Input requested about Montepulciano

[ArdenS]

I'm a newbie, having only done one each of Amarone & Castel del Papa. I'm toying with the idea of doing a Montepulciano. I see that George has two MM kits, Original Alljuice and Renaissance. Has anybody done these kits, and how did they come out? What's your take on the wine?

Thanks,
Arden

 

[JimCook]

Arden,


I have a bottle of my 2008 MM AllJuice Montepulciano open currently. I've been doing a multi-day taste test to attempt to project how this wine would progress with some more aging. The flavor upon initially opening the bottle was one of red fruit, which matches the California Montepulciano commercial wines I've tasted. It seem to be a lighter style of wine, that was more fruity when first opened and now after several days has picked up some deeper tones that I can't pinpoint flavors against.


I have not made any Renaissance kits so I can't compare there.


Hope that helps,


- Jim

 

[ArdenS]

Thank you, Jim, for that input; that helps. It looks like you're tasting something about 2 years old, so that helps, too, to know a bit more about how the Alljuice kit will progress.

You mention that it is a bit lighter than commercial Montepulcianos that you've tasted. I noticed on Mosti Mondiale's website that they suggest adding a little grape tannin for more "grip" and structure of commercial wines. Have you tried that with any success?

 

[JimCook]

This kit was started in October of 2008, so it's currently sitting at 16 months. You can see everything I did with the kit here: http://www.findyourstrength.com/wine/200810Montepulciano.html



I did add some tannin upfront, which I tend to do with the recent red wine kits that I make. I kept it at a lower level and it may have been perhaps too low. Kit wines generally are lighter to me than their commercial counterparts, however I was simply commenting that the Montepulciano that I'm tasting from the kit is a light- to medium-bodied wine that exhibits some red fruit character and is a pleasant drinker.


Also note that I haven't tasted much in the way of Italian Montepulciano and the California versions tend to be a little bit more fruit-forward.


I was tasting it side-by-side with two other Mosti AllJuice kits made at roughly the same time - Nero d'Avola and Bourg Royal Rouge. The Montepulciano sits in between both in regards to the sense of body (meaning: feeling in the mouth). The Nero has the most boldness of the three and the Pinot Noir based Bourg Royal Rouge is lighter than the Montepulciano if that helps provide any clarification to my tasting perspective.


- Jim

 

[JohnnyB78]

I Have a Montepulciano going right now, it was from just a juice bucket I picked up "mosto bello" It is an italian juice. They are suppose to be pretty good. I didnt do anything at all to it except let it ferment and rack it. I just wanted to see what would turn out. I am a little worried that I should have added some oak, or tannin or something. Any body have any insite on this. The other thing that was wierd is that it comes refridgerated and supposedly you just get it to 70ish degrees, and there it goes. I have never seen any thing like this, any one heard of this as well?\