Tasting the first kits

[JimCook]

Last week, I tested air exposure times with the three wines that I had recently bottled to see what the results were. Outside of myself, four other people experienced the wines. The three wines tasted (having been bottled a month ago) were
WE Australian Chardonnay, WE Argentine Malbec, MM AllJuice Pinot Noir


Of the three, the dominant favorite even among those that preferred white wines was the MM Pinot Noir. It was hands down just beautiful, with great mouthfeel and a nice smooth, lingering taste - very enjoyable to drink. The Chardonnay outpaced the Malbec after that.


So for kicks, I applied my 'partial bottle' time test, normally a decent judge of the age-ability of wine. The Malbec, having sat on a half bottle for two days after tasting, was almost identical to the freshly-opened bottle, which surprised me. Only the initial flavor edge faded - the mulberry jam ontoast flavors were still there. The Pinot was recently tested for 2 days on a 1/4 bottle remaining and while I could not taste the wine (thanks to a little bug I picked up), my wife noted that it was still very good.


I'm overall impressed with these kits and especially their ability to withstand 'forced aging.' On top of that, I think the note that stands out hands down is the comparison between the Mosti non-concentrate kit vs. the WE concentrate kits. This makes me very excited as to the potential of the large number of non-concentrate Mosti kits that I have recently been investing, for if they are like this Pinot, they will be quite wonderful indeed.


- Jim


P.S. While the pinot lacks the earthiness of some pinot noir wines, it has great cherry characteristics mixed with some wonderful French oak caramel and spices (I added extra oak). At a wine tasting I attended with my wife this past weekend, we tried five different pinots, and discounting the earthy pinots left us with two to compare the MM pinot against - it was on par with a particular California pinot that sat in the $18-20 range, and that's after only one month in the bottle.

 

[geocorn]

Jim,


Your thorough analysis is greatly appreciated, especially for the Pinot Noir. I have not made that MM wine and get a lot of questions about it. Now I have some information to give to customers.


The Malbec is somewhat of a surprise as it is one of the more popular kits and gets very good reviews while some customers think the Chardonnay could be more bold.


Thanks again for the valuable info.

 

[Mark]

I was strongly considering the MM AJ Pinot Noir for my next batch. You just made that decision easy... Thanks!

 

[grapeman]

I lack Jim's flair for tasting notes, but I will comment on th MM All Juice Pinot Noir. I am going from memory here so I may have the dates off a bit....
I began this kit in August of 2007. I added 3 ounces of a Med toast French Oak for 2 weeks. I bottled it in December 2007. Jim's notes pretty well sum up my feelings on the MM Pinot. Even though it has only been in the bottle a few months, it is excellent and I am having a hard time not drinking it young. I finished a bottle off I had opened several nights ago last evening and it was just as good the last day as the first. To me it is beginning to get a few tones of earthiness to it already that it didn't display at the one month in bottle mark.


Anyone contemplating this kit and sitting on the fence- jump on it. You will never regret it.

 

[Wade E]

This is the kit i bough for my Brother-in-law for Christmas as he had made a few of the Alexanders cans and was opting to stop making wine after them and I said wait 1 minute. He is ready o bottle soon and what your posting gives me great confidence that he will finally be happy with a wine he made. He absolutely loved my RJS CS Chilean Malbec but has not opened my RJS CS Valpolicella with skin pack. Hopefully I can get him more interested and get him to get some more kits under his belt.

 

[geocorn]

We are of the firm opinion that unless you give an All Juice 1 year, you are wasting your money. It takes time for the flavors to develop. That is why we are going to start making some Vinifera Nobles, so I can leave my good stuff alone.

 

[JimCook]

There was another interesting discovery that came out of the tasting in regards to the chardonnay's fruit characteristics which may relate toward a perceived lack of 'boldness' as described in your earlier post, George. I noticed a direct correlation between the temperature of the wine and the presence of the fruit characteristics of the chardonnay. The colder the wine, the more subdued the fruit characteristics.

While this may not seem that odd, as molecular volatility has a direct relationship with temperature, the peculiar part of it was that the oak characteristics were consistent seemingly regardless of temperature. End result - have the wine too chilled and the fruit is all soft, making the oak seem more powerful. Have the wine more warm and the fruit comes more into balance with the oak.


Just some interesting observations.


- Jim

 

[grapeman]

I lack Jim's flair for tasting notes, but I will comment on th MM All Juice Pinot Noir. I am going from memory here so I may have the dates off a bit....
I began this kit in August of 2007. I added 3 ounces of a Med toast French Oak for 2 weeks. I bottled it in December 2007. Jim's notes pretty well sum up my feelings on the MM Pinot. Even though it has only been in the bottle a few months, it is excellent and I am having a hard time not drinking it young. I finished a bottle off I had opened several nights ago last evening and it was just as good the last day as the first. To me it is beginning to get a few tones of earthiness to it already that it didn't display at the one month in bottle mark.


Anyone contemplating this kit and sitting on the fence- jump on it. You will never regret it.

I checked on this batch recently and began it in early May 2007 and it was bottled inSeptember 2007. It is just a bit over 1 year old now so I opened a bottle this evening. Man is this one ever coming around in great shape. The aromas of cherry are really starting to come out nicely along with the added French oak. Mouthfeel and body are excellent and you want to roll it around on your tongue for an eternity savouring the flavors as they develop. They just keep on lingering. Deep dark black cherry abounds, rounded by just a touch of earthiness there. I think the French oak is a perfect match with this kit. You get just a hint of vanilla there, but it leans more towards a nice mellow chocolate. Did I mention the flavors just keep lingering.


I can't recommend this Mosti All Juice Pinot Noir enough. It isn't your everyday Pinot !


Now to keep my fingers off a few bottles for next years competition........

 

[Wade E]

I bought that kit for my Brother-In-Law and haven't seen a bottle yet and am hoping to get 1 soon as I myself have not tried this as of yet.

 

[Joanie]

Talk about a timely post!!! I happen to have a big ol' bucket of MM All Juice Pinot Noir on a Fed Ex "Out for delivery" truck right now! I was excited about it before....now I can't wait! I'm thinking it's Christmas!!!!

Thanks Jim, George, and Appleman for your tasting notes. They are appreciated!

 

[JimCook]

Joan,


I think that a kit 'out for delivery' is second only to one in fermentation.

Please let us know how it progresses. I tasted another bottle from my MM AllJuice pinot noir batch and my extra oaking was toning down into a more balanced state. The wine has such wonderful mouthfeel and really nice flavor of spiced fruit and caramel.I'm excited to see how it will develop over the next few years. I applied the unfinished bottle test again and the results were pretty consistent with the first test. After two days (and two other tastes), the final bit of the bottle was consumed and while it was softer overall, it was still very nice. As my bride Milacommented about the smoothness and 13% alcohol content, "This is a wine that I can really drink to enjoy, instead of just sip and get knocked out."


- Jim

 

[grapeman]

Joan We do aim to please. Just call us the psychic network forum. Here's hoping yours turns out as nice as the other Pinot's you made. You should be able to get a gold or two out of this one in a year or two.

 

[Jack on Rainy]

Jim,
Thanks for the interesting thread. Encouraging to me for sure. Can you describe in more detail your partial bottle test and the rational behind it?
Thanks,

 

[JimCook]

Jack,


If you take a bottle of wine and only drink part of it one night (let's say half) and then you stick the cork back in and leave it on the countertop (no VacuVin, no refrigerator, etc.), you'll expose the remaining wine to the oxygen that is in the bottle. In essence, this simulates force-aging, the same way you would use a decanter. Open up the bottle the next night and see how it tastes - if it's vinegar, then it's a pretty good bet that it's not a good idea to age those bottles of wine. If it's better than the night before, then age should be helping out the wine.


Some people make it a habit of finishing a bottle - my scientist nature wants to experiment and this is one that takes less time than aging the bottles naturally. Depending on the wine, I havea rule of thumb that if a wine can sit at 50% for 24 hours and it tastes better, it should have 3-5+ years in it. Go for 48 hours or two openings and it's more toward 10 years. I've correlated this residual wine bottle test with different wine rating aging potential notes as well as some of my own wine (some is hitting 3 years now for my personal cellar).


Disclaimer: this is all a rule of thumb, but if the wine can be exposed to more and more oxygen and get better, it's essentially the same thing that happens with age, just at a different rate. Results may vary. Void where prohibited. This article has a cash value of $0.02.


- Jim