Mosti Mondiale MM Pinot Noir - Newbie ?'s :)

[donking2010]

Hi all I've been reading over allot of your post over the past few weeks.
And am very impressed with how nice everyone is and all the great information and knowledge there is here.


So, no surprise I too have a few questions.
This is my first time making wine and after doing allot of research and reading on this forum I think I'm ready to give it a go!

So I'm looking at starting with the MM Pinot.


1. Just wondering though what people think of it.


2. I'm afraid of it being too spicy? What do you guys think of the spice within it?


3. Are there any other brands that you would recommend for Pinot?


I'm looking at getting the Deluxe package. Are there any add-ons that would be a good addition?


Maybe a second Carboy & a #5162 Carboy Handle?


Any other information from you all would be peachy!


Thanks
Brian

 

[Joanie]

Welcome Brian!

I haven't made a MM Pinot but I have made a couple of the WineExpert Pinots and they have been great. The MM kits have gotten rave reviews and I have two in process now and a third due for delivery today. (Whohoo! a day early!)

A second carboy is always a good idea...along with a third and a fourth!

I have a handle but I don't use it much. Even I can lift a full six gallon carboy off the floor and onto the counter. Just remember to bend at the knees and lift with your legs!

Keep asking questions! It's how you learn!

 

[grapeman]

Welcome Brian. You have found a good place to pick the brains of everyone and find a few helpful hints allong the way.


The MM Pinot Noir- at least the all-juice kit is a great one to start with. It finished off very well and I wouldn't consider it too spicy at all. I just bottled one on Saturday and I think it's wonderful.


Get what equipment you can afford now and pick up the other goodies as you can. Extra carboys are always a big help as are the handles for them. Be sure to get extra airlocks and bungs with them. #5168B has all of them.

 

[JWMINNESOTA]

I too have made the WE Pinot, has turned into a very good wine. I would expect the MM to be as good,probably better. You will probably find there are never enough carboys, get and add what your budget allows and you will definitely put it to good use. Have fun!

 

[JimCook]

Brian,




Down toward the bottom of this page are my tasting notes for the MM AllJuice Pinot Noir: http://www.finevinewines.com//Wiz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3310&PN=4


I personally notice no spice characteristics in it. It has the varietal characteristics of cherry, red berry, and earthiness, although it's not at this point very pronounced. Having had other people try it at the time of that tasting note, however, several people said they would drink that wine right then and enjoyed it's smoothness and flavors.


- Jim

 

[donking2010]

Whoa!!!!




Thanks guys for all your great comments. This weekend is the big one, I'm goingto put in my Equipment & Kit order.


I can't wait to get started!

 

[masta]

Welcome and keep us informed of your progress.

 

[Wade E]

If you can, buy the best equipment and wine kits you can. The equipment will pay for it self by making it so much easier for you know and buying stuff separately costs more. the wine kit will pay for itself when its done as the bigger kits give you better wines.

 

[donking2010]

I went ahead and got the Deluxe Equipment Package this weekend.Along withthe MM All Juice Bucket of Pinot Noir winekit. I can't wait to get started.


Thanks again for the information. Once I get the started I'll be doing alot more reading and asking of questions.


Thanks
Brian

 

[Joanie]

Uh oh!! You're hooked now, Brian!!

Once you move the Pinot out of the primary and into the secondary, you're going to need to start a second wine that won't take as long to age. Otherwise you're going to be thirsty!

You've begun a great hobby! You will love it!

 

[Wade E]

Great wine choice and equipment package. You wont be sorry that you chose the higher end of both items!

 

[K&GB]

Just a note about carboys. I'm a newbie home wine maker, but I've found that the 6-gal alone aren't sufficient, unless you want to keep topping up with finished wine. The kits are supposed to make six gallons, but after racking mine seem to come up short. So I got some 5-gal, 1-gal, and 1/2 gal carboys too. This seems to be working so far.

 

[Wade E]

Good advice, I got a few 1 gallon jugs and 1-3 liter jug from a recycling center that were wine containers. you could get these there or buy some wine in these and drink that while waiting for yours to be done. Most of the time you get a full 6 gallons but for some reason occasionally i end up with less even though I make sure not to go below the high end of the starting SG.

 

[OldWino1]

just byte the big one and get multipule 6 gals from george. i made a 5 gal batch of red wine and white wine I use for topping off.

 

[uavwmn]

Brian, welcome to the Forum. Sounds like you are excited!! Duh!!
Enjoy the process. Patience seems to be the secret here. This is a fun group and a fun hobby.

 

[laneygirl]

I would echo Joan's comment about following up each kit with another for a while. This will allow you toget enough stocked on your shelf/wine rack that you don't run out before this one is sufficently aged. I know that my first few kits weregone before the recommended6 - 12 months aging period because I couldn't wait to test and share them.


I now have about 7 kits bottled and on the wine rack, which is going to allow me to age them sufficiently before drinking them and I can tell you it's really paying off. I tried a WE Old Lodi Zin the other night that was bottled in August and it tasted great...it should only get better and I can't wait to try that out.


I have three more in various stages of being made, with one more on deck in my basement and three more Limited Edition kits on order.....it is an addicting hobby and I think I'll have to build one or two more wine racks in my basement.

 

[donking2010]

Well I finally got around to starting my first kit. It went a whole lot easier than i had anticipated.Using the Auto-Syphon for getting the juice out of the bag is a must (no pun intended). I only dribbed about 2 tbsp of juice when I opened the cap.


I had an SG reading of 1.084 taken at 69 degrees (must).


I've got a heater in my bathroom (umm yeah! the only place I have to make the wine, right in a bathtub. It'll be nice if things get messy.) I've got the heater in there in hopes to bring the temp of the must up another 2 or 3 degrees.


I've just got one question so far is it bad for the must temp to be varing between say 67 - 70 degrees? Would that be OK for fermentation?


Or should I keep the heater in there to get the temp up to 72 - 73 degrees?


O' and does fermentation raise the temperature on its own?


Thanks again to all!
Brian

 

[grapeman]

Use the heater for a bit to get the temp in the low 70's and when fermentation begins, it will raise the temp on it's own and you can turn the heater off. A more efficient use of energy is to get a brew belt that goes around the primary to keep the must emp a bit higher and only heats the wine, not the room.

 

[Wade E]

I like to keep it at least 68* min and no higher than 78*. I use the brew belt, it is a good tool for these temps but will not work if you use it in a basement that is at low to mid 50"s as it wont warm it up enough.

Edited by: wade

 

[donking2010]

Here's an update about my kit: A Lesson on what not to do with oak.





I checked the SG reading today and it was a shocking 1.014 (instructions saying to transfer to second ferm at 1.020 or under) so i transfer. In the rush of transfering, I just had a little bit of time to do this today. I forgot to add the oak!

So, after realizing this I added it after transfering the wine to the carboy. Of coarse the oak just sat there not getting wet, sinking or anything. So I improvised... here's where I went wrong.


I started to stir the oak in with my thermometer, it being sterile. This just created alot of bubbling. It started to do some mini volcano action on me. So I put the airlock in hoping that this would calm things down. It didn't... Things just bubbled and made a nice mess out of by tub and walls with some spray. After about 2 hours things settled down and now were all cool. I took the airlock out and cleaned it up and put in some fresh K-Meta so now things look like a pro was doing it. But in fact a very green rookie was at work here.


Here's a pick on when things started to get messy. I thought I should take a break in the middle and capture the momenton digital film.


So what has been learned here... Brian just let it be put the oak in and let it be. But it would be a lot easier to put the oak in before transfering the wine. Just like the directions say.

Edited by: donking2010