Other Reserve Du Chateau?

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WineyDoc

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I was thinking of trying a Reserve Du Chateau Chardonnay from Amazon and wanted to see if anyone had any input on these kits.

My first 2 kits were Vino Italiano's by the same company (the chardonnay was good after some doctoring, the red was pretty bad, even after 2 years) but since then I've primarily stuck to WE Vinter's Reserve. It looks like there are two main options: 6 gallons all-juice for ~$80 shipped (which seems like a steal) or some of the 10-16L kits for about half that price.

My main goal is to avoid that "jammy" taste that I seem to be getting from some of the concentrated kits. In addition, it's hard to pass up all-juice for the same price as a 12L WE kit.

If the Chardonnay turns out well I might try the Cab Sauv all-juice kit next (I have to alternate red/white for my tastes and the SO's tastes, respectively). My only concern is that the Vino Italiano red I made (I think it was an 8L kit) was gross. It was definitely the quality of the must.
 
Sorry, I don't have any input for your Chardonnay (and for hijacking your thread). But I'm curious which red you did from Vino Italiano. I have a Barolo from them bulk aging with some oak right now. I switched out the kit yeast for some BM45.

Jim
 
Sorry, I don't have any input for your Chardonnay (and for hijacking your thread). But I'm curious which red you did from Vino Italiano. I have a Barolo from them bulk aging with some oak right now. I switched out the kit yeast for some BM45.

Jim

The first kit was a Cab Sauv. If I remember correctly I had to use some boiled banana mash to get the fermentation going (as it was my first kit I didn't have extra yeast on hand). I made it up to 5.5 gallons (instead of six) per some recommendations online and it still turned out thin. My major complaint was a bad off-taste, I would call it "spicy-metallic."

I still have one magnum left from that batch (it's about 3 years old now) I may crack soon out of pure curiosity. I used half of the second-to-last bottle in a spaghetti sauce and the other half went down the drain.
 
I was thinking of trying a Reserve Du Chateau Chardonnay from Amazon and wanted to see if anyone had any input on these kits.

My first 2 kits were Vino Italiano's by the same company (the chardonnay was good after some doctoring, the red was pretty bad, even after 2 years) but since then I've primarily stuck to WE Vinter's Reserve. It looks like there are two main options: 6 gallons all-juice for ~$80 shipped (which seems like a steal) or some of the 10-16L kits for about half that price.

My main goal is to avoid that "jammy" taste that I seem to be getting from some of the concentrated kits. In addition, it's hard to pass up all-juice for the same price as a 12L WE kit.

If the Chardonnay turns out well I might try the Cab Sauv all-juice kit next (I have to alternate red/white for my tastes and the SO's tastes, respectively). My only concern is that the Vino Italiano red I made (I think it was an 8L kit) was gross. It was definitely the quality of the must.
'all-juice' kits from Amazon...not likely.
'all-juice' kits from Reserve du Chateau. Nope.

From the 6-week cab....
Ingredients
grape juice concentrate, varietal grape juice, liquid invert sugar, tartaric acid, citric acid, tannin,diammonium phosphate,metabisulphite,bentonite, wine yeast,ascorbic acid,potassium sorbate,kieselsol, chitosan. ay contain oak.

If you want a better kit....I don't think you'll get it from amazon. Go with a better kit from Winexpert or Spagnols or Cellar Craft. It'll cost you more, but you'll get a better wine.

Steve
 
I totally agree with Cpfan. Check out some of our sponsors' sites and get a good (mnimum) 15 liter kit for a red. You will probably be okay with whites from smaller kits, but I recommend this minimum. It is a little more money, but way better wine.
 
'all-juice' kits from Reserve du Chateau. Nope.

So they rehydrate it for you? Wow, what a practice in futility. Thanks for the heads up.

That does make me wonder how much they concentrate it down to in the first hand...
 
So they rehydrate it for you? Wow, what a practice in futility. Thanks for the heads up.

That does make me wonder how much they concentrate it down to in the first hand...

As they say, you get what you pay for. And (usually) if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
 
So they rehydrate it for you? Wow, what a practice in futility.
The 23 litre pails are especially popular in locations where the tap water is suspect/tastes bad/has a bad history.

BTW, I've just been picking on your 'all-juice' comments. My comments have said nothing about the quality of these kits. I haven't made one, so don't really know. However, I don't expect them to be as good as other brands that I do like.

Steve
 
I totally agree with Cpfan. Check out some of our sponsors' sites and get a good (mnimum) 15 liter kit for a red. You will probably be okay with whites from smaller kits, but I recommend this minimum. It is a little more money, but way better wine.

I'm cautious about the 10l white wine kits as well. I tried one and it was really thin. I don't think I'll ever make a kit less than 15l
 
I did one of those 23 pail kit. Actually it was my first wine kit, a BC style merlot. I bought it at factory and it took a full year for its jollyrancher taste to go away. In comparaison I did a WE world vineyard california pinot noir 4 weeks later and as far as taste the merlot have always improved to become a good daily drinker. The WE showed no improvement in 4 month and after 8 month it is now stable to a OK point, wont get better than this I guess.
I dont know if something wrong went with the WE kit but I can't imagine where.

In comparison considering it's both cheap kit,
the reserve cost 65$, it's a full 23L kit (no messing around with water quality and quantity), and come with cork, shrink cap and label
The WE kit cost me 80$ in rebate, its a 10L kit I had to add water, and to bought shrink caps, labels and cork

For me as far as pricewise and taste the Reserve du chateau have satisfied better my beginner needs.
But as everyone here say, go buy a higher end kit, I bought a vineco kenridge founders serie supertuscan with grape and it's worth the price!
 

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