Other Williams Brewing Pinot Noir

[roger80465]

As I mentioned in another thread, I am in need of a lighter red wine for friends who prefer such a creature. It would also be nice to have something to have with chicken or salmon, since I am not a fan of whites.

I considered several medium grade kits but trusted opinions seem to indicate there was not much difference in them so I opted for the least expensive, which is the Williams Brewing Pinot Noir. The reviews on their site are overwhelmingly positive (probably biased, I know.) I am currently bulk aging one of their Malbecs and am happy so far. So, what the heck - I'll give it a try.

I will keep you all posted on the progress and my opinions on this product. If anyone has any experience they would like to share, please jump in.

Talk to you soon.

 

[NoSnob]

Roger we look forward to hearing about your experience with the Williams Pinot Noir kit. I have wondered about them myself. What is included in them? My understanding was that they are cans of concentrate and yeast.

I have become fond of Pinot Noir commercial wines and find, like many others, that store-bought Pinot Noir is highly variable in quality and there is little in the low-end (less than $15) that is attractive to me. The middle bracket is where a lot of variability lies, in my experience. Then, there are differences in California, Washington, Australian and New Zealand Pinots.

For these reasons, I decided to go with a top end kit choice. I have only made the Winexpert Selection Estate Pinot Noir. It was excellent - two different friends said they thought it was a 90 or better. I thus made a second batch, now aging in carboy.

Keep us posted!

NS

 

[Rocky]

Roger, I have not made the Pinot Noir but I have made the Muscat a number of times and I was very pleased.

 

[roger80465]

Mi Pinot is in route to me as we speak. I expect it to arrive on Tuesday. I will report back as I start the process. Should be a fun experiment.

 

[tfries]

My wife and I recently bought the Williams Zinfandel kit and used it to make a Zin Port. We used the oak powder and yeast that was provided in the kit, but did add a pound of raisins. Stopped the fermentation when it got to 13.5 Brix and fortified it with 152 proof brandy. This is going to age for quite awhile before bottling. So far it is quite tasty.

Hope your Pinot Noir turns out great!

 

[roger80465]

The Pinot Noir kit arrived today. The kit consisted of 2 cans (96 oz each) of concentrate, 30g pkg of toasted dust for primary and Montrachet yeast.

Montrachet seems like an interesting choice for this kit. What do you think? I have some BM 4x4 as an option. Some sources say Montrachet is good for Chard and some reds. Others say it is good for full bodied reds. Welcome feedback on this. I plan to start this kit in the next couple days.

 

[roger80465]

Started this kit yesterday about noon by adding filtered water to 20 L. Concentrate tasted great and had great color. SG was 1.094 and added the supplied Montrachet yeast.

As of now, minimal fermentation activity, more a light fizz than anything. So far so good.

 

[roger80465]

OK, so I am sure most of you are aware of this fact (and now so am I). Putting oak dust into an infusion bag is about like herding cats. It is now floating freely in the must. Oh well, made sense at the time.

 

[DoctorCAD]

My Williams Pinot and a Merlot are now at 5 months in secondary. Going to bottle end of April. Both look perfect, crystal clear and the right color.

Boy, the re-constituted juice tastes fantastic!!!!!

 

[roger80465]

Racked the PN into secondary today, day 14. The color is beautiful (obviously cloudy at this point). Flavor is pretty much exactly what I was after, bright cherry fruit, light and, to me, very Pinot Noir like. Very little oak at this time, which may not be a bad thing. I accept it is early in the game so I have to be patient and let nature happen. I'm not adding oak right now. I will wait a month or so and decide whether I need to tweak it. If I do, I am thinking some medium French into the secondary. Now we wait for the magic to happen.

 

[roger80465]

Degassed using the food saver last evening and double racked using my allinone pump. A week ago, I found the wine to be lacking some body so I made an oak tea using 30g French Medium chips and added the resulting liquor and chips to the wine. At racking today, all I can say is WOW! What a difference. It now has excellent body for a lighter wine (if that makes sense to anyone). Just the hint of oak and the vanilla from the medium French. I am very pleased and excited for this one. I can't wait for it to age for 6 months or so. I will need to put this far back in the cellar to stay away from it. I will let this sit for another 45 to 90 days to bulk age before bottling. In the meantime, I will probably order another one so I will have a batch in reserve. I am very pleased with my decision on this kit.

 

[NoSnob]

Good to hear it's going great, Roger.

Could you comment on how good the instructions were that came with it?

Except for the addition of the extra oak chips, have you followed Williams' directions closely?

NS

 

[roger80465]

NS, I have followed the directions pretty closely. Basically the instructions are pretty clear and easy. If you read through them, there is a natural tendency to be looking for more info, since the instructions are so simple. The kit comes with no clearing agents other than time. No bentonite, sulfite, sorbate or anything but concentrate, yeast and maybe some oak dust. I did add a couple tablespoons bentonite to the primary just to aid clearing.

My time line has been 2 weeks in primary, 2 weeks in secondary and now 2-3 months in bulk aging then bottling. That's about it.

So far, I am very pleasantly surprised by the quality of the product. I anticipate making many more of these kits. They will make a terrific daily drinker.

UPDATE: I found the instructions listed on another site. So here they are:

Here are the kit instructions (abbreviated):

1) Pour grape concentrate into 6-7gal fermenter
2) Add cold water to make 5gal
3) Stir in granulated oak package
4) Rehydrate yeast (Red Star Montrachet dry 5gm packet) and pitch
5) Ferment at 68* for 2 weeks
6) Condition in secondary for additional 12 weeks
7) Bottle and age for 3+ months

Doesn't get mutch easier than that.

 

[NoSnob]

It likely needs an addition, at minimum, of sulfites before bottling. I might try this. I'll look for your follow-ups. Thanks for sharing!

NS

 

[roger80465]

Agree on the sulfites. I failed to mention I added a pinch when I degassed so it will be good for the bulk period.

Try it. While taste is subjective, I think you will be pleased.

 

[roger80465]

Well, I bottled the PN today, granted, it is a bit early but honestly, I needed the carboy for a Williams OV Zinfandel. I am VERY pleased with the result of this wine and will definitely make it again. My palate isn't sophisticated enough to tell you it is an incredible PN. However, I really like this wine. Nice fruit (mostly cherry) and a very nice mouth feel and texture. A case or so will be going into rotation pretty soon and the rest will age for at least 6-12 months. It has the potential to be a terrific every day wine. I highly recommend this kit.

 

[DoctorCAD]

I still haven't bottled mine. I may just do that this coming weekend.

I'm expecting my Chilean juice this week.