WineXpert WE Limited Edition Wines for 2012

[the_rayway]

Any insight would be helpful...

We went to a tasting event last night for the WineExpert Limited Edition wines for this year. It was a packed venue, with a fabulous speaker who described the wines and grapes in fantastic detail with the power point presentation to highlight. All of those present who regularly buy the LE kits were raving about how great they are every year. We were so excited about the choices and couldn't wait to taste test!

What a disappointment. The flavours seemed to be mediocre at best, body was lacking, and to be honest, our Cheeky Monkey kits appeared to make far superior wines.

Am I missing something? Was it just me? Do I need to look at these as items that require much more cellaring? Would it really improve them that much? Or do we have 'cheapie' wine kit tastes? Has anyone else tried these? I have generally liked the WE kits!

Again, it was so disappointing for us as we had been looking forward to this for quite awhile and were really pumped to purchase and start one of these kits.

 

[ibglowin]

I am still shocked that in 2012 ANY Kit Manufacturer would produce a "Limited Edition" Red wine and NOT include some sort of grape pack/skins. I made (my first and last) WE LE Kit last Spring (Red Mountain Meritage). I added a grape pack from Cellar Craft and a big dose of TanCor Grand Cru and at bottling time it was pretty disappointing compared to any Cellar Craft Showcase kit I have made. Its in the cellar where it will be forgotten for a LONG time. Hopefully it will come around in 2 years.......

 

[tonyt]

Looking back through my notes I seem to do a couple WE kits each year. I average 12 kits each year. Except for the WE LE Petit Verdot from a couple years back I find that all of the We kits take a minimum of two years to get rid of the famous WE kit taste. But at that two year mark they are really outstanding. I just opened a 2 year old WE LE Brunello and it was down right delicious. Unfortunately I panicked at the one year mark and figured it it wasn't coming around by one year I would start using it to top up with and would send my kids home with some when they would come visit. With all that said I was very disappointed in the WE LEs for 2012. The only one that I might try is the Nebbiolo with skins and if I do (who am I kidding, I know I'll get one) I will hide the bottles for two years.

 

[Dugger]

The other thing to remember is that the wines used at these tastings are commercial wines that are the closest equivalent they could find at a reasonable price so might not accurately reflect the LE wines.

 

[pmf2000]

I just bottled a Nebbiolo and it was awesome!

 

[robie]

I have attended these WE introductory tastings. Those LE tastings are very, very subjective. As was mentioned, they buy commercial wines they "think" are equivalent to what the LE kits might be someday. To be honest, it means absolutely nothing.

If you like a certain variety of wine, buy that same variety of kit, especially if it comes with a grape pack. Even then, it may or may not ever truly compare to one of these so-called commercial equivalents.

And yes, if it is a red LE, it is not likely to come around until at least two years.

For reds, your best bet is to buy only the kits that come with a grape pack. Then, get yourself a Vadai barrel and give the wine some serious barrel time.

Just my own personal opinion.

 

[eblasmn9]

For reds, your best bet is to buy only the kits that come with a grape pack. Then, get yourself a Vadai barrel and give the wine some serious barrel time.

Just my own personal opinion.

Its taken me a couple of years (slow learner I guess), but I now believe this. Getting kits with grape packs and purchasing a Vadai barrel will make the best kit wines.
I started last years CC LR California Nebbiolo on Saturday. I just ordered my first Vadai barrel and this wine will go into it. I can't hardly wait to see how this turns out.

 

[robie]

Its taken me a couple of years (slow learner I guess), but I now believe this. Getting kits with grape packs and purchasing a Vadai barrel will make the best kit wines.
I started last years CC LR California Nebbiolo on Saturday. I just ordered my first Vadai barrel and this wine will go into it. I can't hardly wait to see how this turns out.

Great! Just make sure you don't leave the wine in a new 6 gallon barrel for more than about 3 weeks. Otherwise, such a small barrel can over oak a wine pretty fast.

Since 3 weeks is not enough time to get any benefit from micro oxygenation and concentration, you will need to take the wine out, put it back in a carboy, then put some other wines through the barrel until the oaking tames down enough that you can put the wine back in the barrel for 3 months or so.

Keep good records about how long each wine goes through the barrel.

 

[eblasmn9]

I guess I didn't specify what size barrel I bought. It is a 6 gallon Hungarian Vadai. I definitely want to get the oak right. I hadn't thought about running the wine back through a second time after the oak in the barrel tames down to get the micro-ox I want. Thanks for the advice, Robie. I do have several nice kits in the que so I can make this work.

 

[robie]

I guess I didn't specify what size barrel I bought. It is a 6 gallon Hungarian Vadai. I definitely want to get the oak right. I hadn't thought about running the wine back through a second time after the oak in the barrel tames down to get the micro-ox I want. Thanks for the advice, Robie. I do have several nice kits in the que so I can make this work.

I hold off on adding the oak, which comes with the kit. If it is American oak, I might add it later for layering, after the wine get completely finished with the barrel.

 

[eblasmn9]

Do you hold off on all the oak including the oak dust or shavings to be added during fermentation?

 

[ibglowin]

Depending on the kit I will add the sawdust if included but not any shavings, especially if something different from Hungarian Oak.

 

[eblasmn9]

Thanks Mike. The nebbiolo I just started had 50 grams of hungarian oak chips and 100 grams of medium toast European oak cubes. I added the oak chips to the primary. I will hold off on the oak cubes and run the wine through the barrel.

 

[the_rayway]

Thanks everyone for the input - I had no idea these weren't the actual wines that were available for kit purchase! (Kinda feels a bit like false advertising to me...) And to be honest, if those are commercial wines? Yikes. Talk about lack of quality

I agree about the comments regarding the grape skins too: seems to me if there's going to be a LE 'top shelf' wine kit it should always include grape skins. It just makes sense!

I guess when it's all told, I think I'll stick with my fall edition port kits this year

 

[CB750]

Last year I made both the Washington Meritage and the Traminer Spatlese Limited Editions and both turned out excellent and are improving with aging. However, for some reason the 2012 Limited Editions just didn't seem to click with me. Even watching Tim's video's on the WE website could not get me to bite on any of them.

 

[saddlebronze]

It's funny because I made a WE Lodi ranch cab that is wonderful just 6 months after making. It's not just my opinion, but all my experienced wine friends. And yes a lot of commercial wine today is thin junk.

 

[the_rayway]

Was the Lodi Ranch a limited edition?

 

[CB750]

It's funny because I made a WE Lodi ranch cab that is wonderful just 6 months after making. It's not just my opinion, but all my experienced wine friends. And yes a lot of commercial wine today is thin junk.

Thanks for the information Lodi ranch cab will be my next red. I have to agree with you that a lot of the commercial wine you find today is rather thin and lacking character. To tell you the truth I find that much of the 5 ltr Box Wine's are just as pleasing as many of the under $10 bottles. Perhaps that is the reasons that we tend to think our Kit wines are pretty good.

 

[CB750]

Was the Lodi Ranch a limited edition?

The Lodi Ranch Cab with grape skins is now part of what WE calls its Eclipse series of regular wines found in the ultra premium. I saw it at my retailer the other day and it comes a black box.

 

[Geronimo]

The Lodi Ranch Cab with grape skins is now part of what WE calls its Eclipse series of regular wines found in the ultra premium. I saw it at my retailer the other day and it comes a black box.

Since they jumped about 10% in price, I'm holding off until a few reasonable reviews come back in a year or so. I'm sitting on several cases of the old Lodi Ranch 11 Cab and the Stag's Leap Merlot hoping that the 2-3 year wait is worth it.

In the meantime we're enjoying lots of CC Showcase and RJS Winery series kits in the 6-18 month old range... absolutely excellent! Not a "sour grape" in the bunch so far!