WineXpert 10-liter kits

[summersolstice]

Has anyone tried one of the 10-liter kits? I'm thinking about ordering
a Ken Ridge kit. Are there any others available? I see WineExpert makes
them but they're only available in Canada.

 

[geocorn]

More juice usually means a better wine. I used to sell and make the Spanols' 10 liter kits (Grand Cru) and they were a nice improvement over the 7 liter kits, so I would assume the WE version will be as good, if not better.


WE is coming out with their kit to compete in Canada. When and if they will be sold in the US is anyone's guess.


As an aside, the 10 liter kits will save less than $1.00 from the Selection lines and the resulting wines will still not have the body you get from the Selection series.

 

[summersolstice]

Thanks for the reply George. As a winemaker on a budget I'm always looking at saving a little money. I'm hoping to find a happy medium between the entry level 7.5 liter kits and the 15 and 16 liter kits.As I said, I only see Ken Ridge making a 10 liter kit right now so I can't really compare it to a WE kit, at least until they start making their 10 liter kits available here in the US.


Without trying them I don't even know if the Ken Ridge 10 liter products are anywhere near as tasty as the excellent 7.5 liter WE Mezza Luna I made.

 

[peterCooper]

Rule G. You make a good point. To begin with you don't know the quality
until you try it. Even when you buy and make, you still don't know for a
couple of years on some wines, how they'll eventually turn out.

I've had Merlot, Sangiovese and Shiraz, all of which were ordinary with little
character when they were bottled and so much better even three or six
months later. This is a hobby (lifestyle?) that requires patience.

That's why Winestock is a good idea. You can try a lot of kits wines and
have a sense of what they can produce without shelling out loads of cash.

 

[geocorn]

As a follow up to Winestock, we had our bottling party last weekend and the favorite was the VR-Vieaux Chateau du Roi. All of the wines were less than 4 months old, so the VR was ready; whereas, some of the Selections needed more time.


Of course, everyone loved the SL Merlot and the Red Ice Wine, but I don't count them as they are in a class all by themselves and will always show well.


The Trio Blanca and Nebbiola, both from this year's limited edition series were good but need more time to age out. The nose on both is wonderful. Just need the taste to round out.


But back to the topic, I am actually hoping they bring the 10-liter kts to the states. I think there is a definite market for a "fill-in" wine. A very slight increase in price for a wine with more body than the VR. A 10-liter cab would be great and then they could drop the VR version of the cab, completely. There are other VR kits I would like for them to replace with a 10 liter size. Just a little more body would go along way.

 

[OldWino1]

I get great reviiews from people that i give my Grand Crf 10 ltr kit
wine to. I have not tried a Ken classic 10 ltr yet. but why is
ken ridge so more that GCru?