Other First Kit: Glad Hatter Zinfandel

[JoaniB]

I went out and bought my very first wine kit today: the Glad Hatter Zinfandel (with Merlot grapes). My preference would have been a shiraz, but neither store I visited had it.

I bought the Glad Hatter because it seemed to be right where I needed to start, and both the store people and reviews I saw here said they're pretty ready-to-enjoy (up to about a one-year mark).

Does anyone have any experience with Glad Hatter? Any suggestions before I start?

 

[rjb222]

The Glad Hatter series is a very good young drinking wine. I have a couple kits over a year in my basement these are fruit forward and wonderful. Are they as good as a Cru Select platinum no but you will not be disappointed with this wine.

 

[drazil]

I haven't done the Zin yet from this series but I have done the Merlot and the Valpolicella. They're both still quite young but I was surprised at how fast they came around. I started the Valpolicella on April 21st and bottled half the batch on June 9th. The few bottles I've tried so far are already decent. I've also done a lot of Heritage Estates kits as early drinkers so I can let the better kits age properly. The Glad Hatter stuff is far better quality. Not much comparison at all.

About the only thing I did different from the instructions is a secondary ferment after a week.

 

[JoaniB]

Alrighty, I just started it, and I feel like I'm taking a test that will determine the rest of my life. I really have to get over that feeling.
The SG is 1.096, perhaps a little low, but within the designated range. I had a bit of a fun time getting the grape skins into the sock-ey thing, and darned if Smurfe wasn't right about using one of those key doohickeys for opening a kit in his 'How to Make a Wine Kit' Tutorial.
So... do I leave the thing alone for five to seven days now? Do I stir it in between?

 

[rjb222]

Punch down the skin bag every day.I have made lots of these kits in the last year just about replaced my grand cru series with these the reds work out fine doing the 14 day ferment. That gets everything out of the skins. I clear these right in the fermenter and rack a couple hours after clearing to the airlocked carboy works a treat that way most of the heavy stuff is left right where It is easy to clean up.