WineXpert Suggest an Island Mist Kit for Me...

[Chopper]

The very first wine I made was Island Mist Blackberry Cabernet. I loved it, and so did everybody who drank it with me. I've got another on order that I plan to drive up to 11% alcohol (the standard 6.5% alcohol is a little too low for me).

Anyway, I'd like to try another Island Mist kit as well. Can somebody suggest one for me? I like semi-sweet to sweet red wines, and I want something that will be OK to drive up to 11% alcohol. I'm intrigued by the Island Mist Pomegranate Zinfandel, but I don't know anything about it.

Help?

Thanks,

Chopper

 

[Tom]

For red
Black Raspberry Merlot
For white
Peach Apricot Chardonnay
You will like any in the line. If you don't, SEND IT TO ME

 

[Wade E]

Hav you ever upped the Peach apricot? That is a very delicate 1 and would be afraid to up the abv on that. I did the Blueberry Pinot and that was very nice and the Orchard Breezin Watermelon White Merlot both as 11% with great results. IM doing the Banana/Pineapple now with !!% and will tell you how that goes in a month or 2.

 

[fuzzmeister]

Wade I am going to do a blueberry pinot noir mist kit one of these days and was thinking of upping the alchol content, my plan was to boil 4 cups of surgar into 1 liter of water and add to the must, is this the proper way to do it? what would you suggest?

 

[arcticsid]

Chopper. My buddy had some sort of a berry merlot, a comercial wine, and it was quite tasty, I don't know the vinter, but I know Island mist makes a raspberry merlot. I have never made a kit, and I may never will, I have to go with fruit wines myself, but look into that if you enjoy a red wine. From what I understand the ABV is a little low on this brand of kits but you could up it a bit. I can tell you from experience, I quess it's wisdom now, I have been making a pineapple orange whatchamacallit, from concentrate and instead of making rocket fuel, I backed it down a bit to around 11-12% and it is a more enjoyable drink than it was with a high ABV. Keep that in mind.
Troy

Troy

 

[Tom]

Wade I am going to do a blueberry pinot noir mist kit one of these days and was thinking of upping the alchol content, my plan was to boil 4 cups of surgar into 1 liter of water and add to the must, is this the proper way to do it? what would you suggest?

1st 4 cups wont do much. 4#'s will up it to around 11%.
You dont need alot of water to boil. If you are adding 4 cups then you need 2 cups of water. This is the same when making simple syrup. Just use a whisk when adding the sugar.

 

[smurfe]

That Pom Zin sounds interesting to me as well. I was at a small wine conference a couple years ago where a fellow winemaker brought a wine he made from straight Pom juice. It was sweet and tart. Very very tasty. I have been wanting to make a batch of this myself.

The Raspberry Merlot would probably be as good as well. I have only tried the Exotic Fruits White Zin. It was very tasty but too sweet for me. I like really dry wines though. I made that for others to enjoy. Only wines I like sweet are straight fruit wines. Blackberry is my favorite.

 

[Wade E]

I agree with Smurfe on the Exotic fruit zin and this would be a kit that i would add 1/2 the f-pac and 2 lbs of sugar or near there to start with an sg of aound 1.080 and add the rest of the refridgerated f-pac upon completeion so most of the flavor would be here but less sweet and no waste.

 

[NSwiner]

Hav you ever upped the Peach apricot? That is a very delicate 1 and would be afraid to up the abv on that. I did the Blueberry Pinot and that was very nice and the Orchard Breezin Watermelon White Merlot both as 11% with great results. IM doing the Banana/Pineapple now with !!% and will tell you how that goes in a month or 2.

So I'm curious how did it turn out . Our friends made the Banana / pineapple but I haven't tried it yet but she says the pineapple was stronger then the banana in taste .I was going to ask her if she wanted to swap a bottle for our Sauvignon Blanc or liebfraumilch ,we do that to see which ones we like .

 

[cpfan]

Chopper:

I don't know if you have access to other kits besides Island Mist (Winexpert).

Our favourites are...
Niagara Mist Pink Grapefruit Blush - not as sweet as others and VERY refreshing in the summer
Niagara Mist Sangria Zinfandel Blush
Orchard Breezin' Blackberry Merlot - I love blackberry - makes a great wine jelly

Others we've enjoyed...
Orchard Breezin' Raspberry White Zinfandel
OB Green Apple Gewurztraminer
Island Mist Exotic Fruits White Zinfandel
Niagara Mist Green Apple Sauvignon Blanc
Strawberry White Zinfandel - can't remember which brand though - it was the second and fourth (or fifth) kit we ever made.

Generally if you like the specified fruit flavour and the colour of the wine, then you will probably like the results.

Steve

 

[Wade E]

The Banana Pineapple turned out great. I have a Blueberry Shiraz and Green Apple Gewurtz ready to bottle now. Havent tasted them yet though!

 

[NSwiner]

Thats great Wade ,so do yuo sweeten with the sugar syrup when you first start the kit or at another point in the process ? The green apple Gewurtz is one of the ones we were thinking of the other is the Orchard Breezin' Raspberry White Zinfandel so glad to hear Steve liked that one ,there's another with Cranberries in I thought of trying but since i did another holiday Cranapple want to try something different .

 

[Chateau Joe]

Of the Island Mist kits, I like the Blueberry Pinot Noir the best. I will be trying the Wildberry Shiraz soon. If you have access to Spagnols kits, I would recommend the Orchard Breezin Watermelon White Merlot.

 

[cpfan]

If you have access to Spagnols kits, I would recommend the Orchard Breezin Watermelon White Merlot.

That's one I would like to try sometime.

Steve