WineXpert Just tried my first 2 WE kits this weekend. I'm hooked!

[malfrune]

I switched from making beer to making wine a while back, was worried about the quality of finished kit wine... not anymore.

So I cracked a couple bottles this weekend. Both by Winexpert.

First was the selection series montepulciano. It is at 8 months now and is OK. My first go at wine. There's still sediment and yeast in the bottles, it has a very floral nose and is OK at best. I'll drink it but... whatever, mediocre at best. Hope it gets better in another 6 months.

2nd batch I did was the Bravado/super tuscan, bottles on new years, opened my first bottle tonight. ohh holy **** this is good. I just drank the entire bottle tonight by myself. Wow! It's only 6 months old too! I don't know if this will last to see 2-3 years age. I did take my time with this one and received an all in one pump so I could filter, used a 5 micron. So very clear, very good. I'm not saying it's the best wine I've ever had, but it's very good. I'm not a connoisseur by any means so not going to try and describe with fancy words it but this is a really good full bodied red.

I've got 1 issue with sharing with people, and that's that there will be less for me.

 

[jgmann67]

I switched from making beer to making wine a while back, was worried about the quality of finished kit wine... not anymore.



So I cracked a couple bottles this weekend. Both by Winexpert.



First was the selection series montepulciano. It is at 8 months now and is OK. My first go at wine. There's still sediment and yeast in the bottles, it has a very floral nose and is OK at best. I'll drink it but... whatever, mediocre at best. Hope it gets better in another 6 months.



2nd batch I did was the Bravado/super tuscan, bottles on new years, opened my first bottle tonight. ohh holy **** this is good. I just drank the entire bottle tonight by myself. Wow! It's only 6 months old too! I don't know if this will last to see 2-3 years age. I did take my time with this one and received an all in one pump so I could filter, used a 5 micron. So very clear, very good. I'm not saying it's the best wine I've ever had, but it's very good. I'm not a connoisseur by any means so not going to try and describe with fancy words it but this is a really good full bodied red.



I've got 1 issue with sharing with people, and that's that there will be less for me.

Your first wine could use the love you gave your second. If it were me I'd dump it back into a carboy, dose with kmeta, let it settle over a day or two, and then filter into a clean carboy before putting it back in the bottle. Who wants 28 bottles of mediocre wine that could have been good to very good?

 

[malfrune]

Your first wine could use the love you gave your second. If it were me I'd dump it back into a carboy, dose with kmeta, let it settle over a day or two, and then filter into a clean carboy before putting it back in the bottle. Who wants 28 bottles of mediocre wine that could have been good to very good?

Is there much risk in oxidization when doing that? Does it lower the amount of time I'll be able to age it? It's getting better but I followed the timeline in the instructions to a T and it really isn't as good as it could have been.

Was actually kinda lazy with the second kit and just let it hang out in the carboy with the oak cubes and lees some extra weeks, and had the ability to filter by the time I got around to bottling.

Need to bottle my 3rd kit this weekend so may try that.

 

[Boatboy24]

A little risk, but not too much. If you're concerned, you could give it 1/8th tsp of KMeta if you have no way to measure sulfites and be sure.

 

[bkisel]

I sure hope you bottled to 750ML and not 1.5L bottles!

 

[jgmann67]

A little risk, but not too much. If you're concerned, you could give it 1/8th tsp of KMeta if you have no way to measure sulfites and be sure.

Agreed.

Just think in these terms: Would you serve that wine to your friends or at a dinner? If the answer is anything other than, "yes, absolutely," you should fix what you can.

 

[Rocky]

"Sediment and yeast" in the bottles would be more of a concern to me. I would definitely go back to bulk, add sulfites, airlock and let the wine settle for at least 6 months. I should be clear enough to bottle without filtering at that time. If not, filter it with a 1 micron filter.

Also, there is an inherent difference in quality between Montepulciano and Super Tuscan, not to mention between the "Selection" series and the "Eclipse" series so I am not surprised that the latter is more pleasing.

 

[malfrune]

Also, there is an inherent difference in quality between Montepulciano and Super Tuscan, not to mention between the "Selection" series and the "Eclipse" series so I am not surprised that the latter is more pleasing.

I was also kinda of wondering how much of the difference was in the quality of the kits. I'll try filtering it and re-bottling and see what happens when I get this carboy freed up.