Wedding wine suggestions

[roadpupp]

Hey all-
I am fairly new to winemaking but with two kits under my belt and some Skeeter Pee fermenting, I think I have the basics down.

My wife's sister is getting married in about a year. She likes Pinot Noir and Syrah but is open to most decent reds I put in front of her.

I want to make a special wine for her wedding. I was thinking a red and a white. I believe there will be roughly 100 guests. At first I thought I would need to do four kits but that would be more than a bottle per person!

I haven't ever seen somone make wine for a wedding so I don't know if it would be just a few bottles for the table and then the caterer would pour the back up wine later or if I should plan to supply the entire wedding. At 4 kits, I would be spending over $500 but this is my wife's twin so that is probably acceptable.

So a few questions to you the wine makers:
Would you try to make all the wine or just say, a few bottles for each table?

More importantly.

Which wine kits? I think at this point I should stick to kits over All Juice as I am familiar with the process. I have a WE Limited Release Washington Meritage still in the box and just picked up a Castel de Papa Rennaisance with Grape Pack from Wade.

I know that grape pack kits tend to take 18 months to really come into their own. Would either of those make a good all around crowd pleaser of decent quality for a wedding in one year from now?

My goals are to get a kit that I won't screw up, will taste good in 12 months and will taste like quality wine to the average wedding guest. The labels and all the rest will be a nice touch.

Also I am lost when it comes to whites. I did a 10L Royal Boug kit and haven't tasted it but again want the goals above for the whites. I don't have cold stabilizing equipment until the garage gets cold in December!

Thanks for any suggestions on kits, process or quantity for a wedding.

 

[ibglowin]

A year is not really enough time (to do it justice)for a really good red with a grape pack IMHO. I would concentrate on whites if possible. I have heard many folks really like the WE Luna Rossa for an early drinker red though I have not personally made it myself.

Good luck, It appears that I will be in the same boat as you only the wedding is this September! Good thing I have 800 bottles on hand, just have to relabel those I wish to serve.

 

[winemaker_3352]

I agree - year is not enough time for a red - whites can be served - but could use some more time.

Might look into a fruit wine - those can be served after a year and do really well.

 

[roadpupp]

Oh no.

Really? I understood that the Washington Meritage (no grape pack) was a decent early drinker. Is there really no red kit that I could make now to serve in a year to average wine consumers that would be considered decent wine?

Anyone else with suggestions about reds I could make in one year, please help a brother (in law) out!

 

[ffemt128]

First off what area are you from, I didn't see in your profile. Reason I'm asking is someone may be able to suggest a supplier of Chilean Juice near you which would be cheaper than paying for a better end kit and would likely produce a better end product.

My son recently got married and he had 130 guests. He chose only beer and wine but that being said, I had 3 1/2 cases of wine, 2 cases of champagne and 10-30 packs of beer purchased and there was absolutely nothing left the next day, well 1/2 case of beer of all kinds (less than 15 cans total).

If you can get fresh juice the whites could definately be ready and I did a Pinot Noir last year in the fall and it was only 7 months old that everyone just raved about. I used medium toast american oak in it. There are others I'm sure that could be done as well. I have a Ruby Cabernet that was also quite nice back sweetened to 1.002 after a year.

Don't leave out the possibility of fruit wines as well. The vinters reserve fruit bases make an excellent wine and are somewhat reasonably priced. They make either a 3 or 5 gallon recipe depending on which recipe you follow. Fresh fruit will also be plentiful depending on where you are.

You can also look into walkersfruitbasket.com , they may still have frozen buckets available. Havn't ordered from them but several members get the juice on a regular basis.

There are options, my guess you will need a total of 3 cases, depending on what other alcohol will be available.

 

[Julie]

Hi Roadpupp,

2 1/2 years ago my son and daughter in law got married and being the parents of the groom it was our responsbility to supply the alcohol. I had just started making wine and I had a year and three months to make wine for this wedding. The first thing I did was figure out who would be drinking wine. In my family all the men drink beer and the women are sippers and they do enjoy wine but, seriously, they are not wine drinkers more like wine coolers. So I decided on country wines. My daughter-in-law's family are either beer drinkers or mixed drink drinkers with some liking wine and they were more the big red drinkers. I did not have time to do any reds, so I made some Orchard Breezin kits and a pile of country wines plus I took a case of skeeter pee. We had about 200 guests and we served beer, mixed drinks and about 9 cases of wine. I got all the 80 year old ladies drunk, the wines were a huge hit. Those who normally drank mixed drinks went for the wine. Those how drank strictly Merlot or Shiraz were very excited on the fruit wines. I had reisling, orchard breezin blackberry merlot, orchard breezin blueberry shiraz, elderberry, peach, raspberry, tropical breeze, and skeeter pee. Out of 9 cases of wine I was able to grab 5 different bottles to keep for the bride and grooms first year anniversary. We put one bottle on each table and placed the rest at the bar to be served there. To this day I still get a lot of compliments about the wine we had for the wedding. If you want help in planning this, let me know I will help you as much as I can.

 

[DoctorCAD]

I'd consider Julies suggestions strongly. The "mist" style kits will be perfect for a wedding, low alcohol, taste pretty good and easily ready in a year. A red mist and a white mist will get you 60 bottles (120 if you do 375 ml bottles...less waste).

 

[Runningwolf]

I'd consider Julies suggestions strongly. The "mist" style kits will be perfect for a wedding, low alcohol, taste pretty good and easily ready in a year. A red mist and a white mist will get you 60 bottles (120 if you do 375 ml bottles...less waste).

I think the 375 ml bottles are an excellent suggestion along with the mist kits. You might even think about getting the 375 screw cap bottles they are not expesive and the caps aren't either.

 

[roadpupp]

Thanks to all that replied! I don't know much about country wines and this will be a Washington DC wedding so I am not sure how the groom and his parents will feel about fruit wines. I know I would be more comfortable supplying a traditional red and white. Perhaps I'll make a nice white and start my meritage kit right away in the hopes that it will be acceptable by then. Whites for sure it sounds like would work But there is the issue of cold stabilizing by then.

Can I ferment it now and wait to cold stabilize over the winter during bulk aging? I would hate to deliver wine with diamonds for the big day.

More ideas and if anyone thinks a good red can be ready in 12 months please let me know!

This place is so helpful!
Roadpupp

 

[Runningwolf]

If your buying kits, there is no need to cold stabilize, especially with whites. With over 12 months to prepare you can get high end whites with no issues. I think you could even get a decent red without issues, just don't get the real high end ones that require 18-24 months.

 

[Boatboy24]

I'm a newbie myself and can't offer much on the wines. But check with the venue to be sure there won't be any issues with "imported" alcohol. Many places won't allow it at all. And many of those that do will charge a not so insignificant corking fee. Good luck, and keep us posted on your progress.

 

[roadpupp]

Boatboy makes a good point.

The venue may not even allow outside alcohol. That might make it easier in a way. I could make up 100 splits and it could be a wedding favor. (oh the bottling work though!)

I'm glad to hear that some of you at least think a red could be drinkable (if not optimal) by then. They haven't picked a date yet.

I guess I can just move forward with the kits I have including the WE Washington Meritage as it has no grape pack and bulk age until a few months before and test it out then to see if it is worthy of a special occassion. I should also get two whites in carboys in case I want to do a double batch of white splits.

Any advice on kits of whites? I would be looking for medium to high quality and quick drinking(one year). I know most folks are used to Chardonnay but the oak isn't to everyone's taste so perhaps an un oaked Chard or Sauv. Blanc?

Thanks all!

 

[Flem]

Maybe a Riesling or Gewurztraminer. They can both be back sweetened to taste.

 

[g8keeper]

Maybe a Riesling or Gewurztraminer. They can both be back sweetened to taste.

+1 to what flem said....rieslings are definitely a very popular white wine, possibly 2nd only to chards, and yet normally a ver easy drinking white....i think a riesling would go over really well....

 

[ibglowin]

I mad the CC Showcase Yakima Valley Riesling last year. WA state has fantastic Riesling grapes (well fantastic everything grape wise these days!) This was amazing at only 3 months. Earliest drinking white made to date. It is slightly off dry and comes with the standard flavour reserve pack to backsweeten. This would be a fantastic hit and ready in plenty of time. Sauv Blancs are very popular as well. The CC Showcase Viognier is amazing and also off dry. It needs about 6 months minimum though. The CC SHowcase Grunner Veltliner is also a big favorite if you want something different. It is off dry also. You have lots of choices when it comes to white for sure!

 

[saramc]

May want to check in the legality of providing homemade wine at the wedding. Depending on where you plan on serving this, private home versus off-site business, it may not even be a possibility. (EDIT 5/6: apologize, for some reason I didn't even see the posts from 4/24 where others mentioned the same concern)

That being said, a good friend is getting married in a few weeks, and she is my dedicated wine taster of all the wine I make. She fell in love with one of the first wines I made, Raspberry Melomel. She asked if I would help her make Raspberry Melomel and Raspberry Skeeter Pee for her beach wedding (on private property). She and her groom-to-be are coming over next weekend to bottle. I am tucking away a few bottles of the melomel and plan to present one to them for their first few anniversary celebrations. And how can you not have Skeeter Pee on the beach?

 

[saddlebronze]

If you can get the Cellar Craft Lodi Old Vine Zin kits, you can make an honorable Red in 8 weeks that will keep getting better. I am serving this to all my guests and they all love it. All I did was follow the directions. I would put this wine in front of anyone.