WineXpert Winexpert Chilean Pinot Noir

[ezekielsays]

Hello all!

I'm about to begin my first kit - a Selection International Chilean Pinot Noir. I was wondering if anyone has experience with this kit, or if there are any suggestions anyone has. I'm particularly wondering if I should make adjustments to the kit (add raisins to primary, age on oak cubes, etc) or if the wine stands up fairly well as is.

Thanks!

 

[Tom]

1st welcome.

For your 1st kit FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS.

Unless you have a picky taste buds or have been making wine for a long time let it be.

Also go by your hydrometer not always the timing. I would age it a little longer before bottling though.

 

[Runningwolf]

Listen to Tom he is spot on

 

[cpfan]

While not disagreeing with Tom and Dan, I would like to make a couple of points.

1. Be Patient.

2. Give the wine some extra time after stabiizing & clearing. This will help the wine to clear.

3. Patience is a good thing.

4. Degas. Degas again. Then degas some more. Warm temperature of the wine is important for degassing.

5. Some people are a little unsure on one point of WE instructions. Temperature is only mentioned during the initial fermentation. It is wise to keep the wine in the upper half of the given temperature range until the wine is degassed and cleared.

6. The best attribute a winemaker can have is patience. Tom likes to say "mind the three P's - Patience, Patience, Patience".

7. The wine will be better a year from now. Try to keep some (one case?) for a year. Then you can make up your own mind about how it changed.

8. Get another kit started, as soon as practical. The first will probably disappear.

9. Do I need to mention patience again? OK, I'll mention it again. Be patient.

Good luck with your first kit. Although I haven't made that one, it's a good choice.

Steve

 

[Tom]

Yep, some more great points

Enjoy the Hobby/Obsession.

 

[MN-winer]

I've tried a bottle from this kit made by my brother in law. It was very nice and I think you will enjoy it. Does this have oak in it? The bottle I got was oaked for sure.

 

[robie]

Be mindful that raisins sometimes actually leave a raisin taste in the wine. That is not always pleasing, depending on the wine of course and your own taste.

A Pinot Noir is a very special, delicate wine, that won't always handle big adjustments... it is what it is.

As already mentioned, don't make adjustments until you get experienced; give the kit makers' expertise a try. They pretty much know how to make a nice wine. Once you make a particular kit, you may find you can make some adjustment to get it closer to your own particular taste.

 

[ezekielsays]

Thanks for all the replies! I'll follow instructions this time through (I'm sure there's quite a bit I'll learn by getting hands on, anyway) and see what the results are. I'll also save tweaking for kits that can handle it a bit more.




8. Get another kit started, as soon as practical. The first will probably disappear.

I'll have to show this to my wife. I'm sure I'll have to wait til after she approves of the final result on this one, though.

Thanks again everyone!

 

[robie]

Thanks for all the replies! I'll follow instructions this time through (I'm sure there's quite a bit I'll learn by getting hands on, anyway) and see what the results are. I'll also save tweaking for kits that can handle it a bit more.
Thanks again everyone!

Just keep in mind you can split a kit into more than one fermentor container. Do a small portion(s) as an experiment. If it fails miserably, pour it out; not great loss; you still have all the rest.

 

[roblloyd]

8. Get another kit started, as soon as practical. The first will probably disappear.

I'll have to show this to my wife. I'm sure I'll have to wait til after she approves of the final result on this one, though.

Thanks again everyone!

Wait at least 6 months before even trying it. You will want to get another started before that. Whites are ready about 6 months. I did a WE mueller thurgau that my wife is loving right now. I started this kit in January. Reds are all aging and I won't let her touch yet.
It's worth the wait and worth the expense.

 

[tonyt]

Jump in, the water's fine. Go get a nice $20.00 Pinot, scrape the label off and tell your wife you made it. (did I really just say that?) Then go buy another kit and another carboy. After that it's a slippery slope. ::

 

[bstnh1]

Jump in, the water's fine. Go get a nice $20.00 Pinot, scrape the label off and tell your wife you made it. (did I really just say that?) Then go buy another kit and another carboy. After that it's a slippery slope. ::

"Ah...I don't know what happened Honey. It was my first kit. Maybe something went wrong and it deteriorated very fast. You didn't do anything to it after I bottled it, did you?"