If the SG is really at 0.995, the wine really can't be "terribly
sweet" in terms of having lots of residual sugar. There may be some,
but not a lot. The perception of sweetness, though, is a somewhat
different matter.

Alcohol itself supposedly contributes somewhat to perceived
sweetness. A lack of tannins and/or acids may increase the perception
of sweetness as well. One thing to try would be to add a bit of acid
to a glass of this wine, and see if it tastes better. Acidity and
sweetness tend to offset each other -- too much of one can sometimes
be "fixed" by increasing the other.

The other thing that may be a factor is that Valpolicella is a sort of
younger brother to Amarone, which is traditionally made using a lot of
raisined grapes. In some cases, these raisined grapes are retained
after the Amarone fermentation, and used in a second fermentation to
make Valpolicella Ripasso. I'm not familiar with this particular kit,
but it is certainly possible that it includes some raisiny flavors,
which again may be perceived as "sweet".

If you prefer red wines that are especially high in tannins and/or
acidity, you may want to seek out kits that are based on grapes that
are especially tannic or acidic, or you may want to "tweak" your kits
a bit by adding additional tannins or oak during fermentation or
aging, or bumping up the acidity a bit before bottling.


Doug