The Pacific Quartet is very nice for day of bottling. 10.3% final alcohol, no oak, but did have a “susse-reserve” pack added after secondary fermentation. Did not filter, but wine is still very clear and very light greenish-golden in color. A lot of acidic notes in the nose, with citrus and apple. Zingy flavors of […]
Tag archive: winexpert
This kit came with 60 grams French oak AND 60 grams toasted oak. I “let” this one bulk age for an extra month (i.e., really didn’t have time to deal with it). 14.5% final alcohol. Got 30 full bottles + 2 full glasses! Not filtered. A little soapiness on the nose. Very dark garnet in […]
It looks pretty, but way too young to even attempt a rating. Very dark inky purple. Light fruity nose with that funny soapy/basic smell and taste that the Cab/merlot had when young. Heavy tannins, very rich flavors of dark fruit and hints of spice and leather lurking in the background. Definitely tastes young, and this […]
The Montagnac vieux Chateau d’Oc kit came with a funky little attachment to go over the end of the racking cane, apparently to keep the raisins from clogging it when racking. It says: “To successfully rack the kit and leave the sediment and grape skins behind, you will need to remove the cap off of […]
After learning more about the different levels of kits and being so impressed with the pinot gris kit so far, I plunged and got one of the super-premium kits with grape skins. I got Winexpert’s Montagnac Vieux Chateau d’Oc, which is a big, confusing code name for a Mourvedre-based rhone blend. It is described as […]
The chardonnay is clearing nicely. This kit gets racked once before bottling time, to give it an extra polish. I hope it settles out as well as the Pinot Gris did.
In making this wine, I became obsessed with keeping oxygen out of the wine. Watching my hubby make beer, he would often purge the carboys with CO2 or nitrogen gas before racking into them to reduce oxygen exposure; I rationalized that this should also be good practice for winemaking. However, after I started incorporating this […]
Chardonnay is at SG 1.00, time to rack! Smells yummy! You can see the bits of the oak chips that were added in the primary. Some did make it through the racking cane into the secondary, but it should be OK — they’ll fall out over time (I assume).
I have discovered that the wine kit companies make special limited edition wines every year that are supposed to be “exceptional quality.” I’ve been pretty impressed with the quality so far, so these should be really exciting! Here’s what I got: Pacific Quartet: A blend of very cool whites from the Pacific, including Vidal from […]
Looking over the inventory and considering the wines we often drink, I invested in an Australian Chardonnay kit. This one has oak – 120 g toasted French oak total — so should be interesting. They recommend aging 1 – 3 months, peak aging 1 – 2 years.