Wine Newbie Wants to Make a Merlot

Just finished racking. The amount of lees was incredible! There was a full inch of purple gunk at the bottom of the carboy along with the oak cubes. Even then, when I racked the wine back into the cleaned carboy there was already a lot of junk settled out in my bucket. The chitosan makes lees fall like crazy, and they stick to glass and plastic like crazy.

Be prepared with at least a full 750 mL bottle of a similar wine for topping off at this point. I lost a lot due to the racking and the inability to pull anymore without taking a lot of lees. With that and the oak absorption, and the extra top-off to get the level up into the carboy neck, I had to give it an entire bottle plus maybe two ounces of water. Something that might help during racking would be to use a nylon mesh bag over your racking cane to keep some of the odd solid oak bits out. The lees are largish particles for the most part and that would probably let you rack more wine.

Well, anyway, that's about it until bottling time. I packed the carboy away nice and safe and I'll do my best to forget it for a while. I need to get busy collecting wine bottles.

Today I bottled the batch. 30 bottles + 1 nice glass. It was very clear, yet there was another thick layer of lees at the bottom of the carboy. I corked and put on the PVC capsules. I'll leave the bottles upright until next week, then I'll box them up and lay them horizontally in the cellar.

The wine already tastes much better than most of commercial Merlots I have had. It's got nice body but is (thankfully) missing the harsh afterbite that I seem to taste with most commercial Merlots. I think that harshness comes from the oak, but I am not sure. The oak is present in my wine, but it is not overwhelming, and I am starting to see how oak tannins add to the experience. In most wines I've had it seems the oak has been so overblown that it really buried and detracted from the rest of the wine. I taste the grape and I taste the oak distinctly.

I have to take advantage of the cool fall to start brewing some ales, so I'll be distracted from my wine for a while. I'll see if I can keep my hands off of these bottles until next spring. I'll report back when I open the next bottle. I am thinking that several of these are going to make nice gifts to friends and family.

Well, I succumbed to temptation and opened a bottle. Very nice. No horrors, no crazy changes to report. It is pretty nice drinking as is. I'm not sure how it will develop over time but it is quite drinkable right now.

One thing interesting is that I see now the reasons why to let a wine "breathe". The oak tannin astringency does soften quite a bit. The last sip is definitely softer and sweeter than the first. I've never experienced that effect before with a commercial wine, but it quite noticeable with this one.

Thunder_Chicken said:

Well, I succumbed to temptation and opened a bottle. Very nice. No horrors, no crazy changes to report. It is pretty nice drinking as is. I'm not sure how it will develop over time but it is quite drinkable right now.

One thing interesting is that I see now the reasons why to let a wine "breathe". The oak tannin astringency does soften quite a bit. The last sip is definitely softer and sweeter than the first. I've never experienced that effect before with a commercial wine, but it quite noticeable with this one.

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And you'll notice that the aging in the bottle will change that as well. It will soften and smooth out, and get better with some time.

I've seen some conflicting information on how long to age. Some say 3 years for reds, but I've read others saying that it closer to its shelf life, not peak. And from what I read, there is a peak, beyond which the wine will start to decline.

Thunder_Chicken said:

I've seen some conflicting information on how long to age. Some say 3 years for reds, but I've read others saying that it closer to its shelf life, not peak. And from what I read, there is a peak, beyond which the wine will start to decline.

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Yes, that's because there isn't any real guideline.

So much depends on the level of acidity, tannin, and such in the wine. But also, cellar temperatures and humidity also play a part. Wine will age fast at 65-70 degrees, but much slower at 50 degrees, so that makes it hard to tell someone "Age this wine for 1.5 years", as it isn't that simple.

What I do is guestimate the probable peak and then drink a few bottles during the time I'm waiting. When the wine is phenomenal, I drink more of it, but hold some out for aging a bit. Normally, that means that the last bottle is starting to decline if I play it right!

But I"ve had some that have continued to age beautifully, and may have made it much longer had I had a few left, and I've also had some turn insipid and past their peak while I was aging it.

Most premium red kit wines are great for up to about 3 years, depending on the kit. Some longer, some shorter. Grapes are much more variable- tannins, acidity, pH, etc may change the amount of age a wine can benefit from.

I'll probably sample a bottle every 3 months or so and see how it goes. Of the 30 bottles, 24 are boxed up in my cellar/crawlspace and are a bit of a pain to get to (on purpose). The remaining 6 (less the one I drank) are upstairs in my closet and will be handed out as gifts this holiday season.

It's definitely a nice wine. I'm glad I did the kit. I think I'll be doing this kit again before too long. SWMBO has been raving about a Sauvignon Blanc that she had in Chile some years ago (and she isn't much of a drinker at all) so I think that will be my next wine next summer when it gets too warm to ferment beer.

These are going to be gifts to a family friend who really enjoys wines. The kit labels are pretty sexy IMO.

The only thing I am worried about is that these look like wine bottles I could have bought from the store. I almost wish I could put the wine in some hand-made amphora and seal it with pitch, something that makes it look rustic and home-made. But it WAS from a kit, not like I grew the grapes or anything.

Great thread. I hope to start doing wine soon. I want it to be ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

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