Hi all:

Fairly new to the craft here. My first batch of wine was a Vinters Reserve
savignon blanc. Being a regular white wine drinker, I was very pleased with
it. I decided to try something different with the next batch, and got a
black raspberry merlot Island Mist kit. Why'd I do something different when
I liked the first batch? I dunno.

Well, it's been sitting to clear on the basement floor for about the past
week. I took a small glass to look at clarity and taste tonight. Overall,
I'm sort of disappointed. OK, maybe I didn't have a good idea of what I was
in for. But it's a lot sweeter than I had hoped for, and still a lot of
sediment floating around, even taking a sample off the top half of the
carboy with my thief.

On the cloudy question, time will probably help. But do I need to give it a
good stirring to whip the chitosan up to get it clearing better? Or am I
better off to just leave it be for anther week?

Next question is, what can I do to save it in the flavour department? I'm
thinking I could leave it in the carboy for now, would it be bad if I were
to leave it in the carboy for the next month while making something to save
it? Maybe if I were to make another savingnon blanc and cut it half and half
with the merlot while bottling, it would make something acceptable to my
palate.

Help please! I also bought a strawberry merlot at the same time (darned
impulsive nature!), and I'm afraid I'm going to end up with more of this
mildly alcoholic Kool-Aid.

KD