Young Wine Kits: Wine Kits

  Back in the April-May 2002 issue of WineMaker I wrote an article about picking the right wine kit. The McGuffin of the article was the idea that there was a right kit for every winemaker, based on what time-frame they were looking to drink it in: obviously, if you’re pressed for time, most super-premium wine kits are going to take so long to age that they won’t show well when young. Conversely, the lowest-priced kits are rarely intended for years of tender cellaring before consumption. The article then went on to describe the constituents of the kits (juice, concentrate, etc.) and how they affected ageability.     What was never mentioned in that story, however, was which wines specifically drink better right away. I still want to cover the point of the article that people are actually interested in: what to drink. To tackle this unfinished task, I’m going to divide the story into two parts. In this issue I’ll be discussing “vinfanticide,” which is wines to drink on bottling day (or before). And in the next issue I’ll cover