The rewards and frustrations of home winemaking

Tag archive: limited release

2011 San Diego County Fair Homemade Wine Competition Awards

The awards ceremony for the San Diego County Fair Homemade Wine Competition was yesterday.  I couldn’t make it because I had to run the shop, but my hubby went to enjoy the fun and bring home my awards. I submitted 3 wines, and they all won medals: the 2010 Winexpert limited edition Pacifica White won […]

“Hotel Del Coronado” Winexpert 2008 Limited Edition Brunello Tasting Note

My “Hotel Del Coronado” Winexpert 2008 limited release Brunello is coming up on 3 years post bottling now. My first reaction to drinking this wine was, WOW! It is definitely at its peak, and is exceptional. Big, bold aromas of blackberry, sage, and light spice. Perfectly integrated flavors of currant, blackberry, and raisins with cedar […]

More Limited Edition Wine Kits in Progress

A few more Limited Edition wine kits have come in.  I posted previously about starting the Cellar Craft Chateau du Pays; I’m going to bulk age this wine for while, but I did do an extra racking about a month after stabilizing and clearing to take out the second addition of Hungarian oak cubes, so […]

Pacifica White Post-Bottling Tasting Note

I just bottled the Winexpert 2010 Limited Edition “Pacifica White” blend this past Thursday. As usual, there was one partial bottle left, but I’m just now getting around to tasting it. This wine has amazing, mouthwatering aromas of peaches, apricots, and honeysuckle. The wine is clear, very pale yellow in color; huge, ripe, juicy flavors […]

Wines in Progress

I have several wines in progress currently, besides the petite sirah and merlot that is waiting to be bottled.  I started a very cool Super Tuscan red blend wine kit from Cellar Craft, “Rosso Fortissimo”, which is almost ready to be bottled. This wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sangiovese and comes with […]

Chilean Carmenere Not-Quite-2-Year Tasting

I’ve been looking for an excuse to open my 2008 Winexpert Limited edition Chilean carmenere, and Moroccan Braised Beef (recipe courtesy of Chef Jenn Felmley!) sounded like just the ticket. Today is  just short of 2 years in the bottle. I decanted about an hour.  There is  some foam, but not too bad.  Slight soapiness on the […]

Yakima Synergy 3 Month Tasting

Nose of crisp apples with hint of vanilla. Very clear, pale yellow-green in color. Crisp flavors of green apple and peach with hint of bell pepper and vanilla. Wow, really came together VERY nicely, and sooner than I expected!

Racing Cab Sauv Kit and Starting Riesling Reserve Kit

It was time to rack off the cabernet sauvignon kit into a carboy.  I noticed a distinct aroma of bananas, just like we smelled when the cabernet sauvignon grapes were fermenting.  The color is great, this is going to be a pretty decent wine for the money. Next I set up to start the Alsatian […]

First Racking of Yakima Synergy and Starting Year-Old Kit

The SG on the Yakima Synergy is at 0.994, although it’s still bubbling away in there.  After racking, it’s not very pretty!  But, it’s early in the game, there’s still plenty of stirring ahead before it’s expected to clear. In the meantime, Dave bought a cabernet sauvignon kit last year, at the same time that […]

Starting Yakima Synergy Cellar Craft Reserve

This is my first Cellar Craft kit.  I’m looking forward to this one for several reasons.  I’ve read a lot of good things about Cellar Craft on winepress.us.  Also, the description of this white blend sounds beyond yummy;  it’s a blend of Marsanne and Roussanne from Yakima valley in Washington state, two lovely rhone whites.  […]