Packlab Looking for a good semi-sweet Riseling kit

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wildcat2013

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I'm a newbie to wine making and I just finished my first kit. I made a Tropical Riesling from Cornucopia and although it came out good, I'm not crazy about the tropical flavor. I'm looking for a kit that is more of a true Riesling.

My favorite commercial Rieslings are Blufeld and a semi-sweet Schmitt Sohne. Does anybody have a recommendation for a wine kit that would be comparable to these?
 
I have never had the commerical brands. But if you want an off-dry less expensive Riesling - I would suggest the Wine Expert brand - World Vineyard Washington Riesling. If you want to try a premium brand WE has Selection International - Austrailian Traminer-Riesling. I have had good luck with tehe World Vineyard series - never tried the Selection International
 
I just cleared a Winexpert Eclipse Riesling. Even at the young age, it compares favorably to a Washington state Columbia Crest riesling. It is off-dry, not very sweet at all. It is quite expensive. My local lhbs tells me for the money, the Winexpert World vineyard is quite good.
Haven't had experience with any other kit Rieslings or the commercial brands you mentioned. I am not a Riesling expert by any means.:h
By the way I have made the Cornucopia Tropical Riesling twice for my wife. It was her favorite until I made the WE Peach Apricot Chardonnay.
 
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I have a very nice off-dry Australian Traminer-Riesling from the Wine Expert Selection International Series sitting in my wine rack. From what you are saying, I think this is just what you want. It comes with a small flavor pack that gives it just a hint of semi-sweetness, and it has a beautiful golden color. It is very good!

Find it here: http://www.winexpert.com/products?a...ety=&country=Australia&sweetness=&body=Medium
 
I made the Australian traminer Riesling for my wife. Its about 8 months old off the top of my head. We had a bottle the other night. While it is good, it is different the Shmit sohne Riesling (blue bottle??). My wife is the Reisling drinker and according to her the traminer riesling isn't sweet enough and has a different taste to it. I think it has a little mineraly taste and agree that it could be a little sweeter IF you like schmit sohne. Maybe its the difference from off dry to semi sweet. All things considered it is good for the price.
 
Thanks for all your suggestions. It sounds like the Australian Traminer-Riesling might be what I'm looking for. I'll also check into the CC Showcase Yakima Valley Riesling. Do you know what ABV these finish at? The Cornucopia Riesling only finished at about 8.5%. I know I can adjust the sugar content at the beginning but I like to follow the kit directions fairly close.
 
I just received a response from Schmitt Sohne from an email I sent asking about the different classifications of Riesling. Here is what they sent.

The names used to describe the ripeness levels in ascending order are as follows:

Qualitätswein - from grapes picked during the initial harvest
Kabinett - grapes slightly riper sometimes picked about a week to 10 days later
Spatlese - late harvest, over ripe grapes picked two to three weeks later
Auslese - extremely ripe grapes picked approximately one week after Spatlese
Berrenauslese - the individual berry selection of the ripest grapes from the Auslese bunches
Trockenberrenauslese - dry, shriveled berries that look like raisins
Eiswein - healthy grapes that have been left on the vine until the first hard freeze and then picked while frozen - very rare and only happens about 2 or 3 times every ten years.

As fruit continues to ripen it develops more sugar so as a general rule the higher up this scale you go the fruitier and sweeter the wine will be. Therefore, you can expect Kabinett to be sweeter than Qualitätswein, Spatlese to be sweeter than Kabinett and so forth.

The wine you asked about, our "Crisp and Fruity" is a Qualitätswein.


As far as the kits are concerned, I'm wondering if any of them specify when the grapes were picked and what classification they fall into.
 
I know someone had an auslees kit. I think it may have been an ultra premium one so I passed on it. The traminer reisling is about 12.5%.
 
Thanks for sharing that info Wildcat, I too am a Riesling lover, and am looking for a good kit to try. I like sweet, so please keep us updated on which kit you decide on.
 
I finally decided on the World Vineyard Washington Riesling. I just ordered it from Midwest Supplies. They have a 10% off coupon (SPRINGWINE) for all wine kits. I'll let you know how it turns out.
 
Cool! 10% off is another good excuse to buy more wine kits! I was thinking about trying that one, but ended up doing the WV German Muller Thurgau so I'll be anxious to see or hear how it taste. The Washington had pretty good reviews. :)
 

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