My First Glass (unofficial)

[Medic8106]

The white grape wine (Welch's Niagara White) I started about two months ago fermented dry and cleared nicely after two racking's. I decided to back-sweeten yesterday to prepare to bottle in a week or so. Now I know it's only Welch's wine, but after back-sweetening, I had about 1/2 cup left over that I couldn't fit in the gallon jug so I tried it. It tasted good considering it hasn't aged at all and this is my first attempt at wine making! I was kinda excited! I back-sweetened with a sugar syrup to 1.018.

Anyway, here are some pics of "the first glass". I will have to put a bottle away once bottled and try it after a year of aging.

Happy, Happy, Happy!

 

[Arne]

LOL, and so it starts. Glad your first try came out. Arne.

 

[Boatboy24]

Congrats Nathan.

 

[Rocky]

Nathan, the official terminology for that glass of wine that you tried is your Quality Assurance Sample. I find that the more wine I make, the volume of the QA sample increases. I feel this is necessary to assure a complete evaluation of the wine.

Congratulations!

 

[SouthernChemist]

Just be careful about drinking too many QA samples at once. Eventually even bad wine starts to taste good!

 

[bkisel]

That's great!

Only done kits myself, think it kind of gutsy for someone to start wine making without going the kit route first.

 

[RCGoodin]

Well, now it's official....You better save up for more carboys (& different sizes), build a "Think out of the box kit", more empty bottles, a bottle washing tree, a floor corker, and let's not forget an All-in-one pump, maybe a filter gizmo and a bunch more recipes (maybe kits).

Did I forget anything?

Overall, congratulations. You've done a great thing. This January I get to taste a bottle of my first kit I made two years ago. It's from a Stag's Leap Merlot kit. It was so good when I made it, I asked others on this forum; "How do you guys save it for two years, when it tastes so good now?" The answer was; "Make more wine." So, that is my advice to you if you want to taste your first after a year.

 

[Medic8106]

Thanks everyone. I did a lot of reading on here and some other websites prior to starting anything. I have a total of five 1 gallon batches made, non obviously are kits. I need to start something that is ready fairly quickly and of good quantity (at least 6 gallons) cause I need something to drink!

 

[Julie]

LOL, congrats Nathan, you do realize that this is only the beginning, there is no stopping now!

 

[Medic8106]

Well, now it's official....You better save up for more carboys (& different sizes), build a "Think out of the box kit", more empty bottles, a bottle washing tree, a floor corker, and let's not forget an All-in-one pump, maybe a filter gizmo and a bunch more recipes (maybe kits).

Did I forget anything?

Overall, congratulations. You've done a great thing. This January I get to taste a bottle of my first kit I made two years ago. It's from a Stag's Leap Merlot kit. It was so good when I made it, I asked others on this forum; "How do you guys save it for two years, when it tastes so good now?" The answer was; "Make more wine." So, that is my advice to you if you want to taste your first after a year.

I have two 6.5 gallon carboys and one 5 gallon carboy. Oh, and plenty of 1 gallons!

 

[Jericurl]

Medic8106,

You should join our Wine of the Month Club.
Every month you make a 1 gallon batch of wine.
Post your recipe, and if applicable, what went well, what could have gone better, and what you would do differently.
In a year, we post our results.
We plan on doing one each month, and after November rolls around again, we will have two threads going each month. One for current wines being made and the other for the results of the previous year's wines.

 

[Medic8106]

Medic8106,

You should join our Wine of the Month Club.
Every month you make a 1 gallon batch of wine.
Post your recipe, and if applicable, what went well, what could have gone better, and what you would do differently.
In a year, we post our results.
We plan on doing one each month, and after November rolls around again, we will have two threads going each month. One for current wines being made and the other for the results of the previous year's wines.

I wish you guys and girls would have thought of this before. Since September I have started 5 different 1 gallon batches... Maybe in a month or two I'll get on it... As I had said earlier, my next batch is going to be 6 gallons, maybe a batch of Dragon Blood. Something that is ready to drink relatively quicker than anything else...

 

[Jericurl]

No hurry, there will be one each month.
People can drop in or out each month as their empty carboys/gallon jugs allow.

 

[michael-s]

Hello Medic8106, Congratulations. I know the excitement you feel with your very first wine. I opened a bottle of wine this past Saturday which is from my first kit. I had friends over and we all shared in tasting the wine, which very happily for me everyone enjoyed. It was a kit wine and that is what I chose to do first to learn. Most people here can make wine with their eyes closed because of all the experience they have with this nice hobby but for me being a first kit you have to think about everything you do. The sanitizing, the mixing, the checking ,the racking, the degassing, the clearing, the filtering, the bottling, all those things you do for the very first time and wanting to get everything correct so you end up with a wine you will enjoy at the end. It was a great feeling sharing that first wine with friends and all of them liking the taste of the wine. I just wanted to let you know I know how you feel and congratulations. It is a great hobby and lots of friendly people here.

 

[BernardSmith]

Congratulations. I think in the game of cricket this is called a "maiden over". Cheers!

 

[Jericurl]

Lol @ Michael.

Yes, that first batch is so terribly exciting isn't it?

When my first batch was happily fermenting away, I made Manthing look at it several times because I just couldn't believe the whole thing was actually working and I was in the beginning stages of making wine.

My third actual batch of wine was the Mezza Luna White kit by Wine Experts.
It's actually a decent wine, especially for the price, and if you post stalk LoneStarLori in the Almond Wine thread, she tweaked hers to kick it up into outstanding category. I followed her example and did the same to mine.

 

[PatrickShiflet]

Congratulations! It is pretty exciting. Can't say I have a more fulfilling hobby.

 

[reefman]

Congrats Medic8106! Niagara was my second batch of wine, and I'm down the the last bottle. Got to order more juice real soon!

 

[MilesDavis]

Congrats!
It is very satisfying to drink and enjoy something you have made yourself. Not to mention that liberating feeling one gets from stiffing the tax man.

 

[michael-s]

Yes Jericurl it was and I have to laugh when you mentioned how you would just watch the wine ferment, I did the very same thing. I would just go and watch the batch and see how it was going along and quite often too. I would say most people here did the same with their first wines. I will check out what you suggested.