Brunello in the primary

I started a Cru Select Brunello kit today. Can't wait for it to finish, I know at least one year, better in 18 months.

$100 for the kit, 30 bottles worth, $3.33 a bottle...not bad for wine that retails for $50/bottle for a cheap one and upwards of $700/bottle for a good one.

The kit has different directions from the last 3 I've done, no "primary" and then "secondary" fermentation, the juice stays in the primary for 14 days, gets degassed and cleared, gets racked into the carboy, sits for 42 days and then gets bottled.

I will follow the directions to the letter so that the wine tastes like it should.

SG at start is 1.092, right in the middle of the range it should be.

I installed a primary heater belt because I use the guest bathtub for my "winery" and it gets a bit cold in there. The heater is supposed to keep the must at between 70 and 80 degrees for 8 days. After that, its on its own, I guess.

I hope my patience is rewarded...just in case, I still have several leftovers from the last couple of batches to tide me over and I can always start some quick kits to fill in some time.

Wish me luck!

I have a Selection Limited Edition Brunello I stabilized and started bulk aging on the 1st of January this year. I am going to rack it to a clean carboy in the next day-or-so, add campden tablets, and let it continue to age. I will probably bulk age it aty least 8 months before I bottle it.

I have never tasted a Brunello, but am really looking forward to it as I have heard so many good things about it. I hear the a really great wines. Good luck on yours. I hope we both end up very pleased with our results.

BTW: Brunello is simply a region that grows Sangiovese grapes in Italy. Thus, it will taste mostly like a Sangiovese, although you should have characteristic making it true to the Brunello region.

Brunello di Montalchino (sp?) is a DOCG type of wine made with ONLY Sangiovese Grosso grapes.

It is very good and very expensive.

Brunello means "dark one", loosley translated. I have seen reviews on some Brunello di Montalchino's that describe it as "freakishly black".

By the way, a Rosso di Montalchino is a 3 year old Brunello and costs about a third the price and (IMHO) is almost as good. I assume that the Brunello kit will probably taste closer to Rosso than Brunello.

I just racked mine last night to a clean carboy and added Campden Tablets. It had set patient ly since I had added the stabilizeras and fining solutions-almost two months. I was amazed that there was virtually no lees at the bottom of the carboy. I was able to recover virtually all of it. I did sneak a taste and all-in-all it tasted pretty good. I plan to bulk age it another couple months then repeat the racking and addition of Campden Tablets. I would llike to bulk age it at least 8 to 10 months before bottling. Any comments on this from the more experienced?

I bottled a grand cru brunello last week. Kit had oak chips and dryed grape skins. I followed directions and racked twice to secondary. SG 1.092 FG .994 Very dark and dry wine.
Filled 27 1/2 bottles. Drank the 1/2 ..very good..don't know if I can wait for this to age properly.