Bland wine kit

My experience with kit wines is that the more "full-bodied" varieties never really have enough tannin. This is probably due more to the quick extraction methods at the factory than anything you did or did not do. A "big" California cab is almost always macerated on the skins for weeks to get full extraction and something you will not get with a kit.

Also, I would never add tannin after primary fermentation. I've found that dried grape tannin never really "takes" to a finished wine and only adds a disharmonious bitter flavor. You could, however, try adding a bit of acid (tartaric, not acid blend). This will add some tartness.

A couple of other things you might try:

1. bulk aging for a couple of months on medium-toast oak chips or cubes will add some natural tannin back into the finished wine. Don't overdo it, though. A medium bodied wine will not gain anything from heavy oaking, other than a plywood smell. I've found that Stavin cubes work very well.

2. If the wine tastes fine otherwise, hold it and blend with something more full-bodied, like a cabernet or shiraz kit down the road - cabernet and merlot make a great clbuttic blend. You can easily bulk age your wine for a year or more, provided you keep it topped up and make minute sulfite additions from time to time. The hardest part is avoiding the temptation to drink it. :-)

Personally, I would probably choose to live with it as is and simply chalk it up as a lesson learned.

Steve K