Thomas T. Veldhouse wrote:
> Hello all! I am new to this group, but I am not new to winemaking. I
> originally started making wine in 1990 after making a concord grape wine
> in my biology class in college. Later, I made fruit wines and melomels.
> At somepoint I migrated over to brewing and haven't really looked back
> ... until now.
>
> Recently, I have been greatly enjoying read wines with my wife. We
> haven't ventured into really fine wines yet, but have enjoyed wines like
> Rosemount Estates Shiraz and Mark West Pinot Noir. Nothing really
> special, but OK for evening consumption.
>
> Anyway, I decided to buy a wine kit. I bought the Napa Valley Stag's
> Leap District Merlot from Northern Brewer in St. Paul. Supposedly this
> is a good kit, but I have never tasted a kit wine to know what to
> expect. So, can anybody indicate the quality of wine I might expect
> from this kit as compared to the above wines mentioned (obviously,
> neither are Merlot, but I am asking about quality and not similarity).
> I have experience with brewing and winemaking and followed the
> directions very well. I used Starsan (surface spray) and Idophor for
> sanitization. Original gravity is 1.099. I intend to let this wine
> age for one year before sampling.
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> --
> Thomas T. Veldhouse
> Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1
> --
>
> Matter will be damaged in direct proportion to its value.




You should easily be able to make a wine with the quality of the ones
mentioned above. That kit should work well. You may need to get a
little bit of experience under your belt before you can consistantly
make high quality wines though.

Your sanitation regime is noble, but you may find that with wine you
can consistantly make excellent wines without all the trouble. The
thing is that even if your equipment is exceptionally sanitary, the
juices that you use may not be (they should in the case of kits, but
definately not fresh grapes, or any fruits that you may try to use). I
would instead point you in the direction of potassium metabisulfite (or
campden) use as your primary mothod of microbial control. This is also
the time to get good about using titrets to measure SO2 levels as well.

Good luck, and be patient. Kits generally mature faster than wines
from fresh grapes, but you may need at least a year if not two or more
to realize how good your wine is.