Mosti Mondiale bottled VN Castel del Papa last night

[ArdenS]

Bottled my VN Castel del Papa last evening. This being only my 2nd kit, I wasn't sure what to expect. Had the unfortunate problem of 8 oz left over after bottling; it didn't take too long to figure out what to do with it. I'm not doing cart-wheels; it seems a bit thin. My 1st kit was a Cellar Craft 5-week kit with grape pack. Both kits had about the same amount of juice (10 L/10.5 L), but CC had the grade pack. I'm thinking the grape pack made the difference between these two kits. The VN isn't bad; just seems to be something for daily consumption rather than serving with dinner for guests. I hope that some age will help it.

 

[ibglowin]

Grape packs help tremendously with "mouth feel" even in smaller kits. The smaller kits can come around but they can take time (like all kits) Don't top off with water on the smaller kits (or any kit) if you want a more fuller complex wine in the end. If your budget will allow for it, move up to the larger (16L) higher end kits and get away from the 10L kits. You won't be disappointed and if you pick them up on sale (like all the Renaissance kits this month) they are not that much more expensive.

 

[Bartman]

I too have been impressed/underwhelmed by my VN Castel del Papa. Bottled it in November, and it is coming along nicely. It is on the thin side, but no worse than any $8-$10 bottle from the store. Good flavor, easy drinking - at $60 for the kit, it's my own 2-buck-chuck.

Mike, you have a generous view of "not that much more expensive" - the VN Barolo kit is $61 now, while the Renaissance Barolo is about $101 - about 70% more. Does George have you on commission?

That said, I still plan on getting a Renaissance kit for myself later this month.

 

[ibglowin]

Ha! I wish!

Percentage wise your right but I have made a bunch of the Renaissance kits now and have been very impressed with all of them to date and have not noticed any of them to be "thin" in taste.

 

[ArdenS]

Bart, I see you're in Dallas. If you'll check out Craigslist, there's a gentleman in Plano with empties. He's a winemaker who's taking a break and has a bunch of bottles available. He had 250, until I took 92 yesterday.

Arden

 

[pao1x]

I did this one in December 08. I don't find it to be thin. It is a food wine more than a sipper. Borolo is a sipper to me. I also topped up with a CdR and not water. No sorbate or clarifiers either.







Paul