12 replies to this topic

[Zeus50]

I made a ventner's reserver pinot noir kit back in November.

When i racked it into a 5gallon carboy i had 1.5 bottles left over. I cracked open the .5 bottle to taste it. the wine tastes...almost watered down. Is this normal while it ages? while it get better?

i followed the instructions to the T....i hesitated when it said add water to Xgal carboy....

thoughts?

[tom sawyer]

A Vintner's Reserve kit should make 6gal of wine or close to it. I pretty routinely got at least 28 bottles. If you only get 26 bottles you might work on racking more wine off in the first racking or two.

VR has a relatively low price point. The original gravity reading is lower than a high end kit (typically 1.080 vs 1.095). This helps it to be ready sooner as well as making the kit less expensive. It probably has more generic concentrate and less varietal juice too, again to hold down cost. I've made some VRs and a WV or two, and I thought they were thin too. After a year the flavor was decent but the body was never really that big. A nice table wine but not something you'd sit and focus on. A lot of people are quite happy with this.

I'd also give it time, the flavor will improve with a year in the bottle.

[Zeus50]

I moved it down to a 5 gal carboy and had 2.5 bottles left over not 1.5 like stated above. I didn't want to add more "water" to it so i didn't leave it in a 6 gal carboy.

is there any hope for it to be better? can i add maybe a bottle of store bought pinot?

[tom sawyer]

I woudn't do that, it would be diluted and contribute little. Just give it some time to age, then try it again. In six months you'll probably have a better opinion. I can remember one of my first WV kits came around nicely at 1 year.

For your next kit bite the bullet and buy a premium kit, they are much closer to commercial wine quality.

[pcphog]

I have only made one pinot noir kit so far but I seem to recall reading that it's one of the more difficult varietals to make from kits. If that is true an entry level pinot is probably not going to live up to expectations. The one I made was the WE Chilean pinot and I was disappointed with it at first but that was because I was still new to the wine making hobby and not giving it enough time in the bottle. After a year it started getting much better but they were about gone by then.

[Zeus50]

ok, i'll wait

i want to make a zin next, i'll bump up to a premium for that one.

[red_feet]

I work almost exclusively with grapes, but I recently made a Chilean Malbec kit, since I can't get Malbec grapes around here. The Malbec taste is evident from the bottle, but it's not the rich taste I get with a commercial bottle, and the wine is a bit thin. I've noticed that with a couple other kits I've made. I suspect it's due to the juice having only a short contact time with the grapes. I now have a Ken Ridge Showcase kit, Shiraz/Viognier, which I have yet to start. I'm thinking of adding a small amount of glycerine up front to give a bit more body, and a bit more oak in the primary fermenter than what comes with the kit.

Ken

[CairnsT]

ok, i'll wait

i want to make a zin next, i'll bump up to a premium for that one.

We just finished making a Cellar Craft Winery Series Old Vine Zin w/Zin Skins that turned out really good. Going to be hard to keep my hands off of it while I wait for it to age. The kit cost about $140.

Our first kit was a Vino Del Vida World Tour Australian Shiraz, which seemed watered down to me at first also. The taste is improving, but still not a big body red like I'm used to.

[rawlus]

Pinot noir is not the kit wine I'd be making. Not a wine generally prone to a lot of body to begin with. You generally get what you pay for, the less expensive kits produce lesser quality wines. That's just the way it is. But if you are looking for fuller body and richer texture choose wine styles that generally show that way (zins, cabs, Merlots, malbecs) and of course, the more concentrate you start with, the better the final result.

Shorting a kit of water to try and concentrate the juice doesn't really work the way u think.... It throws off balance, ph, acidity and other factors which all contribute to the final product. Ie. a 60/40 mix concentrate to water is not necessarily going to be better than a 50/50 mix. Generally go with what the kits recommend, save the thinner wine aside for the future and you can use it as a topping up wine for something else.

When kits ask you to top up, they often say you an use water, but use wine if you can instead.

[JW Austin]

ok, i'll wait

i want to make a zin next, i'll bump up to a premium for that one.

I vote for the Cellar Craft Showcase Old Vine Zinfandel. One of our favorites.

[Zeus50]

ok so i've been thinking about this a bit.

I know i said i'll wait, and that is still plan A.

but i'm thinking for plan B. Maybe blend it with some store bought other wine (not pinot). Maybe a thinker body typed wine.

What are thoughts on that?

[tom sawyer]

You could certainly do that. You might also just keep the wine and use it to top off other kits as you make them. Its nice to having topping-off wine for this purpose. If you don't intend to continue making kits, you might as well drink it or blend. I think I'd just blend bottle by bottle rather than unbottling and mixing.

[Zeus50]

i haven't bottled yet, its still bulk aging