WineXpert It's Here...

[s0615353]

This is my first Eclipse Kit and I can not wait to see how it comes out! I just added the water, bentonite, oak and yeast last night, so far so good.

 

[GaDawg]

Please let us know how it goes! This is most likely my next kit

 

[s0615353]

16 hours after pitching the yeast I looked under the towel to see how it was going. The juice still has a very sweet and fruity smell (along with the yeast funk) and the yeast still seem to be very happy in their new home. Fermentation has not fully started yet, but there is some light bubbling and yeast activity.



For those who have used the fine oak chips before in simmilar kits, should I strain them out when I rack to secondary, or do they fall to the bottom after fermentation is complete?

 

[SouthernChemist]

Out of curiosity, what kind of yeast and oak did this come with?

 

[s0615353]

It came with burgovin rc 212 and I am unsure about the oak. It came with two packs that said "toasted oak" and it looked like a mix of fine oak powder and very small chips.

 

[s0615353]

Burgovin is very foamy for a "low" foamer. Fermentation is very vigorous coming on day two. While the fruit smell is stll present, it is definitely taking on more Pinot like aromas of pepper, oak, flowers and strawberry.

 

[tonyt]

Looks great s. I started this kit last summer. Am fixin to cold stabilize for a month then bottle. So far its pretty terriffic.

 

[s0615353]

Is the acid a little out of balance, or is this just to cold stabilize?

 

[tonyt]

Just to CS. I have read on here that this kit drops lots of wine diamonds.

 

[s0615353]

This morning the SG was lower than 1.010 so I racked to a carboy. Time to let fermentation finish before stabalizing/clearing. Just for reference most of the oak sank to the bottom, so straining was not nessisary. Thanks for the heads up on CS.

 

[s0615353]

The yeast is still eating away at the sugar, in a little over a week I will be stabilizing/clearing. The one issue for this kit was that I was planning on using Burgundy style bottles and the labels provided, while great looking will not fit right. For this reason I designed a new label that still pays homage to the Eclipse kit while fitting better on the bottle. Here it is:

 

[s0615353]

Today I took a measurement and it was time to stabilize, degas and clarify. The wine had a very yeasty nose, so I will wait until next Sunday before I give any notes on aroma/flavor. So far, I was very skeptical about not racking off of the less before adding the chitosan, but it is already clarifying perfectly. I have learned to follow the directions no matter how strange they seem.

 

[s0615353]

After four months of bulk ageing I took a sample to see how the wine was doing, and decided that I would bottle age from here on out. The wine was perfectly clear and was completely degassed. When they say that this kit had great balance, they weren't kidding, the tannins, ABV and acidity were smooth as silk. The wine has a curious sweet cherry taste even though I fermented to .992, and the beginnings of more complex earthy/truffle flavors are starting to develop. After only FOUR MONTHS this kit already tastes smoother and better than wines that I have had ageing for 1-2 years. This is completely my own taste, but for me, I wish it had a little brighter acidity, but I wanted to keep the kit the way that WineXpert designed it for my first try. As they had said, these wines are designed to get better and better for years, so I will alter future batches if it still is light on the acid after a few years of bottle ageing.

 

[seth8530]

Wow, sounds very promising.

 

[cimbaliw]

Nice followup s0615353. This is the first I've run across this thread. Twice now, too arrogant I guess to look at the WE instructions, I've racked off the lees before adding the clarifying agent. Chitosan both times. Both wines have clarified beautifully as have the 6 other WE kits that I managed to follow the instructions. By the way your Av is simply "abominable."

 

[s0615353]

Thank you, I really thought it fits me, lol

 

[robie]

Chitosan does work better with lots of sediment, so don't be afraid to follow the WE instructions for racking over lots of lees.

Why don't you add a little pinch (very tiny!) of tartaric acid to a few bottles and mark them as such? This will give you a better feel for next time.

Seems you might like a little more acid than some. Food wines (compared to porch pounders) tend to be better with a slightly higher acid content. Is this mainly going to be a food wine? The whole idea for making your own wine is for it to be as you really like it. Nothing wrong with adding a little acid to taste, as it is YOUR WINE. Just don't over do it!!!

Enjoy!

 

[s0615353]

That is a really good idea, but they are already bottled. It is not that they are so flabby that I cant drink them, but I just feel that it would help t make the wine less jammy and more fresh (like fresh strawberries vs. smuckers). When I pop the corks I will keep some tartaric next to the salt and pepper on the dinner table, lol.

 

[s0615353]

It as been seven months since I pitched the yeast on this kit, and its acidity seems to have come back. The wine has become less jammy and more earthy and lean (more like a Burgundy). The one thing that I thought was weird is that it seemed to fall apart with a little air. I first popped the bottle for a glass to go with my lunch and it had a nice bright acidity, and good flavor. After recorking and leaving on the table until I reopened it at dinner time, the taste became flat and slightly oxidized. I think the modifications that they make to the tannins at Winexpert also affects that stability of the wine once opened. Just my 2 cents.

 

[GaDawg]

I've made the Cellar Craft Premium California Reserve Pinot Noir and it took 10-11 months from pitched the yeast to good to go