WineXpert Just tasted my first batch... not bad, but boring.

[lurivera]

I am a super newbie at this, so I started with the Winexpert Selection Premium Sauvignon kit. I mixed it together and started fermentation on January 19 (my wife and I wanted to call the wine our “Inaugural White”). My staging area is in the basement, and as we live in Upstate NY, it stays pretty cool. I was afraid of not having it warm enough for the yeast to do its thing, so I used a brew belt to help things along.

Maybe it was too warm, because the primary fermentation was pretty much complete by January 26, judging by the SG. I transferred it to the secondary, and it barely bubbled. Well, to make a long story short, I followed the rest of the directions, racked it twice, topped it with distilled water (maybe not a good idea?), then bottled it on March 28. We tasted it then, and it wasn’t bad, but didn’t have that citrus complexity we love about Sauvignon Blanc. I told myself: be patient, it just needs some time in the bottle.

Well, we uncorked a bottle last night, and it is still kind of bland. It isn’t bad, but kind of boring, with no tart acid. My wife says it tasted more like a non-oaky Chardonnay.

My questions are: will it get better? Could the rapid fermentation have something to do with the blah flavor? Should I have topped it with wine instead of water?

I welcome any and all comments!

 

[Wade E]

It could. I like to ferment my whites at much cooler temps then stated in directions. The yeast suppiled works well even at much cooler temps from 50*-86* F. I always ferment my white wines and fruit wines at around 62* and this helps keep the wines fruity esters. I do warm it back up towards the end of fermentation to make sure it finishes fermenting though. It will make fermentation take much longer though!

 

[Tom]

How much water did you add? If you need to top off get yourself a similar wine to top off. I do not add water it will thin it out.

 

[lurivera]

Thanks for the info. Like I said, the wine is drinkable, but nothing to brag about.

I guess it will not improve much more in the bottle?

 

[cpfan]

Patience. It's only been in the bottle a month. Many of us like to wait more than 3 months for this level of white.

Steve

 

[Wade E]

It will improve but patience will be needed.

 

[Manimal]

I find that most of the kit wines I've tasted are deficient in acidity for my personal tastes. I think that kits (at the lower price point, anyways) are generally engineered to appeal to a broad audience and as such they keep to rather low TA levels for the variety at hand... much like many lower priced commercial wines. I really prefer crisp, cool climate wines, and as such, I find many kit wines (especially whites) dull and flat tasting. Maybe a higher end kit would better suit your tastes, or you could try pure juice.

 

[smurfe]

Wine Expert kits are concentrated to allow up to one liter of water addition. I normally would add up to that amount but if any more was needed i added a like type wine. Give the wine some time. The WE Selection Kits are pretty decent kits.