I agree with you to some extent that the differences from various
yeasts diminishes with time, but not entirely. And I would certainly
say that my own experiments of using bayanus strains like Premier
Cuvee and EC-1118 versus cerivisiaie strains like Montrachet and
Pasteur Red revealed significant differences well past 4 months, even
14 months.

A lot of wineries go through a lot of trouble to select the best
strains to use for their wines, including many that are not meant to
be consumed for several years.

Perhaps you're just not as in tune with the differences as some people
are? I don't mean this as a personal slam! I think it's pretty
widely acknowledged that different people have varying sensitivies in
their organoleptic senses, just as some people have better vision or
hearing than others. My wife has been a wine drinker for longer than
I, and of the differences that I think are huge she often can barely
notice. Other friends of mine describe differences that I can't
detect.

Besides, it is unlikely that anyone will save much at all, let alone
the majority, of a white kit wine for as long as four years. I would
expect that in the timeframes that most of this wine will be consumed,
the differences could be very significant.

Cheers!
Richard

"Negodki" > wrote in message >...
> > "Negodki" > wrote:
> > > Different yeasts have different (flavour and performance)
> characteristics.
> > > The one that comes with the kit has been selected because it has the
> > > characteristics that go with the wine being made.
> >
> "JEP" > wrote:
> > Sorry, but I disagree. EC-1118 is usually put in kits because it's
> > hard for someone to kill. It has a wide temperature range, higher
> > alcohol tolerance, is a killer strain. In short, it's used because
> > it's about as fool proof as you can get, not because it matches the
> > wine being made. It's one of the last I would pick for a Riesling.
> >
> > I used ICV D-47 on a Riesling with good results, but it's a more
> > finicky yeast. 71B would probably also be a decent one to use.
>
> What you say makes sense. I don't work with kits (or make Riesling), but had
> assumed they would select the optimal yeast for the wine. Regardless, the
> poster should have equal success with another yeast of similar
> characteristics, or any yeast which was rated for the applicable temperature
> and potential alcohol.
>
> I also believe the performance characteristics of the yeast (e.g. alcohol
> tolerance, foaming, flocculation, etc.) to be more important than the
> flavour characteristics, because (in my experience) after a few years of
> aging there is virtually no perceptible difference between yeasts. For
> example, I made identical batches of Sangiovese with Montrachet, Pasteur
> Red, and Premier Cuvee. Although each yeast performed quite differently,
> there were only subtle flavour differences after a few months, and none that
> I can detect after 4 years of bulk aging.