ubewty
New Member
Hi All, i'm new to the forum and i'm a relative novice to wine making (I started about 5 months ago) and whilst i've had a lot of success with WOW's and Strawberry Ribena Wine i'm less happy with the results of my red wine kits. I don't know whether this is down to me (although i followed the instructions) or whether it's unrealistic to expect to be able to create a good quality red wine from a kit.
I started with a Wilkinson's kit (which i didn't expect much from) and ended up with a Cabernet Sauvignon which was very very thin, almost Rose'ish. I've since done a Beaverdale Merlot and a California Connoisseur Rioja, both of which seem to have had reasonable reviews and quite good reviews on the forum. I bottled the merlot 2 months ago and (being impatient!) i opened a bottle this weekend to see how it was coming along. It was terrible, thin and sharp :cry: . I don't see any way that it can improve enough by being left in the bottle for another 6 months to make it into a good wine, but i'm hoping that i'm wrong and that other people will have had a similar experience (and basically that my impatience is the problem :whistle: ). Has anyone got any advice with regards to red wine kits and how to get the most out of them to get a decent bottle of red?
I started with a Wilkinson's kit (which i didn't expect much from) and ended up with a Cabernet Sauvignon which was very very thin, almost Rose'ish. I've since done a Beaverdale Merlot and a California Connoisseur Rioja, both of which seem to have had reasonable reviews and quite good reviews on the forum. I bottled the merlot 2 months ago and (being impatient!) i opened a bottle this weekend to see how it was coming along. It was terrible, thin and sharp :cry: . I don't see any way that it can improve enough by being left in the bottle for another 6 months to make it into a good wine, but i'm hoping that i'm wrong and that other people will have had a similar experience (and basically that my impatience is the problem :whistle: ). Has anyone got any advice with regards to red wine kits and how to get the most out of them to get a decent bottle of red?