Underboss,
I have made the MM AJ Montepulciano and I was impressed with the nice fruitiness of this wine. The commercial Montepulciano wines that I have tried varied in character based on where the juice was from - Cali Montepluciano tends to be more fruit-forward and Italian exhibits a little bit more terroir. The wine tends to be a light-to-medium body, easy drinking pleasant wine that presents red fruit flavors. My own tasting notes show the following: "The smell was absolutely fantastic - beautiful red fruit mixed with the subtle oak notes of the barrel. I have high hopes for the development of this wine, considering the limitations of juice wine."
The longer I go making wine, the longer I hold my wines before I drink them, so I'm rather biased in terms of 'drinkable' time. While I have several other kits that are still in line to be made, it is quite likely that I will make this wine again and am excited to see how it develops with some more time.I started the kit in October of 2008 and it will be bottled this month and it had spent 2 months in a medium toast, French oak barrel. I would intendon opening the first bottle in the middle of 2010.
I hope that helps,
Jim