Bottled my first!

[yakhunter]

I am very excited to have bottled my first batch of wine! It was over a year in the making. I got fresh Chilean Malbec juice last spring and did almost everything wrong that you can imagine along the way, but it made it to the bottles without being vinegar. I tasted it at bottling of course,a nd along each subsequent step in the process.

I have 2 questions:

1. How many minutes do I have to wait before sampling the first bottle?

2. Given that the wine bulk aged for about 10 months, do we expect the flavor profile to change in the bottles still? It was fairly ordinary when tasted at bottling. It was certainly drinkable, but not great.

Waiting for my Cab Sauv grapes now. Can't wait.

 

[gird123]

I usually drink a bottle during bottling. I have read bottle shock can last up to three months, however, I drink one or two the first week, two or three the second. Then drink it as fast as I can saving three to four for one year. I always wish I could save more because they are so good.

 

[dessertmaker]

How soon? I have been caught red handed using a racking cane and a tube for a straw on bottling day.

[cough] ...I uh... Was "starting the siphon" [cough]

'S what I told the wife anyway. She didn't believe a word of it. Made me sanitize everything all over again. (Which I was planning to do anyway......)

 

[Deezil]

1. I always give 'bottle shock' a month

2. Yes.. Fresh Chilean Malbec that is only 10 months old? Depending on any yeast-derived additives, oak/tannin additives.. It should have at least 2 years ahead of it of improvement

Congrats!

 

[FABulousWines]

Congrats on your first bottling! You have shown great patience, reward yourself! At 10 months I would think it very drinkable.