That's the spirit Steve, more reviews please on winexpert red. ( I don't work for them by the way ) they are simply the easiest to get in the UK so I am keen to know which reds worked for you as most threads disregard them as KT!!
Oh, I don't think
most threads disregard them as KT.
Let's talk reds.
Every home kit wine maker, after they have made a few kits, will tend to have their favorite "brand". That's pretty normal I believe. All very subjective. You have been reading from the ones who don't prefer WE kits, so this thread should bring a lot of WE wine makers out in the open. I suspect there are many.
Kit Taste?
Make a big (BIG!) red kit and make the same varietal from fresh grapes; then let the wines age only, say, 6 to 8 months. After that time, taste each. Other than variations in terroir, will they have the same taste? No, they won't. The kit wine will have a sort of "chemical taste", the wine from fresh grapes will just taste young, tart. The reason is because the kit wine came from grapes that are pasteurized, the other did not.
Mentioning just a few differences, the kit grape juice has to be preserved and prepared such that it will not start fermenting on its own or go into MLF after primary alcohol fermentation completes.
If you let each of these two above made wines age for a couple years and taste each every 3 or 4 months, you will notice the kit wine will have less and less of that "chemical taste" until sometime later, that taste will pretty much subside. In my opinion it takes longer than two years for that taste to subside sufficiently (for my taste).
Some people believe that one brand might have more of this chemical taste than others; it's very subjective. No offense, but don't take it so personally if some believe W.E. kits fall into this "more than others" category. We each have our own opinion and that's perfectly OK.
And that chemical taste, some give it a name - "kit taste". Maybe some can't taste it, but it really is initially present in kit wines... all kit wines.
WineXpert makes some pretty good kits; they wouldn't be winning gold metals if they didn't. I have made a few, myself, and they have turned out good. I am happy with them, but in all honesty, they are not my favorite. However, I believe that now that WE is once again including grape packs in some of their bigger kits, they should turn out much better.
What is really important is that you really enjoy WE kits; that's about all that matters.