in a 3 gal carboy and bottle the other 3. Then I just tell myself that the wine I added to won't taste good unless I let it sit... AND I put it away in the deep corners of my basement so that I (and any visitors) won't be tempted. Most of the time I "bulk age" out of pure laziness... I HATE CLEANING BOTTLES!!!

 

[Dhaynes]

We typically aim for 9 months for whites and 12-18 for reds but we usually end up going longer out of a combination of no room to store bottles, laziness and life conflicts. Have 6 carboys now that have been bulk aging like two years. Had planned to bottle them last January. It's now February a year later. I'm hoping to get around to bottling them soon

 

[jgmann67]

I have a cab, the Forza and a Luna Bianco going right now. The Luna will get at least 6 months in bulk before bottling. The other two will likely get 9-12 months. Need to free up space or buy more glass carboys... Got an Amarone I'm starting soon.

 

[olusteebus]

I have noticed a great improvement in my reds and whites if at least a year old. I could not believe the difference in some cheaper wine (from concentrate) I made when it hit one year.

 

[RiderEh]

I don't bulk age too long, I bottle at 4.5 months. However my LE2015's I will bulk age a bit longer. I also keep mine under vacuum, and don't add extra k-meta for this reason. My theory is they shouldn't become oxygenated when they have no gas in them or exposure to oxygen.

 

[remo56]

I have bulk aged all my reds for 2 years and they then we're bottled for 2 more years. They were equal to a 70.00 dollar bottle of wine according to a wine taster

 

[AZMDTed]

I have bulk aged all my reds for 2 years and they then we're bottled for 2 more years. They were equal to a 70.00 dollar bottle of wine according to a wine taster

First of all, I'm honored that you've been a member for quite a while and this string is your first post. 4 years before drinking shows tremendous patience. Well done. Are these on kits that you're doing this? How did you manage the first couple years to build up to the point of getting to 4 year aging. I would love to do that, right now I'm making kits that have 2018 in mind for drinking, but I sure would like to get to three years or more if the aging continues to improve them.