Tony, would you mind providing a bit of info on your PV? When did you start your kit, was it by the book, or extended process, bulk aged or bottle aged?
Sorry Brian, that it took me so long to reply. I typed a 300 word response last night and my tablet froze when I tried to post it. So here goes again.
I have done three Wine Expert Petit Verdot kits and have the Cellar Craft Limited on pre-order.
First was the 2010 WE LE. This kit comes with 60 gr of toasted oak and 60 gr of french oak. The only tweak was two American Medium oak spirals for a few weeks after clearing. This kit only received six weeks of extended aging. We loved it at seven months in bottle, so about nine months total. Early on we knew we liked it so much I checked with my not so LHBS and snagged a second one. This kit was one of the first kits I made and was consumed between months 9 and 14.
Second was the same kit just several months older from harvest and packaging. I tweaked this with a pound of organic raisins. And added the two American spirals as before after it spent a few weeks in a new Hungarian oak barrel. At bottling I added 2 ounces of glycerin to help smooth out the new barrel (with longer aging I now employ, the oak will fall back by itself). We began drinking this wine at about nine months in bottle, fifteen months total. Knowing what I know now that this juice was particularly good and perhaps a real score for Wine Expert I didn't need the pound of raisins. That did kick up the alcohol but did not make this kit any better than the first. We loved this kit and hoped that it would return in the WE regular lineup.
I was super stoked about the third PV kit. WE came out with an Australian Petit Verdot with grape pack kit and I jumped on it. No raisins were necessary as it came with a grape pack whoop whoop. It came with the same 60 gr of oak and I added 30 gr American untoasted oak dust. I tweaked it some French chips in secondary and used the 30 gr of American cubes that was provided during clearing. I guess they got the message that this Ausie PV could handle more oak. It spent time in the mostly neutral Hungarian barrel then aged in carboy with French and American spirals. What was I thinking . . . liquid plywood? At this point it was a bit oakie but rather thin and uninteresting. I added 1/2 tsp of tannin and 4 ounces of glycerin. It bulk aged four months prior to bottling. I bottled four gallons as is and blended the rest with a Mosti Meglioli Australian Cabernet Shiraz making what I called a Down Under Meritage. The straight PV was okay but not at all what I hoped for. Even a Wine Expert insider agreed that the earlier Limited Edition juice was superior to the juice that followed in the International series. The straight PV was wonderful while in the carboy and at bottling but suffered considerable bottle shock and after several months in bottle improved BUT never reached it's earlier impression nor my expectations. By eight months in bottle 13 months total we began drinking it and finished it off at two years. At two years it was still just okay.
The Down Under Meritage was another story all together. It was fantastic. At bottling I realized this was special so I held on to it a bit longer and even forfeited a bottle for a competition - it took a silver and the Mosti Meglioli took a bronze on its own. The Down Under Meritage did in fact continue to get better and better with age. The take away for me with the blend was that the French Bordeaux blend is hard to beat whatever country the grapes are grown and the Mosti Meglioli juice takes a long time to mature but eventually produces superior wines IF YOU HAVE THE PATIENCE TO WAIT.
Hummm, I wonder what I should do with the CC PV I have pre-ordered.
