Mosti Mondiale Renaissance v. All-Juice

[Milwood]

Hello everybody.

I'm looking to start a Shiraz wine kit as I am a huge fan of most of the Australian commercial wines. I'm wondering if anyone can give me any advice on whether I should go with the 16L Renaissance kit or the 23L All-Juice kit. They are both $115.99 here at George's. It seems to me that the 23L kit would be the way to go but I would like to hear what everyone has to say, especially if you have made either of these. I have come to realize that the lower end red kits just aren't going to cut it for me. I opened a bottle of a VR Merlot at about 5 months and it wasn't very good. It was my first kit though so it's possible I messed something up. I have since decided to extend the times listed in the directions and to see if that helps me out. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks everyone.

 

[Wade E]

I would say that the all juice will be better but will take a little longer to come around. From what Ive been hearing though the Renaissance isnt much of a compromise from the bucket though so if you are looking for something that will be good a little earlier then the Ren. is a better solution, if you want whats better for the money and have the patience then youd be better off with the bucket, plus you get a primary bucket for smaller batches like beer or fruit wines or even a cork humidor like what I did with mine.

 

[Milwood]

Thanks Wade. I was leaning pretty heavily toward the AJ kit so I think that will be the way to go. Patience has never been my strong suit but I'm using winemaking as a way to work on that (although I'm not sure that is quite voluntary). I agree the bucket will come in handy as well. Have you ever tried the Selection Johannisberg Reisling or any other Riesling kits? I'm going to be getting a white kit at the same time to make for my wife. She's a huge fan of Rieslings. I keep hearing good things about the Vinifera Noble kits also. So many choices today it's hard to make up my mind. They all look so good!

 

[Wade E]

Ive only tried the AJ Johannisburg Riesling and it is very good but needs back sweetening to my preference.

 

[Milwood]

Thanks for the advice. My wife prefers them sweeter also which leads me to another question. I have tried sweetening wines with the Winexpert Wine Conditioner and I am not sure that I like the results. Is there a better way to sweeten wines without giving the wine a weird aftertaste?

 

[Wade E]

A simple sugar syrup consisting of 2 cups of sugar dissolved in 1 cup boiling water.

 

[K&GB]

We're doing the AJ Reisling too. Interesting note on the back sweetening question. I did a bench trial with the WE conditioner on a new viognier, and it also had an objectionable aftertaste past a certain level. It says it's "inverted sugar". What's that? I like the idea of the simple sugar syrup too.

 

[Wade E]

Copied from Wikipedia!


Inverted sugar syrup is sucrose-based syrup treated with the glycoside hydrolase enzyme invertase or an acid, which splits each sucrose disaccharide molecule into one glucose monomer and one fructose monomer
molecule. Although widely cited as being sweeter than sucrose, studies
show that invert sugar has 85% the sweetness of an equivalently
concentrated sucrose solution.<sup id="_ref-0" ="reference">[1]</sup> Invert sugar's glucose is substantially more hygroscopic
than sucrose, so it lends longer lasting moistness to products than
when sucrose is used alone. It is likewise less prone to
crystallization and valued especially by bakers, who refer to inverted
sugar syrup as trimoline or invert syrup.

 

[Phyllis]

I would bite the bullet and instead go with Masters Edition Shiraz. It's another step up and per bottle you're not paying all that much more, but if you can put it away for a bit it'll be an amazing wine.

 

[JWMINNESOTA]

We're doing the AJ Reisling too. Interesting note on the back sweetening question. I did a bench trial with the WE conditioner on a new viognier, and it also had an objectionable aftertaste past a certain level. It says it's "inverted sugar". What's that? I like the idea of the simple sugar syrup too.

They are pretty much the same thing, only difference may be the addition of an "acid" like a tsp of lemon juice to help prevent the crystallization that can be experience without it. ( Though it doesn't always happen) I use the juice when I make mine, the objectionable level is when Ive added too much.

 

[JWMINNESOTA]

Milwood I have made both, I think at that level or above, you would be pleased with either choice.