WineXpert Really, really old wine kit

MrFruitwines · Dec 3, 2006

I haven't made a wine in a long time.

I was digging through my wine stuff and I found a wine kit. (!)Its a 6L Juice type kit. Its a Rose' wine. The BEST BEFORE date on it is February 2000 ! The ingredients say the juice is preserved in sulphur dioxide.

So... is this kit any good ? Should I spend the time to make it ? Is there something else I could do with it ?

I look forward to your advice.

sangwitch · Dec 3, 2006

i would open and taste / smellthe juice. If it seems ok, it can't hurt to give it a try. I'm not sure about the yeast though... you might have to pick up a new pack.

smurfe · Dec 3, 2006

I would definitely get new yeast if you were to give it a try. Is the juice in a can or a bag? If you open it up, see if the juice has oxidized and turned brownish. Give it a taste to see if it still has a decent taste. All you can really do is give it a try and see. You will only be out a buck or two for yeast. If there are other chemicals in the kit like k-meta and sorbate, I don't know if they would be good or not but if they are not a solid clump, I would give them a try.

If it taste nasty after fermentation you can dump it. You never will know until you try. I remember in the 70's when my Mom made wine my Grandfather gave her a kit that was from the 1920's that were popular from Prohibition. I tried to get her to not make it and keep it for collectors reasons as it had a somewhat historic background as it came from the gangster Al Capone. Apparently my Grandfather used to do his refrigeration work at his farm and he gave it to Granddaddy as a gift. And no, Grandpa wasn't a gangster, he was just well known for refrigeration work in his community and Capone had a summer home in his town.

Anyway, the wine kit was a brick of dehydrated grapes that you basically just threw in a crock of water and let soak. The grapes re-hydrated and fermented with regular bread yeast added. This wine was very nasty. Grandpa tasted it and said it tasted no different in the 20's so it wasn't the age of the kit, it was just the kit. So even though it was nasty, it tasted as good as it did 50+ years earlier when made. So give it a shot and see how it comes out. Could be good, could be crap, but hey, experimentation is fun.

Smurfe

Edited by: smurfe

MrFruitwines · Dec 3, 2006

Thanks for the advice, people. Good point on the yeast. The juice is in a plastic bag. I haven't opened it yet.

pkcook · Dec 3, 2006

MrFruitwines,

I purchased a WE Pinot Grigio kit from my local supply shop. It was 2001 and they knew it was over its date. I gave them $20 for it and used a fresh packet of the same type of yeast and made the kit. When started the juice tasted very good and the fermentatation went well. The ony difference that I can tell with this kit and commercial Pinot Grigio is mine is a bit darker in color. Most likely from oxidation in the juice. I haven't bottled it yet, but the taste is fine. Good luck!