Recent content by roger80465

Their product is good. They used to sell separate grape skin packs to add to the kits but I don't see them now. I would put these kits in a mid range similar to RJS Cru Select. They seem to be best at about 6 months and if allowed to age a year, they begin to fade. At $84 each, they are a...

The only place I have found that guarantees 100% of the listed varietal is US Elite. I find the less 'tweaking' you do, the better the result. They also seem to mature faster.

Seriously?!?!? It took until #8 to find a wine that is more than a soda pop wine. That is kind of sad really. Suggests this may be more of a list made for a marketing department than for a true wine drinker/maker. To me, this diminishes the value of the competition.

In my experience, the Showcase Amarone drinks pretty well at 1 year, regresses a little bit at 2 years then hits the sweet spot at 3 years. I find that a 3 yo version is pure ambrosia.

This wine has lasted this long only because of the funky taste it has had from the start. I put it in an out of the way place to see if the funk would age out. If not for that, it would have been a distant memory by now. So a Brunello doesn't necessarily need that much time (unless it tastes...

I also made an elderberry from homewinery.com concentrate and I really enjoy it for a change of pace wine. I made it slightly off dry. It certainly won't become an every day kind of wine for me but it certainly has a place in the cellar. I read an article (sorry, can't recall the source) that...

I have made both and greatly prefer the Showcase. Last Christmas Eve we did a 5 year vertical tasting of Amarone and the En Premeur was 3 years old. We preferred the 2 YO Showcase. Surprisingly, the 5 YO Mosti Mondiale Renaissance was quite good. It is the first time (and last bottle) we...

I have an Amarone that has made it 5 years and several others nearing 4 years. Oh, and also a Brunello at 5 years waiting for it to become drinkable. (a real musty taste reminds me of moldy oak that is gradually fading). Much depends on the condition of your storage area.

I owned a similar system a few years ago, planning to bag, store and age my wine to save the aggravation of bottling. I learned (sadly) that aging more than a couple months results in a strong likelihood oxidation. I lost most of a batch because they just don't age well in bags. For me, I...

Are you using sulfite on the corks before insertion? I had the same problem but, thanks to a thread here, stopped using sulfite on the corks and now I no longer have the problem.

We are also on an extended RV trip pulling our 5th wheel with our diesel pickup. Since leaving early July, we have paid anywhere from $2.19 to $2.58 for diesel. We are currently outside of Grand Rapids, MI and diesel just jumped from $2.44 to $2.59 overnight. That stinks. Hope that trend...

I'm sure there is something else blended in. They offered a couple blends but I preferred the one listed as Norton. I tried a blend of Norton and Chamborcin 70/30 that they described as being similar to a tuscan. Since I love tuscan wines I expected that blend to be my favorite but it didn't...

I have fallen in love with Norton. We are traveling through Missouri (beginning our adventure of seeing a game in every major league ball park). One day we decided to visit the Missouri wine country and that's where I met Norton. To me it is so complex it should be a blend, not a single...

Maybe that is their protection from antiaircraft fire.:h

I'm jealous you still have some left!