On Dec 3, 2:25 am, "John"
> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I've made wine from a few kits in the past, but seem to have struck a
> problem this weekend when making a Red kit from Beaverdale. Never made a
> red wine before, so when a family member arrived on my doorstep with a 30
> bottle kit from Beaverdale to make a Barolo, I felt quite excited as to how
> things might turn out.
>
> All my other kits had been Beaverdale, but whites, so I was fairly confident
> about things and everyone who had tried the wines were suitably impressed.
> Everything went as planned and I bottled-up this weekend. Last night I tried
> a bottle and was quite suprised at the 'watery' taste. Colour was good, but
> there didn't seem to be much taste at all. My wife tried some and agreed
> with me - I finished the bottle and went to bed wondering what had happened.
>
> Not being a Red Wine drinker normally, I'm not sure what it is supposed to
> be like, so pushed a few bottles out to friends and am awaiting their
> response. In the meantime I thought I would try to find out what may have
> gone wrong and what I could do with the remaining 27 bottles!
>
> Before bottling I did a Hydrometer test which read 996, but I didn't take
> readings at any other stage.
>
> Help!
>
> John
> Leigh-on-Sea, UK

Not familiar with that kit but in general, I'd say white kits wines
are significantly better than red kit wines. Unless you added too much
water by mistake, the "watery" taste is likely lack of character -
IMHO, red wines really need to be fermented on the skins.

One other thing - the wine should benefit from some aging, so don't
despair yet. Lots of wines taste pretty weird right after bottling,
especially kit reds, they need some time to smooth out.

Pp