First time poster here though have been lurking on the forum for many months. I am not really a winemaker as the kit instructions are always followed but have drunk the wine from about 200 kits over the past 15 years.
Yesterday, a group of 6 of us were celebrating the end of summer and amidst the good company and good food we decided to compare some merlots. The questions were very simple ...
First, what was preferred between an Eclipse Stag's Leap Merlot and a Cellar Craft Showcase Merlot (both bottles have been made to kit instructions and aged 16 months in the bottle). I won't go through the tasting notes but will say everyone agreed that both were very drinkable wines and also they had different flavour profiles. It was unanimous within the group that the Cellar Craft was preferred if only by a slight margin.
The second question had to do with the benefits of aging (in the bottle). The 16 month old Cellar Craft Merlot was compared to a 3 year old Cellar Craft. Again everyone found the longer aged Merlot smoother and "better". But when asked was it worth the effort to store for three years versus drinking at 16 months the result was mixed. Three of us felt it was worth aging longer while the other three said that the small improvement did not justify the trouble and expense to store, maintain a bigger inventory etc.
I appreciate that these are rather subjective views from a group of "amateurs" (though we all drink lots of wine!). And as the saying goes, your mileage may vary.
Regards ... Doug
Yesterday, a group of 6 of us were celebrating the end of summer and amidst the good company and good food we decided to compare some merlots. The questions were very simple ...
First, what was preferred between an Eclipse Stag's Leap Merlot and a Cellar Craft Showcase Merlot (both bottles have been made to kit instructions and aged 16 months in the bottle). I won't go through the tasting notes but will say everyone agreed that both were very drinkable wines and also they had different flavour profiles. It was unanimous within the group that the Cellar Craft was preferred if only by a slight margin.
The second question had to do with the benefits of aging (in the bottle). The 16 month old Cellar Craft Merlot was compared to a 3 year old Cellar Craft. Again everyone found the longer aged Merlot smoother and "better". But when asked was it worth the effort to store for three years versus drinking at 16 months the result was mixed. Three of us felt it was worth aging longer while the other three said that the small improvement did not justify the trouble and expense to store, maintain a bigger inventory etc.
I appreciate that these are rather subjective views from a group of "amateurs" (though we all drink lots of wine!). And as the saying goes, your mileage may vary.
Regards ... Doug
