WINE AGING SUPPORT GROUP

[NorthernWinos]

A little over a year ago I started putting cases of each batch of our fruit wines away to age....thinking I would open the cases in a year.


I kind of failed...due to demand for consumption about the middle of the year I figured 6 months againg would suffice...so began opening some cases to stock the racks. I have managed to have 6 cases of wine that are a year or near a year old...plus some newer additions to the stock pile....Some cases of wines weren't in the stockpile of boxes for very long and were shook out and racked pretty quickly.


Yesterday I sorted and rearranged the racksand openedtwo 1year old cases of wines...It was a good feeling to have met my goal on those few bottles....


I guess if we all want to seriously age our wines we have to ...
1- Make more wines continuously
2- Have a very large storage area [I use one side of the spare bedroom...how tacky is that?
3- Have someone else hide them for you
4- Call on all you members for support...this aging of wine is the toughest part of wine making.Edited by: Northern Winos

 

[joeswine]

I made big batches at first this gave me wine to age and wine to drink shortly,but with the advent of being able to get itialian,chilean and california wine all year long makeing 6 gallon batchs became the way then the fruit wines entered the picture and sparkling wines and drinking with our wine club and better planning on what I needed as opposed to just making became a better way for me,this way I have whites and some reds ageing {barbara 2003} and wine to drink,fruit wines don"t seam to last to long so blackberry,rassberry and plum wine our on my yearly agenda,sparkling wines are starting to take hold,with them finding balance in inventory isn"t to bad,planning is the key,it does work.

 

[JWMINNESOTA]

When I started in Feb I figured it would be easy to get a year age on a few wines....by June I realized I would have to make more..and more. While I will have some by Feb with a year, I see now I should of started then at a little higher production rate, not that we drink that many, but they make easy convenient and well received gifts also. Next winter will be the real payoff it looks, if I can stay out of them and the wife doesn't give them away faster then she does now!

 

[Cracked Cork]

NW, I forgot the mention that I have started a wine storage service for free, just send a few cases of your best wine and we will keep it for several years for you, that way you wont be tempted to drink it before it ages. We provide testing services to advise you one when the best time to drink it will be. Most of our clients seem to be making wine that wont be perfect for at least another 20 years Crackedcork

 

[joeswine]

and if crackcork runs out of space and your finess has to be cared for southern new jersey's wine storage and drinkage system is availble a 24 hr. service, non profit org,.

address upon request

 

[NorthernWinos]

Thanks Guys...it could come to that....send it out for aging and storage...and...it would come back with an approval rating as well.

 

[jobe05]

...and...it would come back with an approval rating as well.

Do you want your corks back with that also.......

I have one major are that use for storage of most my wines. In that storage area, I take several bottles of each batch and put them on the bottom shelf. I also but a couple of bottles on another rack upstairs, and a couple more on another rack that is in a spare bedroom downstairs (so it might be tacky NW, but everyone does it). By hiding a few bottles everywhere, there are out of sight and out of mind.

I had a bottle of Blackberry that was 2 years old and I'll tell ya, I will never drink another bottle much before 2 years old, it's well worth the wait.

 

[joeswine]

having to much can be a problem

 

[NorthernWinos]

having to much can be a problem

How much is too much????? Do you have Cellar-Overflow????

 

[jobe05]

Having to much as in to many empty bottles is my problem. All together I have over 85 cases of different types of bottles that are empty.........

Having the bottles creates a storage problem...............

Having them empty creates an ego problem............

 

[James]

My name is James and I have a problem. Most of the questions I've posted on this forum have been about kit wine and how to make it better, what ever it takes. then what did i do?I drank ever thing I made before it was six months old. I'm weak.


But I've turned over a new leaf and I'm aging at least a year. This support group is a good idea.

 

[jobe05]

I'm aging at least a year

I'm aging 2 years since joining...................

But my poor wines still can't get much more than 6 months........

 

[NorthernWinos]

I have 3 cases that are going to have a birthday soon....

I know that 2 are really nice wines...the other...well...It might make it to two birthdays.

 

[s.arkvinomaker]

Hi there, I had the same problem when I started except I was making fresh fruit wines. I bulk age all my wines a year and try to make at least one new one each month. Now in the mean time you can always get you an inexpensive Wine Expert Island Mist wine or something like it. Age it 3 months or so and drink on that while you let those special wines get more age on them. If you bulk age your wines in the carboy you may not be as tempted to drink.

 

[JimCook]

Come on, people - bite the bullet. Here are some additional options to help your aging work right...
1) Call some friendsand invite them over to an event where you provide food and they bring the wine.
2) Buy a T-shirt that says "Carboys are cooler" to resist bottling wines.
3) Install an electric containment field around your carboys/bottles with a time-lock installed and set to the end of your aging period. (note: psychological researchers inBelgium and The Czech Republic have found this technique to be somewhat controversial)
4) Go to wine tastings as often as you can - buy some commercial wine as well. If you are hitting at least onetasting of 20-30 wines every 1-3 weekends, you'll be getting a good spread of different wines and can get some filler wines to space out your own bottle consumption rate. It is possible to taste more than a thousand wines in this manner in a year's time, mainly because I've done it myself.
5) Start practicing meditation. The more you meditate, the more your wine ages.
6) Of course, the best fix is to call George and order more kits - have the deliveries scheduled so you can be making kits as frequently as possible.


- JimEdited by: JimCook

 

[NorthernWinos]

I agree with #6...Make more wines....It's the best way....

 

[Tomy]

Yep, I'm weak also, drinking my 1st wine right out of jug. Look at me

Copyright noted

 

[K&GB]

Okay here's aquestion for the support group. Iclarified aSauvignon Blanc and let it sit a couple weeks. When I racked it off the sediment this past weekend, I tasted it. It turned out so good that I'm ready to drink it right out of the carboy.My wife, who's a bit more patient than I,suggested we bottle it on Christmas when the kids come to visit. That's just over six weeks since we started the kit. Does this wine need months of bulk aging in the carboy, or should we go ahead and bottle?

 

[grapeman]

Officially it is probably alright to bottle. It's kind of the minimum time. Saying that, if you only racked it once off the sediment it is possible that it will throw some more sediment and may still have a bit of gas in it. If you were to bulk age a bit more you could rack it again and make sure. If you are happy with it now and it could be a good family activity, why not bottle it. Just let everyone know that it could still have a slight dusting on the bottoms of the bottles and could benefit with a little more aging. Who knows, you might interes a kid or two in the hobby!

 

[Fly boy]

I have found making more and more kits helps the aging process. This approach may require membership in another kind of support group. The only down side is there are more and more wines to sample. I started this hobby in September of last year and have about two reds an two whites nearing or over a year with many more to follow.