Interesting. I havent come across that term yet, kit taste. I do see that as an advantage. I just don't get the juice volume. Its very little, 1.6 gallons for a 6 gallon kit.
I've not come up with a good explanation of "kit taste", but it's a harsh flavor that override's the wine's normal flavor. IME, all wines with kit taste have the same off-flavor.
When eliminating all other possible causes, kit wine taste appears to be connected to the concentrate production.
@Matteo_Lahm states the problem is solved by not pasteurizing the concentrate -- while I lack the knowledge to say that is correct, the fact is that FWK's process works to prevent kit taste. I'm not worried about the "why", just the "what", so I accept his statement as correct.
The concentrate process used by FWK is better, in my limited experience, than that used by the other reputable vendors. FWK is apparently all concentrate, like the low end kits, but the quality of the concentrate puts it on par with the premium kits that include a relatively large amount of juice.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out -- WE's reformulation of their kits a few years ago is (again in my limited experience) a real win. However, my FWK have not aged enough for a real comparison, although I already believe they will be better. This may produce an "arms race" among kit vendors, which is a win for consumers.
