good first winekit?

Best advise is "You get what you pay for". If you buy a $39 kit from Safeway, it'll be plunk, if you buy a large premium kit (15 or 16 litres to make 23 litres) you'll get good wine (assuming you follow the directions + let it age for 9+ months). I've had good results with both the Wine Kitz & BrewKing lines. There are different styles (eg. Merlot, Shiraz, Barolo). I like a heavy wine so Barolo & Amarone are my favs.

Good rule in general - you get what you pay for. But I was a Wal-Mart the other day and they were selling kits for $26. But the kit made only 4 bottles. I bet you just got plunk and it would be very expensive plunk. Probably a good kit to convince people to never make wine again.

Ray

Mostly depends on what varieties of wine you like, and what brands are available to you.

If you're looking for an easy drnking red, I would recommend the Kendall Ridge Classic Merlot. It's a four week kit, and contains a bit of juice in addition to the concentrate.

Since it's your first kit, I will assume that you will be drinking it early (probably inside the first month). Although the wine will improve if left for three months or so, it is still reasonably drinkable after a month.

I would suggest making a kit like this for your first effort. Hide some of the bottles for three months minimum, and drink the rest while a premium kit is aging.

The premium brands that I know best are Kendall Ridge Showcase, Cru Select, and Selection.

Steve

Another newbee here. But, for what it's worth, I tried the Selection Estate cabernet (ranch 11 - napa vally). Right up to the end of the clarifying period it tasted wonderful already to me. It turned out really nice, so far. Just prior to bottling however, the instructions have you rack into a clean, sterilized carboy and to add 1/4 teaspoon potassium metabisulfite dissolved in a 1/2 cup of water. At the end of the bottling process I had a half a bottle or so that was available for "testing". This has a very discernable and potent sulfer? flavor and aftertaste. The clarity is still wonderful and what I read says that after 6 months I would be "rewarded" for waiting. So, I'll let you know if this was a good choice after waiting the minimum time. It actually says it would be best to wait a year.

Nearly immediate satisfaction of success came by simultaneously making an Island Mist Riesling (white) that turned out great for those who enjoy that sort of 'sweet' light drink. 4 weeks from fermentation to consuming.

How would the ~$50 BrewKing Shiraz turn out?

I'd probably drink it with friends who like Yellow Tail Shiraz which is pretty cheap, but quite good for its price tag (imho, of course don't lynch me).

I will be bottleing my first kit at the beginning of the year. A Brew King Vintner's Reserve Cab. I cannot tell you how please I am with the wine at this point. My goal was to get a wine that compares to a $5.00-6.00 bottle you would buy. I racked it for the last time last week (started it in August). I had 1.5 L left from my topping off jug (kit makes 6 gallons) of which I am drinking now. It tastes wonderful!! Beyond my wildest expectations!!! I am not exceptionaly experienced but I know what I like. It blows away most wines that I purchase. I enjoy a full bodied dry red wine. I added oak beans to the second secondary racking and left it bulk age for 2.5 months. I removed the beans for the last month. I can't wait to see what it is like after another year.

Can't wait to bottle this up and start another kit. I just hope the second kit will finish and be ready before I drink all of the first batch. My second will be a Merlot, I think.

Whatever you do, if you want a quality tasting wine, don't buy a kit that has less than 15 litres of concentrate.

Do you like it fruity and full flavoured, or do you like it oaky like a Merlot?

If you like it fruity and flavourful with not much oak, try a Cellar Classic Bergamais. Very yummy and drinkable fairly early.

If you like it oaky, there is a wealth of Merlot kits out there.

LG

Hi,

You don't seem to follow Brew King's instructions. May I ask you what instructions you have since you seem very satisfied. I started a Brew King batch, followed every instruction, but the results are not as tasty as an average wine. The color is weak, and also the taste.

Starting with the ' declaration of dependence' that i'm a ' newbie'.........I made a Brew King kit.......a pinot grigot (sp?).......and (of course).....tried it right away, and had the same impression...that is..not a good taste...rather weak....etc. I let the wine continue to age a bit....and when i tasted it the next time...it seemed just fine. In fact, it seems really fine. I'm not skilled enuf with wines to know the good from the not so good, except to say..this tasted fine to me. As good as bottles from the store...and waaaaaaaaay more inexpensive. So i'm a believer...i now have another BrewKing in the primary.......this one is a merlot. So...maybe if you wait a bit longer........?

Thanks Tim,

You encourage me, since the batch I started is not really old (and my first one), I'll let it age a bit and taste it later.

(sp?).......and

Willie and Paul,

My experience with several kits (mostly Brew King) over the last 3 years is that the reds simply will not have the same freshness and intensity as a wine made from fresh grapes (including all of the commercial wines on the market). The biggest thing that the kit wines lack is aromatics (bouquet), but there are also flavour differences as well. This is not to say that they aren't enjoyable! But if you're used to even lower-priced commercial wines of a particular variety, you may find the lack of bouquet and relative lack of varietal character to be disappointing.

Many people on this newsgroup say that that white wine kits don't suffer the same problems as much, and the single white wine kit I've done (Brew King Oregon Pinot Gris) seems to back this up. It's also logical, as white wines are generally not fermented on the grape skins the way red wines are (but most red kit wines aren't).

I've "moved on" for the most part and am making most of my wines now from fresh grapes and other fruits.

Hands down, the best red wine kit I've done so far is the CellarCraft Washington State Merlot (IMHO). This kit comes with a tub of grape skins and grapey gunk that you ferment with the reconstituted juice. I don't know if this is what makes the difference, but the wine from this kit has significantly better aromatics and varietal character than any other red wine kit I've done (including a top-of-the-line offerings from RJSpagnols and many top-of-the-line Brew King kits).

If you're doing some already or are deciding to give it a try, please save a fair bit of your wine for at least a year (or 2 or 3 with "premium" kits). You should notice a huge improvement in flavour and aroma.

Cheers!

Richard

This has been discussed many times in this ng, go to Google>Groups and do some searches in rec.crafts.winemaking but basically...

Plan on doing more than kit, start with a mid range 4 week white, a Chardonnay, plan on aging it for at least 3 months but there's nothing wrong with sampling every week until then. Follow the intructions to the T except if it says to add a pouch labeled Potassium Sorbate, the only other deviation would be to let it ferment out longer in the carboy before stabilization to ensure it comes out dry and therefore preclude the need for the sorbate. If you feel unsure of yourself then just follow them to the T and even add the sorbate.

If you blow up your first kit at least it wasn't a premium and it will still make pretty good table wine, especially after

3 months. The whites do come out better than the reds so go onto a red or a premium white once you have your feet wet.

Don