Re: Kit wine question - when to drink?

Sep 15, 2003 1 Replies


About three months ago I started a cabernet from Alexander Sun Country


> concentrated juice. Yesterday I bottled and corked the wine, and now have
> it in storage in my cool fermenting room. When is the wine drinkable? It
> tasted good yesterday as I was bottling it, but I am unsure if I should let
> it rest for a while.

Depends on your definition of drinkable.



The fist kit I made was a 28 day and I started drinking it on day 29. It was not bad, but it was not nearly as good a commercial wines. It was a bit disappointing overall. I used it to make sangria as the fruit juice overcame the roughness of the wine.



About 9 months after the initial bottling, my wife opened a bottle for dinner. I did not recognize it. Wow, what a difference. At a year, it was better yet.



My reds I bulk age for at least 9 to 12 months. It will take about that long to drink the 30 or so bottles from a batch. Whites I age for 6 to 9 months. In your case, enjoy the first of your efforts, but put a couple of bottles aside for a year from now. Meantime, work on building inventory so it has time to age while you are drinking the first batches. Ed snipped-for-privacy@snet.net

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The test for when to drink it is when it tastes good. It might improve with age. It might get worse. But if it is good now ...

Ray

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