Cellar Craft CC Showcase Amarone
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LMAO Vcasey!
Day-7 Transferred the Amarone to secondary. SG was still a hair above 1, but I had the time, so I thought it was close enough. Wrung out the strainer bag with the grape skins to get every last drop of goodness out. My hands smelled good all day long.
Day-7 Transferred the Amarone to secondary. SG was still a hair above 1, but I had the time, so I thought it was close enough. Wrung out the strainer bag with the grape skins to get every last drop of goodness out. My hands smelled good all day long.
MLF? I was under the impression that you weren't supposed to try MLF with kit wines. Not that I understand why. Honestly, I know little about Amarones except what I've read on Wikipedia. I've only tasted one before, so I really have little idea what to expect from this. Would it benefit from MLF? I do plan to bulk age it for at least 6 months and add in some oak, probably medium toast Hungarian, since that's what I have on hand. But I'm open to any and all suggestions at this point. I made this wine because I wanted to see why Amarone is so popular with so many on this forum.
JWMINNESOTA
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Kit wines are indeedalready adjusted for a predictable result. I didn't measure Malic content in the two Amarones I did, But then I had no plan to attempt MLF on either one. Amarone translates to " The Big Bitter' , so in IMHO, if one did MLF ,attempting to convert the Malic to Lactic (smoothing itout per say),wouldn't that be defeating the purpose and goal of making Amarone in the first place?
Here is an old quote from Tim Vandergrift (WE rep). It's from 2005 but I've seen the same response from him in various forms over the last several years.
"Most wine kits designed to make dry table wines (such as most reds and Chardonnay--the two varieties that get malolactic when made commercially) do not require acid additions of any kind, either tartaric, malic, or citric. The juices and concentrates contain enough acid as-is.
The fact of the matter is that Winexpert kits are perfectly balanced for acidity at packaging. A successful malolactic fermentation would change this balance unacceptably, leaving a kit flabby and weak tasting. If I re-balanced a kit for malolactic (higher levels of all acids, plus nutrients and higher pH) it would taste rather horrible without malolactic!
(Most of the time you can't get a malolactic fermentation going in wine kits, due to the low pH and nearly-absent levels of dissolved solids and nutrients, both of which malolactic bacteria require to grow).
In addition, the use malolactic bacteria is complex and fraught with danger for the bulk of people who buy and use wine kits. To control it correctly you need a malolactic chromatography kit, ($75.00+) and the skill to use it. Fine if you like that sort of thing, but most people (i.e., 99% of the people who buy kits) may well be happier without it. "
"Most wine kits designed to make dry table wines (such as most reds and Chardonnay--the two varieties that get malolactic when made commercially) do not require acid additions of any kind, either tartaric, malic, or citric. The juices and concentrates contain enough acid as-is.
The fact of the matter is that Winexpert kits are perfectly balanced for acidity at packaging. A successful malolactic fermentation would change this balance unacceptably, leaving a kit flabby and weak tasting. If I re-balanced a kit for malolactic (higher levels of all acids, plus nutrients and higher pH) it would taste rather horrible without malolactic!
(Most of the time you can't get a malolactic fermentation going in wine kits, due to the low pH and nearly-absent levels of dissolved solids and nutrients, both of which malolactic bacteria require to grow).
In addition, the use malolactic bacteria is complex and fraught with danger for the bulk of people who buy and use wine kits. To control it correctly you need a malolactic chromatography kit, ($75.00+) and the skill to use it. Fine if you like that sort of thing, but most people (i.e., 99% of the people who buy kits) may well be happier without it. "
Thanks for the good advice. I'll go with the oak and bulk age it at least six months before bottling. Then I'm sure it'll need another year in the bottle...
As long as they take to age, this may be the last red wine I make here in Arizona. I'm due to move somewhere else in 2-3 years.
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Sorry I did not see this before. MLF is not adviseable by any of the kit makers that I know of. I can't add to what has already been said, but I would not do it on this kit.
Ken, this looks really good!!!! I never heard of amarone until I made a kit. haha It is the MM AJ and it is very nice at a year old. I have another amarone kit in the carboy now. You and Gina will enjoy this wherever you end up PCS'ing!!
Ah, PCS'ing. What an oxymoron! If changes of "station" are permanent, why do they recur every 3 years or so? Right up there with military intelligence...uavwmn said:Ken, this looks really good!!!! I never heard of amarone until I made a kit. haha It is the MM AJ and it is very nice at a year old. I have another amarone kit in the carboy now. You and Gina will enjoy this wherever you end up PCS'ing!!
Racked and stabilized the Amarone yesterday. SG .996 and I still have a full 750 mil bottle to top up with later. Added clarifiers and degassed per instructions. I'll probably add some more oak at the next racking. AT this point the only tasting note I can offer is a very ripe, somewhat raisin-likeflavor.
