WineXpert World Vineyard wine kits

[Rocky]

Has anyone tried any of these kits? My first wine from a kit that I made in January was a World Vineyard Sangiovese. Any similarity to Sangiovese's living or dead is purely coincedental!I would not say this is enough to gag a maggot, but it is close. The wine is very light in flavor withno body whatsoever. What a disappointment. I don't even think it would make a good vinegar.

If anyone wants my opinion of these kits, here it is:

But, we live and learn. I learned that I will never make a red wine without grapes or grape skins. I will never buy a kit that requires a greater volume of water than is present in juice. I believe these are one of "Wine Expert's" product lines, probably meant only for sale on April 1.

 

[Rocky]

Sorry for the rant, People. I think I should have listed this under Wine Expert. Maybe one of the Administrators will move it to its proper place.


I went to Wine Expert's website and I see that I bought one of their "value" kits (valuebeing a popular marketing euphemism for "cheap"), so it was my mistake. To coin a phrase, "you get what you pay for."

 

[Wade E]

I moved it and its one reason I don make W.E. although I do think almost all the cheaper kits turn out like this and why I dont recommend going the cheap route even for the first time as it doesnt pay off in any way.

 

[Rocky]

Thanks for moving this post, Wade. I may be exaggerating how bad it is. My wife says it is thin, but it tastes fine with food. It does not have any off tastes, just really no mouth. Will this maybe improve with age?


I normally don't buy cheap stuff but I got this kit in a local wine store and all their kits were about the same price, give or take $10. I like Sangiovese wine, so I chose this one. I promise, I will never do this again! I will not even go back to that wine store except maybe for a "drive by."

 

[ibglowin]

Yep, you definitely get what you pay for in wine kits! Stick with the high end kits from CC RJS or MM and you should always be happy!

 

[Rocky]

I totally agree, Mike. This was my first go around with a kit and it supported all my misgivings of the commodity grade kits. This wine store did not even offer any of the high end kits, but I did not really know about them at the time. I chose the Sangiovese because I like the wine. The other choices were wines (mostly whites and blushes) in which I had no interest. They probably had a total of maybe 40 kits of all kinds in the store. Not a major operation, but I only stopped in there to buy some supplies to make the Cherry winefor which I had juice. But, as I believe, "In every challenge there is a gift" and my gift from this was my introduction into this hobby.


I look forward to re-making Sangiovese from one of the companies you have listed above. Any recommendations on a Sangiovese?

 

[ibglowin]

I made the Mosti All Juice Sangiovese as my 3rd kit. Its almost 2 years old now and I have to admit it is not all that good. Had very high hopes as you might expect. I think it was better at bottling than it is now. I will not be making again. I would go with any of the Super Tuscans from Cellar Craft or the RJS Winery Series over this one. I have about 15 bottles left of the Sangiovese in the cellar.

 

[v1rotate]

I made the Mosti All Juice Sangiovese as my 3rd kit. Its almost 2 years old now and I have to admit it is not all that good. Had very high hopes as you might expect. I think it was better at bottling than it is now. I will not be making again. I would go with any of the Super Tuscans from Cellar Craft or the RJS Winery Series over this one. I have about 15 bottles left of the Sangiovese in the cellar.

There isn't any point in drinking a disappointing wine, considering the size of your wine cellar, Mike. I hope you will put the last 15 bottles away for another year and report back. As you know, these MMAJ kits have the reputation of needing 2 years to come around and yours isn't quite that old yet. Maybe 3 years of aging will result in a pleasing Sangiovese.

 

[v1rotate]

Has anyone tried any of these kits? My first wine from a kit that I made in January was a World Vineyard Sangiovese.

You aren't talking about January of 2011 are you, Rocky? If so, that is awfully young to be judging the kit so harshly. If you made it in 2010, then that would be a different story.

I have only made 2 kits in the WV lineup. Both times I made the Trinity Red and was very pleased, even drinking at the 6 month point. The few bottles that made it to 1 year were even better, losing some of the bright fruit forward nature and gaining a bit of spice, which I really like.

As I mentioned to Mike, if you don't like the wine right now, put it away until next January to see if it doesn't improve. If it still tastes thin with no character, wait another 6 to 12 months.

I recently made double batches of the 10L WE VR Mezza Luna Red and the 15L Luna Rossa as an experiment. Each double batch got some time in a barrel. We tried a bottle of the MLR last week at 6 months and it was tasty, although VERY fruit forward. Still it was drinkable. The LR at 6 months had a lot more mouth feel, but it had an excess of the tartness I associate with most high end kits when they are young.

My point is that the 10L red kits can be quite decent, but still need a year or so to mature. The 15L to 18L red kits frequently need 18 to 24 months to drink well.

 

[Rocky]

Mike, I have a Super Tuscan on right now and I ordered another just before the Anniversary Sale ended. I also ordered the CC Winery Series Amarone. I have not made near the number of kits that you all have, but the CC Winery Series is my favorite so far.

 

[Rocky]

Jim,


I really appreciate your input. I guess my main complaint with the World Vineyard Sangiovese is that it is thin with little to no mouth. Will that improve with age? The taste is fine and if that improves with age, all the better. I still have 23 bottles and I am not going to dump it or anything, just was not what I expected. I did experiment with a little bit of Glycerin and that seemed to give it some mouth feel.

 

[v1rotate]

Surprisingly, the mouth feel does improve with age for these 10L kits. It still isn't great, but probably better than it is today. It seems to me that the thin aspect of the wine improved slightly also, but I only had a couple of bottles make it to the 1 year anniversary and that was a couple of years ago.

If you want a wine that will taste pretty good at 6 months and are willing to try another 10L kit, I recommend the World Vineyard Trinity Red. Add a package of Zante Currants to the primary to help the MF a bit. I have found the Zante's at grocery stores in both Austin, TX and here in Nevada. They are normally located next to the raisins.

Oh, don't top up with water, either. I added the currants and topped with red wine to achieve good results with the Trinity Red. Thorough degassing is important too, as the 10L kits seem to develop more gas than the bigger kits.

 

[vcasey]

I think all the 10 liter reds taste the same and smell the same. Thin and light and it does improve a little with age but not much. I think about at the 1 year mark is as good as its going to get.
Winexpert really does make a good product but you need to get the bigger kits and be patient because they need to be degassed very well and allowed to age so the "kit taste" goes away.

 

[Rocky]

Thanks for the input, Vcasey. I will try one of the 15 or 16 litre kits in the future. Like I have said, the taste is not that bad, it is really the "thinness" that bothers me. It does not taste too bad with food, like cheese, salami and olives.

 

[vcasey]

Rocky the best thing you could do is to try and get your hands on any of the kit makers limited release wines. You really can't go wrong with any of them as they are the very best for each manufacturer.

Also using raisins is a pretty popular thing and seems to be pretty successful. A suggestion for anyone looking to "beef up" their kits is to add the raisins, add the grape packs George sells or find someone selling grapes when they come into season. Pick up a box of merlot, clean, destem and put them in zip lock bags and freeze them. Add them to your kit wines at a pound per gallon.

 

[Wade E]

I must say of qall the WV kits the onkly good thing Ive heard of them was from that Trinity Red, all others have always had bad reviews and Im am very active on a few forums.

 

[Rocky]

I have also heard good things about Trinity Red on this site. Here is a blurb from the Wine Expert site:


"An ideal blending of three of California 's most popular grape varieties - Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot, com ing together to make a perfectly balanced, well- structured dry red wine. Notes of black cherry and coffee complement the smokey, herbal flavours, and hints of vanilla that round out this medium bodied wine , making it highly enjoyable for any occasion. Serve with a roast dinner or barbecued steak."



Sounds like it would be a lot like a Cabernet Sauvignon. Again, it is from their "World Vineyard" collection, but people seem to like it.

 

[QuiQuog]

Hey Rocky,
I know this is a very old thread, but you never gave an update on this wine. I'm looking for a kit to start this weekend and my LHBS carries WE kits almost exclusively. The World Vineyard series appealed to me as a 12-18 month aging kit at a good price. Did you ever let it age another year?

They guy at my shop tapes his alternate instructions to all the low end WE kits. He says that the WE instructions make a thin wine, but the way he instructs gives it more body. I'd have to look at them again, but he says to use less water and I think he alters some other things.