Other Vinifera Noble Reviews Please

[Chateau Joe]

One of my LHBS's got in some Vinifera Noble kits for the first time. I am unfamiliar with these kits but I have learned that they are made by Mosti Mondiale. For those of you who have tried more than one of these kits, how well do you like them and how do they compare to WinExpert and Spagnols kits?

 

[Rocky]

Joe, that is a 10 liter kit and my experience with such kits is that they yield a very weak wine. I only buy 16 liter or greater. It is a little more money but well worth it IMHO.

 

[Bartman]

They are 10 L kits like Rocky said, but they are the best of the 10L kits. George at Fine Vine wines has told me his customers consistently say the Vinifera Noble kits are th best value. They won't make a great wine, but for something light like a Beaujolais style or Chateauneauf de Pape- style (Mosti calls it Castel del Papa), I think they are really good. The way I look at it, those kits at FVW run about $55 or under (on periodic specials) and make 30 bottles, so you've got less than $2 invested inside the bottle. At that price, I don't mind opening up a second bottle late in the evening even if I know we won't come close to finishing it.

And with 6-9 months of age, they really are quite passable wines - not for a big meaty red, but a good everyday wine.

 

[roger80465]

I have made several of these kits and I find them to be very good every day wines. VN kits seem to be quite heavily oaked and it takes several months to mellow out but if you like oak, you will like these. Example, I bought a VN Pinot Grigio which contained 90g of heavy toast oak. I thought that was unusual for a Pinot Grigio but figured they knew what they were doing. Upon completion, the oak overwhelmed so I blended with several bottles of unoaked sauv blanc. It became the best white wine I have ever made, similar to Due Uve. Thinking I need to make this again for next summer.

Roger