JimCook
Senior Member
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2007
- Messages
- 792
- Reaction score
- 5
I have a Nero d'Avola that I had started in the middle of October 2008. It has been in the bottle since July of 2009 and I opened a bottle this past Sunday to see how it was developing. While it was earlier than I would normally open a red wine to test (only 15 months), there were three of us and we wanted to test it. It was the first bottle of the batch that I tried.
When we tasted the wine on that Sunday, it was typical of a wine that needed more time - the aroma was coming along but the taste wasn't necessarily there and it didn't have the refinement that one would expect from a developed wine. Given the age of the wine, this wasn't much of a surprise.
So, in went a cork for the other half of the bottle and it sat on my countertop until last night (Friday). On day 5, the wine had undergone a remarkable transformation, giving great insight as to what it will taste like in the months/years ahead. The nose had developed further with some very nice berry fruit smells and the taste really had picked up. It still had the lightness of the mouthfeel that most of the kit wines that I have made had, but it did not come across as thin. I'm quite excited to open some bottles after more time passes.
If anyone hadn't yet considered this kit, it presented a flavor like a cross between a Zinfandel and a Malbec (rough estimate based on my taste buds here). The tannin level was lower and it carried some nice dark fruit flavors. I'm glad the bottle sat for the five days at 50% full - it really helped give me a glimpse of good things to come.
- Jim
When we tasted the wine on that Sunday, it was typical of a wine that needed more time - the aroma was coming along but the taste wasn't necessarily there and it didn't have the refinement that one would expect from a developed wine. Given the age of the wine, this wasn't much of a surprise.
So, in went a cork for the other half of the bottle and it sat on my countertop until last night (Friday). On day 5, the wine had undergone a remarkable transformation, giving great insight as to what it will taste like in the months/years ahead. The nose had developed further with some very nice berry fruit smells and the taste really had picked up. It still had the lightness of the mouthfeel that most of the kit wines that I have made had, but it did not come across as thin. I'm quite excited to open some bottles after more time passes.
If anyone hadn't yet considered this kit, it presented a flavor like a cross between a Zinfandel and a Malbec (rough estimate based on my taste buds here). The tannin level was lower and it carried some nice dark fruit flavors. I'm glad the bottle sat for the five days at 50% full - it really helped give me a glimpse of good things to come.
- Jim