WineXpert 2016 Dessert Wines

Here's the kits coming out this fall:

•CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY - rounded cherry, plum, and bright raspberry with rich chocolate, coffee and vanilla.
•NEW PEPPERMINT MOCHA - Dark Chocolate and cool peppermint blend seamlessly with the rich coffee notes.
•NEW RED VELVET - Rich and velvety notes of dark berry with a hint of moist sponge cake enveloped in decadent chocolate!

Personally I'll probably just do Chocolate Raspberry again, others sound a bit extreme. This was a hit for us as well, gave away many bottles for X-Mas.

Surprised the prices are way up though, $106 CDN. I recall these being about $75 or so when I bought 2 years ago.

I made the Chocolate Raspberry from WE.
The RJS ports seem to be more interesting this year....there's the Vanilla Fig that has me very intrigued.

Last year I made the Chocolate Salted Caramel Port.

It's still sitting in secondary, on top of some oak.

I need to get the lead out and get round to bottling.

Of the ones available this year, I'm considering the Chocolate Raspberry. The peppermint mocha sounds horrid and I've never been a big red velvet fan so I'll probably pass on that one as well.

Wait...vanilla fig????

I went back to the Chocolate Cherry Port, (Black forest port) did the orange port in 2015 & didn't think it was as good. OK good, but not as good as Black Forest Port! Roy

I love me some Red Velvet, but am having trouble getting my head around a wine made with that flavor profile. Like @FTC Wines , I've made the Black Forest Port from RJS. It is awesome. Everyone I've shared it with has been blown away. I chapitalized, and fortified with just under a full bottle of brandy.

Anyone looking at the RJS Vanilla Fig? [emoji4]

geek said:

Anyone looking at the RJS Vanilla Fig? [emoji4]

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As far as I'm concerned, this is going to be a done deal for me.
I'm just waiting on my paycheck.

I did two 6 gallon batches of chocolate salted caramel last year, have two 3 gallon kits ordered of the peppermint mocha.

This is the year of Port for me.

On deck are:
RJS Coffee
RJS Blackforest
RJS Chocolate Orange

Kits to buy this year are:
RJS Toasted Caramel
RSJ Raspberry Mocha
WE Peppermint Mocha

I have made the WE Chocolate Raspberry in the past, and liked it. Trying to decide if i want to do that again.

I will need to buy a few more AIO Headspace eliminators so I can use my 5 gal carboys. I also bought some CO2 cartridges to purge the O2 from the headspace when using the HE.

Jericurl said:

As far as I'm concerned, this is going to be a done deal for me.

I'm just waiting on my paycheck.

Click to expand...

I hear ya....I may also jump on that one too.
I hear good things about the Black Forrest and been tempted...

Vanilla fig for me!

I've already emailed my LHBS regarding the Vanilla Fig. Sounds incredible!!

Not very many homebrew stores have the Vanilla Fig, even if they have all the others. My LHBS does not. I checked several of my typical online retailers and our forum sponsors and did not find the Vanilla Fig.

I have made coffee three times and loved it. Made the black forest and liked it. Made the raspberry mocha and liked it. Made the caramel and liked it. The coffee port just seems to blow them all away.

I make the coffee with additions of fresh ground coffee and two heavy toast oak spirals. Topped up with port to keep all the volume. Added brandy to fortify.

Looking forward to the vanilla fig!

I pre-ordered:

RJS Toasted Caramel
RJS Raspberry mocha
RJS Vanilla Fig
WE Peppermint Mocha

PM me if you want to know where to get them for around $95 in the Chicago/Milwaukee area.

heatherd said:

Not very many homebrew stores have the Vanilla Fig, even if they have all the others. My LHBS does not. I checked several of my typical online retailers and our forum sponsors and did not find the Vanilla Fig.

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Most stores are happy to order it for you. You can find RJS retailers here:
https://www.rjscraftwinemaking.com/find-your-store/

Good to know @richmke

richmke said:

I pre-ordered:

RJS Toasted Caramel
RJS Raspberry mocha
RJS Vanilla Fig
WE Peppermint Mocha

PM me if you want to know where to get them for around $95 in the Chicago/Milwaukee area.

Click to expand...

Plus shipping I assume.

geek said:

Plus shipping I assume.

Click to expand...

You have to pick it up ($0 shipping, and no sales tax on food) for the discounted price. People in the Chicago/Milwaukee might be interested.

EDIT: It has been claimed.
Anyone interested in a case of RJ's Coffee port? Started September of 2014. It's too sweet for our tastes, the wife and I simply don't care for it. PM me if interested, shipped to you for free. I'd rather ship it to someone who might appreciate it, rather than dump it.