[pioneergirl]

I wanted to give you all my very subjective review of the 3 kits I have bottled as a beginner winemaker.

1)Cellar Craft Grand Cru Merlot ($89)- Bottled 3/28/12.
Update 5/31/12- Deviations: used more oak. Opened after 2 wks and was horrible and put that to bottle shock. Opened another bottle or 3 last week of May, 2012: I did not get all the gas out as it was a little effervescent which made the aroma punget. Swirling the glass solved this though to get the gas out. color is great, crisp, ruby. Taste is very good, but still a young taste. It is a very drinkable wine although a little thin or watery - meaning it does not have a lot of body to it or richness. Definitely better than Black Box. Would I make this one again? No. I think I am not a merlot girl. But I will Update again after a little aging.

2) Williams Brewing Zinfandel Kit ($70 juice/yeast only) - Bottled beginning of May, 2012.
Update 5/31/12 - Deviations: Used dif. yeast, oaked, added raisins. Opened a couple of bottles end of May. To me, this tastes o.k. and not great and hardly "good" at this point. I put raisins in this one. I can't even describe why it's not "good" to me yet, but I am wondering if it's the raisins. It does have more body to it, but I think I need to give it more time. Color is good though. Yes it is better than Black Box even a few weeks after bottling- I am just being snobby. Would I do this kit again? Today, No - but I think I need to give time. Will update later.

3) Wine Experts Cabernet Sav ($99) - Started in March '12 and Bottled 1st week or so of May, 2012 (wow great notes carolyn!). Deviations: Used Dif yeast. french oak. Opened many bottles over the last couple of weeks. Great taste! Out of the 3 I've done the best "early" drinker is this one. Great mouth feel, smooth with nice body, tastes and color. I'd do this one again in a heartbeat. I've gifted many away to teachers for teaching my boys and have drank enough to go through 1 case of it already - only 1 case left.
Compare it to a $12-14 commercial bottle here in Idaho (actually it's better and on par with some $22-$28 bottles I've had at local wineries)- pretty much after being bottled. I will try to save some to update over a later time.

[TonyP]

Thanks for the interesting post. One question, though on #3. On kit wines I haven't considered varying the yeast supplied with the kit. What made you change it and what did you change it to? For example, did you opt for liquid?
Tony P.

[robie]

Hey, thanks for the results. Glad you included the answer to whether you would buy again.

[cpfan]

Carolyn:

Thank you for your comments. I have a couple of problems with your notes though.

• Cellar Craft is a Vineco company. Grand Cru is a Spagnols brand. Never the two shall meet (until Constellation sells Spagnols to Peller). What kit was this?
• Winexpert makes several Cab Sauvs. Which one was it?
• What yeast substitutions did you make?

Thanks, Steve

[pioneergirl]

Originally Posted by cpfan

Carolyn:

Thank you for your comments. I have a couple of problems with your notes though.

• Cellar Craft is a Vineco company. Grand Cru is a Spagnols brand. Never the two shall meet (until Constellation sells Spagnols to Peller). What kit was this?
• Winexpert makes several Cab Sauvs. Which one was it?
• What yeast substitutions did you make?

Thanks, Steve

LOL - at myself for my rattling things off the top of my head! I went and scrounged the original "instructions'....
@Tony - the reason I changed things from the kit packages is due to my personality. I like food and drink, and I especially feel the need to make pre-packaged better. My husband bought me a home winemaking book that is very thorough (but not overkill) in explaining how the different yeast strains bring out different qualities in varietal wines. And from the forum here, I gather that the wine kit producers put in the most "fail safe" yeast - which makes sense; they want to make sure your yeast will ferment out in broad temperature ranges. The grand cru merlot, I used the included yeast packet and I have convinced myself that this has contributed to the lackluster flavor (and I didn't degass all the way and I know that it was a "basic" kit too!).

RJ Spagnols Grand Cru Merlot - Instruction sheet says "Grand Cru - Heritage Estates - Vino Del Vida" and bottom - yes - says RJ Spagnols. The only variations I made to this one was changed the oak and used french oak and I used 1/2 c. at primary and again at secondary.

Wine Expert Cab Sav. - Wine Expert - the sheet says both "Selection Orignial Series " and "Selection International". I bought this one from Doug - vendor from this site - I believe though - it was a "Selection International" for $99. Yeast used was Pastuer Red. I added 1/2 c. oak at primary and then added the sawdust packet enclosed again after adding fining agents and let bulk age briefly.

Red Zinfandel - Williams Brewing - Used Yeast R212 and added yeast nutrient per book recommendation. Added coarsly chopped, raisins during primary ferm. (my notes on this are bad). I show that I added 1/2 c. french oak chips after 1st racking (which now it's coming back to me). Again added 3/4 c. oak at next racking and left to bulk age for a month.
**TASTING UPDATE** - last night had inlaws visiting so I decided to have a tasting party (not really) - but I opened up a 2010 Gnarly Head Authentic Red (which is a blend) and I opened up this 2011 Zin. to compare which most of us prefered --- and we all agreed that my Zin was much smoother and had a much better taste. Yes, I know that they are completely different wines.....But, that Gnarly Head bottle sells here reg. price approx $10/bottle and I really have to say that even it is was the Gnarly Head Zin - mine would have tasted better. Promising! I may have to change my vote on purchasing again in the future over time...

NEW WINE IN PRIMARY
Since my post on this topic, I had since started a MERLOT/CAB. BLEND of some juice concentrates purchased from Williams Brewing. This time we are trying their merlot and cab - juice concentrates. In primary fermentation right now is 12 Gallons: 75% Merlot and 25% Cab - not going to add raisins this time. Added 1 1/2 french oak chips. Made a starter with Pastuer Red yeast with nutrient. Doing well so far - been 3 days.

[cpfan]

Carolyn:

Most kits come with EC-1118 yeast. I think all Spagnols kits, most Vineco kits, and possibly all Cellar Craft kits. (I don't have much experience with Cellar Craft.) OTOH, Winexpert uses a wide variety of different yeasts. Personally, I would be less likely to change the yeast that comes with a Winexpert kit than the other brands because I believe that they do more testing of different yeasts.

Steve

[EdwardLongshanks]

The RJS Grand Cru Merlot was the first wine I ever made. After a year and a dozen kits later it is still probably the best one that I have made to date. I think you really shouldn't have changed the oak. The Oak tea bag that came with it is designed to soak for 14 days during the primary. I found the best part of the wine was the subtle, but noticeable vanilla flavor (from the oak) that I really loved and have been trying to replicate in other wines. I am thinking of trying the Grand Cru international (79) or Cru Select (99) Merlot next. I didn't top up mine at all so I didn't find it watery or thin at all. Actually it had more body and flavor than I was expecting.

[tonyt]

These are great comments. You ought to do reviews of all three wines in the reviews section. That could be a good resource if we all add our own reviews. Your wines will get much better with age.

[Bacci]

My first kit was a RJS Merlot International, it was quite good after I rebottled the wine in gallon jugs and degassed further with a vacuvin - then rebottled. You are right, I'm still trying to replicate the oak flavors in that wine, vanilla & chocolate notes. Maybe, it was the wine more than the oak that produced those flavors. Anyway, that wine is probably why I'm still making kits today.