MadMan said:
I appreciate all the replies and there is definitely a method to my madness as you'll soon see. I'm addicted and haven't even started yet! I'm not Madman for nothing.
You think you're addicted now....just you wait. Oh, it all starts out innocently enough. You buy a kit or two, then 5 or 6 more. Next thing you know you want to up it a notch so you start buying fruit at the grocery store...Then you're going on 2 hour drives to remote areas to pick blueberries, raspberries, mountain ash.....Finally you find yourself making wine out of kool aid, garlic, grass clippings, dog poop or whatever you can find just to prove to yourself that you can....O.k. maybe not the dog poop but I've actually considered grass clippings if you can believe it.
As for my favorite kits, I can't say that I've made a single one that I didn't like. Most of my wines are my own concoctions, but of the kits I've made I would have to rank them as follows:
1.) WE Lodi Old Vine Zinfandel (I have not tried the CC one with the grape pack yet, but that's definitely on the "to do" list)
2.) MM All Juice Sauvignon Blanc (was very impressed with this one,bottled it 9 months ago and I've only got 6 bottles left! Didn't even give it a chance to age properly.)
3.) WE Vinter's Reserve Red Zinfandel (O.K. I admit it, I'm a Zinner. This one will seem a bit "watered down" at first but is awesome if you can wait 2 years to open the bottle)
4.) MM Vinefera Noble Gamay (Made this last spring. Only tried 2 bottles so far but it is not a bad wine at all and is definitely improving. Tried a bottle last fall and another during Christmas break.)
5.) WE Vinter's Reserve Bougeron Rouge (Made this last spring as well. Haven't tried it yet so it's at the bottom of my list, perhaps I should crack one open tonight just to see where it's at)
Honestly, that's all I've tried for kits, although I have made the 2 Zinfandel kits several times each. I can never have enough Zin in my cellar.