Vineco Skin packs

[vinny]

I just did my 5 kits with different yeasts trying to get more distinct flavors, and more specific varietal notes than just using EC-1118.

I don't have anything mature enough to make any judgements, but there was a distinct difference in the 2 higher end kits. Vineco Signature Pinot Noir and the Passport Series Cab Sauv blend. The Passport had a skin pack and is distinctly unique at first rack to secondary. I was searching through the site of my LHBS and saw a Nebbiolo with skin pack. I went in for it, but it wasn't actually in stock. I made the purchase of a Toscana based on the included skin pack.

I also preordered a passport series for march. I chose the only kit that had skins.

My question is do many of you choose kits and base quality on whether or not a skin pack is included? Have you made an equal, or better wine from a kit without skins?

I am just wondering if I will get more varietal notes, flavor/quality out of basing my choices on kits with skins, or if I am just overly excitable.

 

[Ohio Bob]

I am just wondering if I will get more varietal notes, flavor/quality out of basing my choices on kits with skins, or if I am just overly excitable

Yes and yes.

 

[vinny]

Yes and yes.

So.. I am excitable, but about the right things?

 

[QuiQuog]

My short answer would just be to ditto what Ohio Bob said. Yes and yes.
The longer answer is that I think I get better wine more often with deeper and more complex flavors when using higher end kits, which often include skin packs. But I will say that my first wine was a lower end kit and I was pretty disappointed with the results after a few months of aging. I decided it wasn't worth the effort and I'd just use it for cooking wine sometime in the future. I forgot about it and wine making in general for a year or so before I found it all in the basement. The difference was astounding. It remains one of the better wines I've made. Another year down the road, I found a bottle at my in-laws house that I gave them and they never opened. I was excited to try it, and of course it was even better than before. I have made better wine, in particular a WE Eclipse Zinfandel with skins, but I've wondered how much they would have improved if I could manage to forget them for a couple of years. Now that I've got 110 bottles in the hopper, maybe I'll manage to find out.

 

[vinny]

My short answer would just be to ditto what Ohio Bob said. Yes and yes.
The longer answer is that I think I get better wine more often with deeper and more complex flavors when using higher end kits, which often include skin packs. But I will say that my first wine was a lower end kit and I was pretty disappointed with the results after a few months of aging. I decided it wasn't worth the effort and I'd just use it for cooking wine sometime in the future. I forgot about it and wine making in general for a year or so before I found it all in the basement. The difference was astounding. It remains one of the better wines I've made. Another year down the road, I found a bottle at my in-laws house that I gave them and they never opened. I was excited to try it, and of course it was even better than before. I have made better wine, in particular a WE Eclipse Zinfandel with skins, but I've wondered how much they would have improved if I could manage to forget them for a couple of years. Now that I've got 110 bottles in the hopper, maybe I'll manage to find out.

That's my goal. Make so much and so much variety that I will have bottles to sample years later.

I currently have a private stash where I put a couple bottles of each batch, but I think I will just reach a point where production is beyond consumption and it won't matter.

I am just going to have to find that point in time and tone down the enthusiasm to balance the two.

 

[MHSKIBUM]

Any thoughts on getting a bucket of fresh pomace from a winery? I plan to freeze it and rinse in a K-Meta solution before using a pound or two for extended maceration in a 30-bottle kit. Pomace is basically grape skins that have imparted color and flavor into wine and been discarded after five days or so on the must. The best pomace would be from pinot grigio or other white wine with dark red skins that are removed immediately after crushing. Pomace is a huge waste problem for wineries. I've re-used skin packs from expensive kits for cheap kits with great results. Could waste pomace, if handled carefully, work the same way?

 

[MHSKIBUM]

I just remembered this article from Winemaker Magazine that sheds more light on the pomace dilemma. The Pomace Predicament - WineMakerMag.com
One notable use is pomace from Amarone production that imparts intensity to Chianti creating one of my favourite wines, Ripasso.