Sangiovese Merlot Wine Kit with Fresh Skins Option - Finer Wine Kits Tavola Series

Your Sangiovese Merlot Wine Kit with Fresh Skins Option - Finer Wine Kits Tavola Series is made from top quality California grapes. This kit allows you to recreate a popular blend from the Italian regions of Tuscany and Lazio, using California grapes. The Sangiovese dominant blend is a favorite in these regions, skillfully marrying the lively cherry and strawberry flavors of Sangiovese with the earthy, herbaceous tones of Merlot. 

This Sangiovese Merlot wine kit is more than just a delight for your taste buds, it's an engaging and enjoyable winemaking experience that mirrors a traditional Italian blend. As you delve into the winemaking process, you'll be amazed by the complex and rich flavors this Sangiovese Merlot blend offers. 

The Tavola Series reds are the most versatile Finer Wine Kits available. Based on your preferences, your results can range between lighter and medium bodied wines depending on if you make them with no skins, a single or double skin pack. Double skins give the wine a richer tannin profile similar to a Forte Series wine kit but with a more subtle flavor profile because of a lower ABV. Tavola wines made with double skin packs have deeper color and heavier body, but require longer aging (6 - 12 months.) A single skin pack will also improve the tannins and body but will require less aging (4-6 months.) Using no skins produces a great light to medium bodied wine that is ready to drink the fastest (6 - 12 weeks.) Kits with double skin packs also come with oak cubes which impart more vanilla qualities.

Label Peelers is the exclusive retailer of this unique product. Due to its freshness and perishable nature, this wine kit can't sit on any shelf. It must go directly from the freezer to your doorstep, ensuring its quality and freshness are uncompromised. This direct-to-door service is the only way a wine kit of this quality is possible. It guarantees you're receiving the best possible wine kit, offering the utmost value for your money. You're not subjected to any additional distributor or wholesale markups, but instead, you're procuring top-grade ingredients at the most affordable price.

A Finer Wine Kit is an exceptional product that yields results akin to wine produced from fresh grapes, setting it apart from other kits in the market. The kit includes perishable, unpasteurized juice concentrate, which is shipped in refrigerated packaging to maintain the grape's intrinsic quality. This method effectively eliminates the common cooked juice flavor found in other brands so their pasteurized wine kits that can be stored at room temperature. If you're unable to begin your Finer Wine Kit immediately upon arrival, it's crucial that the juice is refrigerated and the skins are stored in your freezer. The highly concentrated juice, vacuum evaporated at low temperatures, is compact enough to fit in any standard household refrigerator. This means you're not incurring costs for shipping gallons of water to your home.

Finer Wine Kits were developed by home winemakers like you, adapting years of experiential knowledge into a surefooted process that gives fabulous results. The instruction manual not only explains what to do, but also why you are doing it. Watch the video tutorials for additional instruction. You can view and download the complete instruction booklet here. Advanced users can now download an abbreviated version of the instructions here. 

Finer Wine Kits delivers a more authentic agricultural product for a better homemade wine. Make the best wine you can with Finer Wine Kits. ABV: 12 - 13%

• Makes 28-30 bottles  (6 gallons) of wine.
• Character: Dry
• Region: Lodi California

*This kit is an agricultural product and must be fermented or cooked before being consumed.

OTHER PRODUCTS YOU MIGHT NEED 

Equipment Kits

If your Sangiovese Merlot Wine Kit is your first, equipment kits are a very easy and cost effective way to obtain what you need to get started. Wine kits provide ingredients and instructions but do not provide equipment. The Vintner's Best Deluxe Wine Equipment Kit pictured here has everything you need to make a six gallon batch of wine. Each batch yields approx. 28 to 30 - 750ml bottles of wine. This kit is the top of the line and there are other equipment kits you can choose from for your kit. 

Equipment Kit includes
- 7.9 Gallon Fermenting Bucket 
- Lid with Grommet
- 6 Gallon Glass Carboy
- Bottle Filler
- Double Level Corker
- Triple Scale Hydrometer
- Easy Clean Cleanser
- Auto Siphon w/ siphon hose
- Carboy Bung w/ Airlock
- Corks 30 count
- Plastic Mix Stir that attaches to drill 

Fermenters

A 7.9 Gallon Fermenter with a grommeted lid is the right vessel to use for your Sangiovese Merlot Wine Kit because you need extra headspace to account for active fermentation. It is good to replace buckets from time because plastic harbors bacteria. Here's a link to our fermenter equipment.

Hoses

Many people reuse their hoses for far too long. Replacing your hoses often is highly recommended with winemaking. Even if you have good sanitation practices, hoses are particularly difficult to keep clean. You do not want to risk a bacterial contamination in your Sangiovese Merlot Wine Kit over something that costs very little to replace. 

Siphons

Auto-siphons are a great luxury item to have in your winemaking equipment. Once you have one you will never go without one again. Don't forget to use a heavy duty sanitizer to clean it since you don't want to replace it often as hoses. A good sanitizer for that job is Five Star San. Like hoses, Siphons are also difficult to keep clean so it is advisable to replace them. 

Corkers

Corking can be a big job especially if you make a lot of wine. Also bigger corkers give you the option to use longer corks which are beneficial if you want to age your Sangiovese Merlot longer. The Italian Floor Corker pictured here is easy to use and makes corking easy and fun. 

Airlocks

Airlocks are another inexpensive product that should be periodically replaced. Though it might be easy to assume bacteria is not a concern with airlocks because they do not actually touch your wine, this is not the case. A small increase in temperature could cause your wine to swell and back up into the airlock. It happens often. You don't want to risk losing your Sangiovese Merlot over a potentially unsanitary and cheap piece of plastic. 

Carboys 

Your Sangiovese Merlot Kit is designed to fit a 6 gallon carboy pictured here. Though glass carboys are one of the safest sanitary options for secondary fermentation and bulk aging your wine, they are fragile and break from time to time. If you use glass carboys, a carboy handle or carrier is very advisable. They should not be moved when full without carrying equipment. 

Stoppers and Bungs 

Your Sangiovese Merlot will need to sit in a carboy during secondary fermentation and like airlocks, bungs and stoppers should also be periodically replaced, especially if you make a lot of wine. Stoppers are available drilled for use with airlocks or solid for bulk aging after your wine has fully gassed out. The size 6.5 stopper pictured is made for a 6 or 5 gallon carboy. If you have many different sized vessels, universal bungs might be a more economical option. 

Hydrometers

Hydrometers can last a lifetime, if they don't break. If you have suffered the disappointment of breaking your favorite hydrometer you can view them here.  

Corks

Winemakers always need more corks. Be sure to read the corker requirements of different corks before you make your selection because some cork sizes do not work with all corkers. If you want to age your Sangiovese Merlot longer corks are preferable.

 Mix Stir

You may be using the back of your stirring spoon to Degas your wine but a mix stir is the best way to remove unwanted gasses from your wine. 

 DID YOU KNOW

Shiraz and Syrah are just different names for essentially the same grape.