WineXpert Eclipse Stags Leap Merlot - Grape pack

Hi All, I started a Stags Leap Merlot about 3+ weeks ago. During the primary fermentation phase I squeezed the bag daily. I mean - I squeezed it until it gave up everything it had.

8 days after stabilizing and clearing, I was able to hold a flashlight on one side of the carboy and see the filament of the bulb through the wine. It looked really clear just prior to racking and clearing.

Its been over a week since I racked it and I still cant get the flashlight to penetrate the carboy as it did prior to racking.

Have I done anything wrong? Will it clear again?

Also, it has a nasty aftertaste that begins about a minute after tasting it and doesn't go away for 5 minutes. I did add 1.5 grams of K meta last week. Is it the chemicals that are causing that aftertaste? If so, will the chemical taste go away?

Lastly, during the next few weeks in the Carboy, has anyone experimented with additional oak for this kit? I am an oak fiend. I have said in the past - if I can take a piece of the Staten Island Ferry Pier and put it in my wine glass, I would.

3 or 4 weeks is really young for a wine regardless of kit instructions say.
It will be gassy at this point and taste like !@#$ compared to a wine aged even a few months

~Did you de-gas the wine before adding stabilizers?
A wine that young is going to have a lot of Co2 in it that may have prevented clearing. (test by drawing some wine into a small container with a lid and shake like crazy. If it fizzes lots there is Co2 in it)

~The 'nasty aftertaste' should go away after awhile. It is probably from all the additives being in suspension still.

~Many add extra oak to kits. If its not enough for your taste there are spirals and cubes available that work great.

I wouldn't worry about clearing at this point. The wine will clear out in its own time. I assume you will want to bulk age this wine some anyway, so you will have the time. As LoveTheWine said, this is a pretty young wine, and as much as we would like to think of wine being like a pristine, well cared for mansion, chemically speaking a young wine is more like the aftermath of a college house party. Yeast do a lot more than just create alcohol and CO2, but things will eventually settle down. Make sure it is degassed as that can hurt clearing ability. As for adding oak, it's your wine! Feel free to make it however you want it to be. Stick with cubes or spiral, though. The longer extraction time will let you control the level of oak as well as give a better flavor profile than oak chips.

I made this wine kit two years ago (at that time it didn't have a grape pack). I ran it thru a new barrel (after using the supplied oak), and thought I over oak'd it. Now two years later the wine is great, the oak settled down and my wife has claimed the remaining bottles.

Stick to the instructions and all will work itself out. I made this same kit with the grape skin pack, also pressed / squeezed at least once a day. I did not taste until after 6 months of bulk aging and still then it was a concern. Went ahead and bottled.......Now 2 years later it is great !

I took a taste today, wow it is outstanding. I know its young but the potential is off the charts. It's got really nice oak with a nice little bit of vanilla. I may consider adding a small amount of Tannin Riche Extra. Anybody have any thoughts on that?

SouthernChemist said:

think of wine being like a pristine, well cared for mansion, chemically speaking a young wine is more like the aftermath of a college house party.

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Great analogy, classic

berk4422 said:

I took a taste today, wow it is outstanding. I know its young but the potential is off the charts. It's got really nice oak with a nice little bit of vanilla. I may consider adding a small amount of Tannin Riche Extra. Anybody have any thoughts on that?

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This is a very unique wine. Don't risk it.

berk4422 said:

I took a taste today, wow it is outstanding. I know its young but the potential is off the charts. It's got really nice oak with a nice little bit of vanilla. I may consider adding a small amount of Tannin Riche Extra. Anybody have any thoughts on that?

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Is there anything particularly lacking that you want to add extra tannins? I would wait and see how it develops. Generally, adding tannins will extend the required aging time.

I racked my WE Eclipse Old Vines Zin tonight. After that, I decided to test the Merlot again. I can't get over how much oak flavor there is in such a short time. Going to leave it as is and not mess with it. Thanks!

berk4422 said:

.... I did add 1.5 grams of K meta last week. Is it the chemicals that are causing that aftertaste? If so, will the chemical taste go away?

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Oh boy, I know what the problem was here... My scale is not good. 1.5grams of k meta on my scale is about 1 teaspoon... Not 1/4 Teaspoon...

Fortunately, I only used the weight method on my first kit and used the 1/4 teaspoon measure on all other kits.

The wine was bottled on schedule with the winexpert directions. Any recommendations on how to handle this? dump it?

Are you referring to a kit other than the merlot? wondering, as you stated it tasted great after stabilizing. If it is the merlot, splash rack it or just give it lots of time, the meta taste will subside...whatever you do, don't throw it out.

wineh said:

Are you referring to a kit other than the merlot? wondering, as you stated it tasted great after stabilizing. If it is the merlot, splash rack it or just give it lots of time, the meta taste will subside...whatever you do, don't throw it out.

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My Merlot is the only problem. Too much k-meta, I guess I'll need to wait it out

Hi guys, I posted a reply to this thread earlier but evidently it didn't go through. I just started this kit two days ago. My instructions say to push down the grape skin bag and stir gently. I'm wondering why you are squeezing the grape skin bag. I did open it just now and the bag had floated to the top. First time it was still at the bottom. I'm new to winemaking so I'm trying to follow the directions as closely as possible. So your squeeze technique is confusing to me. Any feedback would be helpf

Sorry, hit the send button too soon. That would be "any feedback would be helpful.

Thanks,

Bob

Hi Bob,
Welcome to the forums.
When you're new to kit winemaking, it's never a bad idea to follow the instructions as closely as you can. That means sinking the bag daily, and squeezing the juice out of the bag on the day you are going to rack into a carboy. They test these techniques, and they work.
Having said that, some guys like to squeeze the heck out of the bag daily with the beleif that they will get more goodies extracted from the skins/seeds. I don't do that. In fact, I put a weight in the bag to keep it submerged for the entire fermentation period, in the belief that it's better to leave the fermenter closed and protect the wine with CO2 for the week, then squeeze the snot out of the bag at the end. After you have done a number of your own kits, you will likely develop your own unique strategies, but again, in the beginning, its good to follow the instructions.
Cheers,

Hi Berk4422 this wine kit is off the charts good, if you can make it to round 1.5 yrs age time.

and the extra K-Meta won't matter then either

Winenoob66 said:

Hi Berk4422 this wine kit is off the charts good, if you can make it to round 1.5 yrs age time.

and the extra K-Meta won't matter then either

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Sounds good, these bottles are going in the bottom back of the cellar.

Wineh,

Thanks so much. This really helps with my understanding of the process and the options. I'm also liking what I'm reading about what an excellent wine this kit makes.

Which leads to another question I had about adding more k-meta. The instructions say if you intend on aging the wine longer than 6 months you should add more k-meta. Does that mean, if you don't add it, the wine should be good to drink at 6 months? If you don't add more, can you keep the wine longer than 6 months? That doesn't make sense to me...unless you intend to give it all away at the 6 month time period.

Sorry, as I said, this is all new to me.

Thanks,

Bob

Bob,
Wine needs metabisulfate (free sulphur dioxide actually) to protect it from oxidizing, and other spoilage related bad guys. Kit wines in general contain less sulfites than commercial wines, as manufacturers expect the to be consumed young, and not cellared for years and years. Adding additional sulfites will not postpone the drinkability age of your wine. I start consuming my wines at 3-6 months, some think I'm nuts to start that early but when I started making wine, an experienced friend told me he would always age wine at least 3 days before drinking it. As I think back now, that may have been somewhat toungue-in-cheek.