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Anyone having anything special for National Wine Day? I opened up a 2013 Tempranillo Reserva I've had in the rack for a while. The cork came out in pieces but the wine seems none the worse for wear.

I've suspected that tannins - via a grape pack in the more expensive kits and/or added in powder form - factor into the whole equation. I can see where the different types of acid may factor into the long-term flavor profile. Since the longevity-related aspect of acid is likely tied to pH more...

I've had this cellaring guide from WineFolly for a while now. What's the consensus - is this applicable for kit wines (specifically, reds) stored under good, temperature-controlled conditions?

I went fairly cheap, using 1x10 lumber and a Kreg jig + Kreg screws. Seems to be sturdy as a rock - after several months no bowing or other signs of stress. Of course each shelf has 4 screws at each end to share the load, so there's plenty of sheer strength at each junction. Winerack by...

It's always tricky to precisely define the generations. Sideways came out in 2004. According to Wikipedia, "Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the generational demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. There are no precise dates for when this cohort...

I suspect there may be something to that. There's a definite "hipster" element in play for many folks - an over-arching concern with what's considered cool at the moment. Many want nicer, highly rated things (craft beer, bespoke coffee, even - perhaps - highly rated wines), but not if it takes...

I did the Trinity Red earlier this year. It went into bulk aging in late February and was bottled in mid June. I ended up using some Red Star Premium Rouge (which foamed a bunch and overflowed the 7.9 gallon bucket) instead of the EC-1118. I tweaked the kit with 3/4 cup zante currants and 1/2...

I had noticed that most of the kits had been out of stock for quite some time.

Frozen cherries (no sugar added) would work quite nicely, as well (after thawing, of course). I recently used 24 oz. of dark sweet cherries (along with 1/2 cup dried elderberries and 3/4 cup zante currants) in a Cru International Pino Noir kit that I'd picked up last spring but hadn't gotten to...

I've only got two vines each of Canadice & Concord, and while it looked like I might get an OK harvest, some critter ate 99% of the grapes just before they were ripe enough to harvest. It happened last year, too. This year I even put out some fake owls (with heads that rotate in the wind), but...

Not that I've found. The Mosti all-grape pack (wet) is the only grape skin add-on product (for wine making) that I've seen. It's still kind of early on in my experimentation, but so far it appears I'm going to have decent results using a combination of Sunmaid zante currants (3/4 cup) and dried...

It might be tricky to reach in well enough to get a cut bag dumped out from inside the Fermonster. You may just need to don a pair of nitrile gloves and SLOWLY raise the bag out of the wine, trying to get some of the skins with each grab (so they're not all clumped at the bottom) and squeezing...

I made the mistake of using a supplied cheesecloth bag in a fermonster. It was a giant pain, and messy, to get the bag of wine-saturated skins out. I'm free-floating from now on.

Sure, there's definitely evidence along those lines. That's one of the side benefits of enjoying wine. ;) But there's a growing body of research that suggests fasting - or more precisely, the condition of autophagy that kicks in after about 16-18 hours of fasting - has potentially much more...

I was averaging about half a bottle most evenings, but I've cut back since I started some intermittent fasting (36-hour fasts from Sun. eve to Tue. morning, and again from Tue. eve to Thu. morning, then generally a 24-hour fast Thu. eve to Fri. eve). I still usually enjoy a glass or two on...

Captured while walking the dog...

If you're going to back-sweeten, maybe 71B, to help bring out the fruitiness? Otherwise for dry I like RC212 with elderberry.

Unless there's a huge amount of space at the top, as long as the wine is still fermenting (creating bubbles in the airlock) you should be OK, as the CO2 will push any oxygen out. CO2 is also heavier and will form a protective layer over the surface of the wine. For what it's worth, I've...

Kit wise, you could try one of the RJS Cru International red kits that comes with dried grape skins, to see if that gets you closer to what you're expecting, and if so, stick with those or move up to the En Primeur or Eclipse kits with skins. Or as a cheaper experiment, get a Grand Cru or...