Other Chardonnay kit

[SoCalGuy]

What is the best Chardonnay kit . I like a slight oak with a rich buttery feel to it. I plan on bulk aging it. Any suggestions?


Sent from my iPhone using Wine Making

 

[ibglowin]

None of the kits will give you a rich buttery feel I am afraid as you have to do MLF on a wine to achieve that and you DO NOT DO MLF ON KITS as they are acid balanced and that would mess it up big time.

I have made several Chardonnays and all turned out great and we had no problems making the bottles disappear.

I can highly recommend the CC Showcase Yakima Valley Chardonnay (with Acacia beans) Nice crisp, wonderful floral notes, sorry no butter but tons of fruit.
I can also recommend the RJS EP Aussie Chardonnay. Comes with oak chips that go in primary. Equally very good with just a hint of oak.

I have a WE Eclipse Sonoma Chardonnay on deck that I will get going on here in a month or so. High hopes for this kit as well as it or its siblings have won a number of medals.

If you want a richer, fuller mouthfeel you may wish to investigate a technique called "battonage" that can be done on kit wines. You just leave the gross lees on for about a month with daily stirring to aid in breaking down the yeast.

 

[SoCalGuy]

Thank you. Very helpful.


Sent from my iPhone using Wine Making

 

[SouthernChemist]

I'll second the recommendation of the Yakima Valley Chardonnay. I noticed, though, that it does not seem to show up on the Vineco website anymore.

 

[topcellar]

I have a WE Eclipse Sonoma Chardonnay on deck that I will get going on here in a month or so. High hopes for this kit as well as it or its siblings have won a number of medals.

If you want a richer, fuller mouthfeel you may wish to investigate a technique called "battonage" that can be done on kit wines. You just leave the gross lees on for about a month with daily stirring to aid in breaking down the yeast.

I've done the WE Eclipse Sonoma Chardonnay a couple times, trying to modify the kit to get that rich buttery taste.

Have you ever done the battonage technique? That was going to be my next attempt. My last attempt, I added an extra 1.5 pkg of premium oak to the primary fermentor. I did not get the result I was hoping for. I did not try again mainly because I'm not a huge fan of white, and I now have too much in my basement

 

[ibglowin]

Have not done it myself. Here is a pretty good thread and results from someone who did it and liked the results.

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f84/trying-something-new-aussie-chard-16088/

 

[kmarvel]

None of the kits will give you a rich buttery feel I am afraid as you have to do MLF on a wine to achieve that and you DO NOT DO MLF ON KITS as they are acid balanced and that would mess it up big time.

I have made several Chardonnays and all turned out great and we had no problems making the bottles disappear.

I can highly recommend the CC Showcase Yakima Valley Chardonnay (with Acacia beans) Nice crisp, wonderful floral notes, sorry no butter but tons of fruit.
I can also recommend the RJS EP Aussie Chardonnay. Comes with oak chips that go in primary. Equally very good with just a hint of oak.

I have a WE Eclipse Sonoma Chardonnay on deck that I will get going on here in a month or so. High hopes for this kit as well as it or its siblings have won a number of medals.

If you want a richer, fuller mouthfeel you may wish to investigate a technique called "battonage" that can be done on kit wines. You just leave the gross lees on for about a month with daily stirring to aid in breaking down the yeast.

Hey Mike....long time no see!!
I did the battonage on my chard kit and it turned out really really good! I love the Yakima grape kit!!!

Kathie

 

[SoCalGuy]

Any yeast preference on a chard you might suggest. I am going to do the Battonage technique and bulk age for about 6 months.


Sent from my iPhone using Wine Making

 

[cintipam]

I've read D47 is the yeast of choice for battonage. It's the one I plan to use when I try it.

That was before QA23 was available. I'd like to know if anyone has tried that one for it.

Pam in cinti

 

[shoebiedoo]

The Winexperts Australian Chardonnay works well and is Cheaper than the En Premeur.

 

[Bacci]

I just started the Sonoma Chard Ecplise Kit and used D47 yeast. Can anyone comment on results with adding Med French Oak chips once the secondary fermentation is complete. I'm also planning to do battonage stirring over the next few months with the oak?

 

[ibglowin]

Sounds like too strong of an oak to me personally. I use untoasted or light toast at most. And you should dump the chips and go with cubes or beans at a minimum. Chips belong in the BBQ pit to start a fire, not in your wine. IMHO.

 

[SouthernChemist]

You can add the oak at any point in the process, pretty much. I'd be inclined to trust Mike's experience with oaking a white wine. I definitely agree with using cubes/beans too. The quality is better, and the longer extraction time will give you a buffer against overoaking. Oak chips will be extracted well before your battonage process is complete.

 

[Bacci]

I agree, I would have them on hand but, but don't why its so hard to find light French/american oak cubes or even untoasted cubes or chips, locally or online. At least from my vendors' supplies. I'll taste after racking off the lees in a few months and decide. A better question would be is oaking a sur lees chardannay pretty much standard? Reading commercial labels seem to dictate that.

 

[SouthernChemist]

I agree, I would have them on hand but, but don't why its so hard to find light French/american oak cubes or even untoasted cubes or chips, locally or online. At least from my vendors' supplies. I'll taste after racking off the lees in a few months and decide. A better question would be is oaking a sur lees chardannay pretty much standard? Reading commercial labels seem to dictate that.

Ultimately, just let your own taste decide. People are getting away from the fully oaked examples of Chardonnay. I think it would depend on where the grapes came from, too.

 

[Uvas]

I'm a big fan of the WinExpert Australian Chardonnay.


Sent from my iPad using Wine Making