WineXpert WE Eclipse Riesling

[Jc5066]

The directions for the Riesling kit says to wait 8 days for the wine to clear then rack, after the end of fermentation and adding clearing agent. Then it says to wait 28 days for the wine to "polish". If I am going to filter the wine and bottle age is there any advantage to do the 28 day "polish"?

 

[David219]

I have never filtered my kit wine (or any wine, for that matter!), so I don't know. Two potential benefits of waiting the prescribed time is the longer natural settling is allowed to occur, the less "stuff" the filter will need to remove and the better the wine will naturally degas. Even using the All-in-One pump, I find my wines benefit from bulk aging from the degassing perspective alone.

I mainly make red wines, though, so extended bulk aging (including barrel time) is always in my plan. The couple white kit wines I made (WE Estate Riesling, LE Traminer Spatlese, and Selection Pinot Grigio) all were made pretty strictly to the instruction timelines (no extended bulk aging) and all had the slightest hint of gas. I'm currently remaking the Pinot Grigio. I'm letting it age a bit in a topped up carboy prior to bottling.

 

[Boatboy24]

It is always a good idea to wait. What they are calling 'polishing', I think is just clearing. In those first 8 days, you'll get a lot of sediment falling - most of it, actually. But after that racking, there will still be a decent amount. Were it my wine, I'd wait the 28 days before filtering. And remember, if you're using a 1 micron filter, that's very fine. Too much sediment will clog it right up.

 

[Jc5066]

I realize the polishing is just extended clearing. If I were to filter it seems that would accomplish the same thing as waiting the 28 days. I would use a number 2 filter.

Besides the clearing is there any benefit to leaving the wine in the carboy vs. bottling?

I know it is still going to take a few months to age.

 

[David219]

Again, I would say a major benefit to waiting is allowing for the natural release of any latent CO2 in the wine. Bottling sooner is asking for "fizziness", IMO, even if you have racked under vacuum and have aggressively manually degassed.

 

[bakervinyard]

JC5066, When I first started making wine I couldn't wait to bottle my wines. Went by the book, 5 week kit bottle, 6 week kit bottle. They were drinkable but not that good. Fizzy, thin, quite young tasting. Now I always bulk age at least 6 months plus on whites and a minimum of 12 months on reds. Then I try to wait another 12 months to drink the reds, wow what a difference. Three rules of wine making, patience, patience and patience. Bakervinyard

 

[Jc5066]

I will try to be patient. But it is so hard! Lol