Kit againg

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Giovannino

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I'm a little confused and becoming paranoid.

Elsewhere in this forum, many recommended that a jug of 1987 wine be thrown-out. Which brings forth the following questions:

Once bottled, what is the maximum number of years I can age wine from kits?
Does it matter if the original kit was a 4, 6, 8 or whatever-week kit?

Thanks
 
Great question! I've alway heard that wine from kits will not age as well as wine from grapes. But the issue of "time" always comes up.......is it 1 year? 2 years? 5 years?

Well it just so happens that my cousin came over this past weekend with a bottle of wine I made from a kit (my first attempt at making wine) a Merlot......the vintage.......2002. And ya know......it was pretty darn good.

The other issue here is, and the others will chime in as well, we make wine to drink it, not let it sit. Hope this helped.
 
The traditional view would be that it would be a function of how well the wine was stabilized, bottled and stored. I don't keep wine more than two years, but that is more a result of consumption rather than and involved aging plan.

From what I have read on this forum, some guys keep it 3 or 4 years without a problem.
 
There are a lot of factors that determine how well (long) a particular wine will age.

At The Wine maker's Toy Store, George generally states how long a kit wine should age before drinking and how long the wine can age and still stay good.

A wine starts out not tasting as well as it will when fully matured (the sweet spot). And, once fully matured, it will stay that way for a reasonable time before it finally starts "going down hill" as it gets older.

A wine will last longer if it has sugar; the more sugar, the longer it will last (generally speaking). There are very sweet Rieslings that can last 100 years. That's a long, long time, especially for a white wine.

Another factor that determines the aging ability is acid content.

Still another is the total dissolved solids (TDS) in the wine. The more the TDS, the longer the wine can age.

One factor to consider about wines that age longer is that the longer a wine can age, the longer it takes for that wine to mature. It will taste rough and tart for a much longer time before it smooths out (matures). This factor and the lower TDS in most dry white wines is why they are drinkable sooner, but typically won't age as long.

The lower priced red wine kits tend to have less TDS, so they mature faster, but won't last as long as a premium red kit, which has a juicy grape pack, which of course is loaded with TDS. With a premium grape pack kit, we sometimes have to wait 2 years or more before it matures. (This is the reason why I keep saying that if you can't stay out of the wine until it matures, you should buy and make the lower priced kits, which mature quicker.)

I have read that for a true Italian Barolo, you should not buy the wine until it is at least 10 years old, then you should let it age for at least 10 more years before you drink it.
 
This is why many of us make Skeeter Pee, it allows us to enjoy "our Pee" while our bigger Reds mature. Just started a C C Old Vine Zin, & a Lemon/Lime SP. One to drink in 45 days, the other in 18 months, Roy
 
This is why many of us make Skeeter Pee, it allows us to enjoy "our Pee" while our bigger Reds mature. Just started a C C Old Vine Zin, & a Lemon/Lime SP. One to drink in 45 days, the other in 18 months, Roy

That's a great way to make wine. Some early drinkers while the really good stuff matures.

I admittedly have never made a SP. I want to and I will someday soon.

I make 2 of the RJ Spagnol Orchard Breezin summer wine kits each Spring, which are ready to drink two months after they are started. All while the better wines are aging in the cool basement.
 
also if you plan on keeping a wine for a number of years a good cork is needed also. I get some natural corks and usually will cork one or two bottles that i plan on saving.
 
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