Is there any advantage to bulk storing, in a cool basement, a wine made from a kit versus bottling it now and storing the bottles in a cool place? I have the kits now finished and in 19 litre carboys with airlocks. Thanks in advance for any help. Sinc.
For reasons which aren't clear to me, wine ages much more rapidly in bulk storage than it does in bottles. I've heard that 1 year in bulk storage is equivalent to 4 years in bottled.
Whether or not a kit wine would benefit from bulk storage would depend on whether or not it would benefit from aging.
Many kit wines claim to be ready-to-drink after 28 days, or 3-months, or even 6-months. If this claim is true, I doubt they would benefit from bulk aging. It might even hasten their decline.
My experience is that they all benefit for at least a few month aging. I've tried wine after 28 days. It may meet the dictionary definition of wine, but it is not something you'd want to serve to company at dinner. Ed snipped-for-privacy@snet.net
I've noticed a significant difference between the quality of kit wines that I've bulk aged prior to bottling versus bottling when directed.
Woods
That's better quality I guess? Bill
It seems to me that bulk aging will make your wine more consistent, and a bulk of wine (23L) is less likely to be affected by temperature variations than a bottle (.75L) and it takes up less room.
Bulk aging can also reduce the need for vigorous degassing and finings, depending on the wine of course.
There's no harm in bulk aging that I can think of off hand...
I believe that bulk aging in a carboy with an air lock allows for any gases that are produced, or are in the wine, to escape. I'm not sure what else happens during bulk aging that wouldn't happen in the bottle. I recall reading that wine bottled in small bottles will age more quickly than wine bottled in large bottles.... 375 ml ages faster than 750 ml and 1.5 l ages the slowest. I have found in general, that wines that I have left in the carboy for a while have tasted better shortly after bottling, but I haven't compared say two wine kits started at the same time, one bottled on schedule and the other bulk aged for 6 months before bottling, and then tasted at the same time, say at 7 or 8 months. This would be an interesting comparison. I would have the impression that the wine that was bottled a few months ago was older, even though they were fermented at the same time.
I guess! :-D
(Good catch!)
Woods
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