what was your 1st kit/pail

[vernsgal]

this is for all members who have made a kit or juice pail.
What was the 1st one you did (if you can remember )
How long did you age, or for newbie's ,how long are you planning.
For those that finished, what were your thoughts on it?

Mine was in 2009 .it was Meglioli Barolo with raisons. I tried it at 4 months and thought . Stuffed it away thinking ,ok I don't like that one and made another
type. Aged it 6 months and thought ,well that's better than the Barolo which I then retried to compare the 2, it was just over a year by then and OMG! That's how I learned early on to age my wines regardless what the directions say is drinkable. lol

 

[Deezil]

First & only kit.

2011 RJ Spagnols LE Riesling Ice Wine

Bought two kits, fermented together.
Have 5 gallons, still bulk aging

Smells & tastes amazing

 

[cmason1957]

First wine kit was in 2011 it was Wine expert Wildberry Pomegranate Zinfandel. Hated it, far to sweet and low alcohol. Next kit was a few months later Luna Roses, very good and we had a bottle of it we had given away that they hadn't drank. It was wonderful.

 

[byathread]

WE Mezza Luna Red, bulk aging (only 2-3 months old). About to start my third kit with 2 more waiting in the wings. I hate waiting. But I'm good at it.

Cheers!

 

[vernsgal]

First & only kit.

2011 RJ Spagnols LE Riesling Ice Wine

Bought two kits, fermented together.
Have 5 gallons, still bulk aging

Smells & tastes amazing

Spagnols is my go to kit.( I live close to their plant so..lol) I have never tried their ice wine though. In fact, I have never tried an ice wine. Is it heavy in body?

 

[cpfan]

Started my first wine back in October 1999. It was a premium kit (15 litres I think) from Wine Kitz called Ultimate Riesling. The first of many, many kits.

My first (and only) pail was started in Sept 2006. It was a Lodi Gold Pinot Noir. We were not happy with this, and as a result have stayed away from pails.

Steve

 

[miccbull]

In 2006 I made a Cellar Classic Chianti. It was amazing. I don't have my notes handy but I let it age in the carboy for probably 5 months. I wasn't much of a wine drinker at the time, I only made a pale because it was my parents hobby. So it aged nicely in the bottle and I was quite impressed with myself.

 

[LoveTheWine]

Cellar master save on foods kit
Made sometime in the late 1990's and not aged very long!

 

[vernsgal]

Started my first wine back in October 1999. It was a premium kit (15 litres I think) from Wine Kitz called Ultimate Riesling. The first of many, many kits.

My first (and only) pail was started in Sept 2006. It was a Lodi Gold Pinot Noir. We were not happy with this, and as a result have stayed away from pails.

Steve

I did a couple of the Lodi Gold back in 2009 and I was disappointed of mine as well. I did a Barbera and the French Colombard. The Barbera was supposed to be heavy bodied but I found it very light.

Cellar master save on foods kit
Made sometime in the late 1990's and not aged very long!

Lol I made a few of those. They're great for early drinkers

 

[sour_grapes]

First kit was a CC Sterling Merlot -- to get a cheap kit with a grape pack to learn how to handle them. Intend to age 1 year. (Although I have been making the odd bottle of port out them now.)
Second was WE Mezza Luna red -- to (hopefully) get something that drinks more quickly. Will try at 6 mos.
Finally, "graduated" to a CC Showcase Amarone. Will age 1.5 years.

 

[Deezil]

Spagnols is my go to kit.( I live close to their plant so..lol) I have never tried their ice wine though. In fact, I have never tried an ice wine. Is it heavy in body?

Some background:
Ice wines are normally made by letting the grapes hang on the vines until the grapes actually freeze - imagine picking grapes, in 2-3ft of snow!

Because a majority of the water within each grape is still frozen, the juice that does seep out is thick like corn / maple syrup; this 'syrup' is high in sugar, intense in flavor, hits the bottom of the primary fermenter with a a definite *thump*, and is sticky as all-get-out.

The starting SG on my kit was 1.170
Came with EC-1118
Which took it down to 1.040, if I remember correctly, and then I added a syrup-like flavor-pack, raising the SG back up to something like 1.070.

So while it's not typical of commercial / historical ice wines, it's a good product. The body that you asked of, it has. It has legs on the glass, for sure, as well. Sweet enough for a tooth ache. But will violate your alcohol tolerance as well, because although its pushing the limits of EC-1118 - all you feel is a warmth in your chest.

 

[vernsgal]

wow! Well I guess I know what I have to try now.Good thing Spagnols sale is next month!

Thanks Manley

 

[bkisel]

RJS VdV Pinot Noir a year ago almost to the day. Had an issue with some sort of stuff that showed up about a week or two after bottling. RJS customer service, when I told them about my back sweetening with just sugar just before bottling had me empty the bottles back into a carboy. Forget if they had me add anything but was able to, after a week or so, rack and re-bottle and get rid of the stuff. Turned out my wife and I both liked the wine and have since made a second batch. With the second batch I back sweetened with 500ml of simple syrup in the stabilization phase. Had no issues with the second batch.

 

[Boatboy24]

Vino Italiano Barolo. Never one to follow the directions to a T; I made it to 5.25 gallons, swapped out the yeast with BM45 and bulk aged for two months with some hungarian oak after fermentation completed. It is approaching the two year mark and while it's has gone through peaks and valleys during that time, is finally settiling into an OK wine. It certainly wouldn't be confused with a high end wine, but does OK

 

[GrandpasFootsteps]

Wine Expert Riesling kit. Very tasty. As good or better than every Riesling I've bought in the stores. Now I do about 1/3 kits and 2/3 homemade fruit wines.

 

[eblasmn9]

First kit was a winexpert Island Mist Green Apple Riesling. I followed directions on degassing. I think at the time is was using a spoon back and forth for two minutes during each step of kmeta, sorbate, clearing agent. It wasn't even close to being degassed but the wife liked the "bubbles" in the wine. lol
The first red kit was a Cellar Craft Limited Release OV Mencia. I jumped in with both feet on this one. It smelled really bad young and tasted worse. I thought I did something really bad to it and wanted to dump the whole thing and be done. My wife convinced me to give it a year. I'm glad she did. I had it at one year old for thanksgiving dinner and could not believe it was the same wine; smelled like wine and tasted even better. This really convinced me of the magic of what aging does for a wine. I did buy a drill and paddle and made sure this wine was properly degassed (makes a big difference).

 

[reefman]

My first was a Summer Breeze Wild Berry White Zinfandel in Nov. 2010. I did lots of reading on this forum, before I attempted my first batch of wine, even if it was a kit. I added some additional Strawberry syrup to the kit just before bottling for a flavor boost, and it came out really nice.
I have another one to start in the next week or two.

 

[kryptonitewine]

first kit was an IM Blackberry Cabernet. That was a year ago this month. Since then I've made several other kits as well as off the cuff concoctions. Been a great year in the new hobby.

 

[the_rayway]

My first kit was a WE White Zinfandel that I purchased in 2009, but only got around to making in the spring of 2012. It lasted until Christmas of 2012, and was awesome. Rave reviews from all of the non-wine drinkers in the family.

My first pail was a Mosto Italiano Riesling. At bottling it was awesome, but I back sweetened with raw honey. Re-fermented in the bottle, which tasted good while it was fizzy! I dumped most of the bottles into a carboy to ride it out, but ended up having to dump it as the wild yeast made it taste like barfy asphalt. Made me very sad.

 

[Simpsini]

My first kit was a WE Vinters Reserve Merlot, started in Oct 2011. Bottled it late December 2011. It was very good. It got me hooked. I've never tried a pail.