Heron Bay Peach chardonnay

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GANGGREEN

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First post here folks. I made 5 or 6 batches of wine, mostly from fresh fruit, 15 years or so ago but I've forgotten most of what little bit I did learn then and consider myself an absolute newbie. Has anyone tried the Heron Bay peach chardonnay? Any opinions? Frankly, I'm not much of a wine drinker myself but when I do drink wine, I like a semi-sweet or semi-dry, fruity wine. My wife used to like very sweet wines but she now prefers the same types of wine that I do. Do you suppose that we'll enjoy it?

I picked the wine mostly because of it's high ranking in this month's Wine Maker magazine (it's ranked #2 of the top 100 wine kits) but also because my wife does like chardonnay and I happen to like peach. I'd appreciate any insights or opinions on this kit. Thanks.
 
I havent made that kit but many just like it. There are 4 manufacturers that make these and that is not 1 that I can really get on any of the sites or stores that I frequent but have onky heard good things about that brand. i mut say that as far as i know all the companies make a very good mist kit wine. That being said some of these are very sweet so when adding the sweetener/flavor pack at the end add it slowly and taste and stop when you are happy with it. I male quite a few of these and add 3 1/2 lbs of dissolved sugar in the primary to up the abv of these kits cause they are very low in alc as is. That will void the warranty but i have never heard of anyone having a problem doing one of these kits with the upped abv and lots of people do it!
 
Thanks for the info Wade. A couple of questions. First of all, I presume that I can just add regular granulated sugar to increase the ABV, right? I'm guessing that it all ferments out and the sweetness of the wine is controlled at the end of the process. About what would the ABV be if I followed the instructions and what would it be if I added the 3.5 pounds of sugar?

Thanks again for your input.
 
It will ferment dry and the sweetener?flavor pack is added at the end and each kit is different as far as weetness gos, some of these are very sweete and some are nice. The one you are looking at isnt as sweet as most of them. Without the addition of (regular table sugar) it will come out to an abv of around 7.5%, with the additional sugar it will be around 10%.
 
Great, I'm glad to hear that this kit isn't quite as sweet as some but I may still tweak it. Thanks again for your help.
 
Well, for what it's worth, I got the kit from the winery. The instructions are clear and easy to read and I got the primary fermentation going. It started at 1.067SG and was bubbling away within the first 12 hours (probably much sooner but when I woke up the next morning it was working). Now it's less than two days in and it's working pretty aggressively. I'll rack to a secondary fermenter in a week or so when it slows down (or quits) and then take it slowly and patiently.

This will be my first wine in 15 years or so and I'm quite anxious to see how it turns out.
 
Mist kit wines

Made about 6 of these kits so far,best way to do them is in a big fermenter,add simple sugar to bring the SG to 1.010 this will take it from a fruit juice kit to a wine ,with the added FPAC,(supplied) will you not only have a good party wine ,it will taste good..the :brfpac are potent and can stand up to the add ABV.............:br
 
I'm not sure I understand. I'm a newbie so humor me. I complete the primary fermentation in my fermentation bucket, then rack over to a carboy where I'll add the fruit pack and what ever sugar is needed to bring the SG to 1.010 and then the fermentation will start up again, turning that sugar into alcohol, making my "wine" more alcoholic and better tasting, right?
 
I'm not sure I understand. I'm a newbie so humor me. I complete the primary fermentation in my fermentation bucket, then rack over to a carboy where I'll add the fruit pack and what ever sugar is needed to bring the SG to 1.010 and then the fermentation will start up again, turning that sugar into alcohol, making my "wine" more alcoholic and better tasting, right?
I'm not certain what joeswine is getting at either. I suspect that he is advocating bumping the sg in the primary to 1.100 (ie 1.010 is a typo). Many folks bump the sg in the primary, but the normal recomendation is more like 1.080 to 1.085 (Wade & Tom are always advocating this, so hopefully one will correct that if I'm wrong).

Some (like me) just make these kits as the manufacturer suggests. No need to play with the initial sg or anything else.

It's basically your choice.

Steve
 
Thanks for the info Steve. It's too late for me to bump the initial SG now even if I wanted to. I started it nearly two weeks ago at an sg of 1.067 and the fermentation is slowing down a great deal. I suspect that I'll be racking it to a carboy within a week or so.
 
mist kits

sorry if I did not make myself clear,add the simple syurp to the initial primary, this will bring the ABV. up to a good level and bring the taste of the finished product from grape juice like kit to a very good and excepable wine flavor,the fpac is stronge enought in flavor to handle add ABV.:se
 
OK Joe, I've got it now. As I said, it's too late for me to do anything with this batch but I'll give it a try after making the batch per the instructions and see how we like it, then experiment with the next batch if we're dissatisfied. Thanks.
 
I see that you're in Edinboro. I live in north central PA but I ordered it online from Presque Isle Winery and had it shipped. I have a brother that lives over that way too but wasn't planning a trip out that way so I had it delivered.
 
Thats pretty funny, when you said you bought it a winery thats the first place i thought of, even though you could have been any where in the world. I also have picked up a few from there. I snuck (Shhhh) out there this morning and picked up two more carboys while my wife was working! They have a fantastic price on them ($31 for 6 gallon).
 
I just bought a 6 gallon Better Bottle and have another 6 or 6.5 gallon glass floating around here somewhere or I'd probably take advantage of that.
 
Thats pretty funny, when you said you bought it a winery thats the first place i thought of, even though you could have been any where in the world.


That's exactly what I was thinking. My youngest son is attending college in Edinboro, anytime we visit him is an opportunity to swing by Presque Isle Winery and stock up.

I have a Peach Chardonnay in the bottle, (it's great, possibly my favorite) and another that's ready to be bottled.

Of the Herron Bay kits I have also made,
Raspberry Zinfandel
Wild Berry Chianti
Wild Blueberry Blush
White Grenache Blush
Vieux Chateau Du Roi
Peisporter

Rod
 
That's exactly what I was thinking. My youngest son is attending college in Edinboro, anytime we visit him is an opportunity to swing by Presque Isle Winery and stock up.

I have a Peach Chardonnay in the bottle, (it's great, possibly my favorite) and another that's ready to be bottled.

Of the Herron Bay kits I have also made,
Raspberry Zinfandel
Wild Berry Chianti
Wild Blueberry Blush
White Grenache Blush
Vieux Chateau Du Roi
Peisporter

Rod

Rod, when you stop by to visit your son let me know. I am only a few miles from the university.
 
Rod, when you stop by to visit your son let me know. I am only a few miles from the university.


OK I will, probably in 3 or 4 weeks.
Rod
 

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