Bottle shock ?

[hamy]

firstly..go easy on me I have had some quite "told you so advice" so far where all I wanted to do was to share my experience.


Bottle shock? I have searched winemakingtalk.com and read quite a few of the posts but I would like to know if what I am experiencing as a newby is to whats be expected? and also any hints tips you may have. I am a few hundred pounds into this "hobby" and the wife agreement level is lowering.

These kits do state you can drink them from day 1.

I have three kits made and one almost ready to bottle.

All 4 week kits,

Kit 1 -bottled 02/02/2012 Kenridge Shiraz ..all specific gravity's was as per instructions and tasted great from day 1 of bottling and EVEN greater now I have nearly finished it all!

Kit 2 - bottled 26/02/2012 beaverdale Cab sav .. again all as per instructions BUT trying now (I know it's early) it is missing something..almost everything? I would describe it as having no body/light in flavour/weak

Kit 3- bottled 26/02/2012 beaverdale Borolo .. had a sneaky drink and it's lovely?

Kit 4 - Kenridge Vieux chateau du Roi .. bottling 12/04/12 and it already smells great!

?

 

[robie]

Bottle shock usually lasts only about 30 days, right after bottling.

I haven't tasted any of the kits you mention and I have no idea about the quality of them.

I can say that the better kits can easily take 12 to 24 months to get to where they have reached enough of their potential to taste good. Of course all this is very subjective.

As a wine ages, whether in bulk aging or in the bottle, it can go through stages of lows to highs, then back to lows again, only to eventually level off and be great drinkers for a long period of time. Eventually, as the wine gets older, it will again start to taper off permanently.

I have tasted kit wine in bulk aging and have been pretty impressed. Then, maybe a few months later taste it again and wonder what went wrong.

The idea is to be patient. I know, "they say" your kit wines are ready to drink almost immediately, but I simply have never found this to be the case, even for sweet summer wine kits. Lucky for you that you seem to have experienced the opposite.

I don't know if this helps or not, but just consider that wines can take 2 steps forward, then 1 step back.

 

[Rocky]

Hamy, I am sorry but I don't see what the problem is. It sounds like you have just started in the hobby, have made four kits and you are pleased with 3 of the 4. I certainly would not be unhappy with that start up performance.

I am not familiar with the Beaverdale kits. Can you describe them, i.e. how many liters of juice or concentrate were they, did they have either grape packs or raisins, etc? As far as drinking them "early" I have been guilty of that many times. I think many wines taste great early and they will improve with age. To me it is a personal choice. As for being ready to drink on day 1, I suppose that is true as far as it goes. You could drink them while they were fermenting, not sure how that would taste, but you could do it. I have found that if I make a wine, take it through primary and secondary fermentation and bulk age it for about 4 months, it is more than just "drinkable." Is it as good as it could get? Probably not, but my strategy is when making a 30 bottle kit, to put away 1 case (12 bottles) and drink the rest.

I have found some Cab Sauvs to be light, weak or whatever. I normally try to buy kits with grape packs or at least add a pound or so of red raisins to the primary. As far as Barolo is concerned, this is a wine that traditionally needs a long aging time to maximize its potential.

You are doing fine. Keep at it.

 

[rodo]

I agree with both of the posts above.

 

[hamy]

Thanks for the replies, I am feeling more confident now that the cab sav will get better.

It now seems obvious now after you asked what made up the kits ....that the weaker beaverdale had 7.5 litres of concentrate and the better Kenridge has 10 litres. I see some of the ultra premium kits have up to 16 litres to make 30 bottles!

As a novice I assumed the quality of the kits would be down to the grape and not the amount of concentrate in the box. Time to talk the wife into letting me get a premium kit going while I wait for the others to mature

 

[Rocky]

Hamy, many of us did the same thing wirh our first kits. We bought the smaller (i.e. 10 liter kits without skins or grape pack). My experience has generally shown that the greater the amount of juice or concentrate, the better the wine. I have also found that red wines benefit from the inclusion of grape packs and/or raisins and some whites do too. More than anything, it is a matter of personal taste unless you plan to enter wine in competition. I don't know what kit brands are available in the UK but if you can find kits in the 16 to 18 liter range with grape packs, I think you will be very pleased with the results. Furthermore, the wine you make will be more reasonable from a cost standpoint than store bought wine. I do not know what a bottle of wine costs in the UK but I feel the wine I make compares very favorably with wines I can buy in the $15 to $20 price range and they cost me about $4 per bottle. Keep up the good fight!

 

[robie]

Thanks for the replies, I am feeling more confident now that the cab sav will get better.

It now seems obvious now after you asked what made up the kits ....that the weaker beaverdale had 7.5 litres of concentrate and the better Kenridge has 10 litres. I see some of the ultra premium kits have up to 16 litres to make 30 bottles!

As a novice I assumed the quality of the kits would be down to the grape and not the amount of concentrate in the box. Time to talk the wife into letting me get a premium kit going while I wait for the others to mature

Typically for reds, the more premium the kit, the longer it takes for it to be ready to drink.

 

[Dugger]

Hamy - also keep in mind that the premium and ultra premium kits have more grape juice as a ratio to grape juice concentrate and this certainly adds to the quality of the resultant wine. The 7.5 l kits may be predominantly concentrate while the 16/18 l kits may be much more juice than concentrate. Think of pure orange juice compared to concentrate that you have to add water to.
As has been said, you get what you pay for.