Sweet Riesling Kits

[kyleandrew]

Hello All!

Just a newby question. I'm thinking I'd like to do a sweet riesling for my next batch (my wife likes sweet wines). I think these are referred to as "ice" wines??? Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong...

What are your suggestions for a good quality wine kit for a sweet riesling or what have others had success with in the past. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Also on the same lines, is there a major difference in making a dry and sweet wine with the kit?

Sorry for the abundance of questions, and thanks to all in advance.

Merry Christmas!

 

[cpfan]

There are three types of "sweet" white still wines, all available as kits.

1) Ice wine. Sweetness code 10+. Usually Vidal around here, but increasingly seeing Riesling and others. Dessert wine. Kits: most kit manufacturers have one or more, also red.

2) Mist wines. EG Strawberry Riesling. Sweetness 5. Low alcohol. Great summer wine. Kits: again most manufacturers have a line: Niagara Mist, Island Mist, Orchard Breezin'.

3) Off dry wines. Sweetness 1-2. Kits: ferment to dry and then add a sweetening pack (low-end kits), or suss-reserve pack (better quality kits).

You'll have to decide which of these you actually want. To me sweet riesling is NOT an ice wine, but it's your choice.

Warning, most kits make 23 litres (6 US gallons). Ice wine kits make 11 litres (3 US gallons), so if ice wine is your choice make sure you have a 3 USG carboy).

Steve

 

[Geronimo]

You can sweeten any wine after fermentation, so I'd get the best Riesling kit you can and sweeten it to taste. The Washington Columbia Valley Riesling is awesome, and makes a nice "off dry" wine. Sweetening more with White Grape concentrate (like Welch's) and or sugar is easy. The kit mentioned comes with a reserve pack which gives it a lot of flavor and additional aroma.

 

[cpfan]

Another "best" Riesling kit: Vineco's Ken Ridge Founders Series Germany Mosel River Valley Riesling. This one comes with a Suss Reserve pack, so you shouldn't have to add sweetening.

Steve

 

[Rocky]

I don't think of Riesling as a sweet wine unless you are talking about Eiswein made from Riesling grapes. As Gernonimo points out, there are a number of ways to sweeten the wine after fermentation is complete.

 

[BaccusIsWine]

If you want a good kit Icewine try the Winexpert Selection Speciale ones. I made the riesling Icewine and it turned out very nice. I only have a couple bottles left. Here is a link to both of them. They both make 3 gallons of wine.

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/wine...ale/riesling-ice-wine-selection-speciale.html

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/wine...bernet-franc-ice-wine-selection-speciale.html

 

[Geronimo]

I don't think of Riesling as a sweet wine

The best ones I've had were off dry, not downright sweet. I've had dry ones, too, but I don't think they are typical of the type.

 

[Rocky]

It all depends on taste, I suppose. The best Rieslings I had (having been stationed in Germany for 2 years) were not sweet at all but very tart with a background taste of green apples.

 

[ibglowin]

We just had a bottle of the CC Showcase Yakima Valley Riesling with some chinese stir-fry (great combination BTW) tonight with dinner and it was plenty sweet!

Perfect food/wine paring any day of the week!

 

[SouthernChemist]

I don't think of Riesling as a sweet wine unless you are talking about Eiswein made from Riesling grapes. As Gernonimo points out, there are a number of ways to sweeten the wine after fermentation is complete.

I think people end up trying an off dry or somewhat sweet Riesling and assume all of them are like that. A friend of mine hates Riesling wines, but all she's ever tried is a sweetened style (or what she calls "sweet"...it is up to personal tastes in the end like Rocky said). I've seen Riesling and Gewurtztraminer bottles that mention nothing concerning sweetness level, but you can tell from the alcohol content that they are not dry wines.

 

[mmadmikes1]

being as I like all wine dry, most Riesling out there seam sweet to me. Yakima Valley in noted for its Riesling, I would go with one of the major kits in that style. Any Riesling you add a reserve or F-pak to will be minimum, semi sweet. My daughter in Law orders a Yakima Riesli9ng when ever we go out, they always seem sweet to me. Please don't add condensed juice to a good Riesling unless you do a small blend and test it first. Thompson white grape juice will change the character of the wine. Buy a kit with a reserve. You will not be sorry. If you must go cheep, buy a can of Alexanders Riesling concentrate. 3 cans for 2 1/2 at start and 1/2 can as a reserve.

 

[cpfan]

Kyleandrew:

have you read any of this? is it helpful? do you have any follow-up questions? what have you decided?

Steve

 

[Geronimo]

Likewise if you get a good kit with a reserve pack, you don't have to add it all. Many of the cheaper kits with reserve packs are sickeningly sweet (to me) like the mezza luna white kit. If I made that kit again, I'd add half the pack before fermenting, and save the rest in the freezer for the bottling bucket. To my palate sweet + oak = dumpster juice, so be careful with anything that gets oaked.

 

[cpfan]

We prefer dry Gewurztraminers and Rieslings, so if the kit comes with a Suss Reserve pack (grape juice/concentrate) I just add it to the primary instead of some of the water. If they contain a sweetening pack (ie liquid invert sugar), we don't use it at all.

Steve

 

[kyleandrew]

Thanks everyone for the quick and insightful responses. So the only other thing I'm still up in the air about is that some people suggest adding welch's grape juice to the must to sweeten it and some feel that ruins the wine. I'm not sure what road I'll go with but at what stage would I add the welch's to the wine? Thanks again to everyone for the help...I certainly have a better grasp on what to look for and expect.

 

[Geronimo]

So the only other thing I'm still up in the air about is that some people suggest adding welch's grape juice to the must to sweeten it and some feel that ruins the wine. I'm not sure what road I'll go with but at what stage would I add the welch's to the wine?

If you buy a dry white and decide you need to sweeten it before bottling, you can use plain sugar or add a real fruit concentrate like Welch's (very similar to using a reserve pack).

Remember, if you like it, it's certainly not ruined. I made some skeeter juice and used some pure grape concentrate to sweeten it. The result was very good. Flavor and aroma are both improved.

As always, if you are unsure, you can make a test by taking a quart or so of your wine once it's ready for bottling (make very accurate measurements) and add whatever sweetener you want in proportions you can scale up to the entire batch. Taste test them carefully and decide what to do. Word to the wise on sweetening: under sweeten! What tastes good in 1 sip might be sickening after 2 glasses. I have one batch from concentrate that's too sweet for me to drink as is. However, mixed with some orange juice, it's quite nice. Never say "ruined" lol.