Mosti Mondiale MM AJ Nero d'Avola

[JimCook]

I have a Nero d'Avola that I had started in the middle of October 2008. It has been in the bottle since July of 2009 and I opened a bottle this past Sunday to see how it was developing. While it was earlier than I would normally open a red wine to test (only 15 months), there were three of us and we wanted to test it. It was the first bottle of the batch that I tried.


When we tasted the wine on that Sunday, it was typical of a wine that needed more time - the aroma was coming along but the taste wasn't necessarily there and it didn't have the refinement that one would expect from a developed wine. Given the age of the wine, this wasn't much of a surprise.


So, in went a cork for the other half of the bottle and it sat on my countertop until last night (Friday). On day 5, the wine had undergone a remarkable transformation, giving great insight as to what it will taste like in the months/years ahead. The nose had developed further with some very nice berry fruit smells and the taste really had picked up. It still had the lightness of the mouthfeel that most of the kit wines that I have made had, but it did not come across as thin. I'm quite excited to open some bottles after more time passes.


If anyone hadn't yet considered this kit, it presented a flavor like a cross between a Zinfandel and a Malbec (rough estimate based on my taste buds here). The tannin level was lower and it carried some nice dark fruit flavors. I'm glad the bottle sat for the five days at 50% full - it really helped give me a glimpse of good things to come.


- Jim

 

[ibglowin]

That's some serious "decanting"!

I'm glad the bottle sat for the five days at 50% full - it really helped give me a glimpse of good things to come.
 
- Jim

 

[Bartman]

I made a AJ Nero d' Avola roughly around the same time, bottling it in May 2009. I now have about 6 bottles left, I think. It has been quite popular with my wife and other folks, but it's honestly not my favorite. I like it, but don't love it.

Jim, I have not found my kit wines, even alljuice ones, to improve that significantly after 6 months-1 year in the bottle. I bulk age for 6 months to a year as well, so it may be two years before I expect them to peak. The improvement of my reds seems to be asymptotic - after a year or so, the gradual refinement seems to slow significantly. I could be wrong, but I don't believe the kit wines have the structure or body to age gracefully for 5+ years. But if you can taste positive changes over that time period, more power to ya!

 

[JimCook]

Bart,


The beauty of the world of wine is the subjectivity of taste preferences. One man's Barolo is another's Zinfandel, I suppose. I don't have any wines that have hit the five year mark at this point, so I can't comment from personal experience. However, George and Masta have posted about wines that were four or five years or more (even a white).


I normally won't open a red kit wine until it hits 18-24 months as I personally do not find the flavors to be developed enough for me and the wines seem out of joint. Like you, I concur with the idea to let the wine sit for two years and have seen a marked improvement at that point.


Now, if I can get a bigger cellar.


- Jim