Anyone have experience with the W.E. Bergamais kit?

[Scott Harbison]

After getting a few comments on my last post regarding my choice of the W.E. Lodi Ranch 11 Cabernet as my first ever kit to try, I'm wondering if I should switch gears and try a red that will be ready to drink much sooner than the Cab. That would also allow me to gain experience without screwing up the Cab.

I see W.E. has a Vintners Reserve Bergamais kit that's fairly inexpensive. My understanding is the Bergamais is a Gamay and would be ready to drink relatively quickly. Have any of you used this kit? If so what did you think?

Thanks!

 

[Johnd]

After getting a few comments on my last post regarding my choice of the W.E. Lodi Ranch 11 Cabernet as my first ever kit to try, I'm wondering if I should switch gears and try a red that will be ready to drink much sooner than the Cab. That would also allow me to gain experience without screwing up the Cab.

I see W.E. has a Vintners Reserve Bergamais kit that's fairly inexpensive. My understanding is the Bergamais is a Gamay and would be ready to drink relatively quickly. Have any of you used this kit? If so what did you think?

Thanks!

I did one some time back, still have a few bottles left. It’s kinda meh tasting.

 

[robert81650]

I made it last year and turned out pretty good. I used most of it to make to make red sangria using lemon peel and orange peel. I aged it for about 2 months in cooler, shaking it once a week to stir up the lemon and orange peels. Turned out very good.

 

[Cornelia]

I made it last year and turned out pretty good. I used most of it to make to make red sangria using lemon peel and orange peel. I aged it for about 2 months in cooler, shaking it once a week to stir up the lemon and orange peels. Turned out very good.

Sounds wonderful! Can you please share your recipe or method for this?
Thanks

 

[mainshipfred]

My first batch was a Wine Expert Chilean Malbec. Turned out nice for a 10l kit. I have 4 bottles left that are about 18 months old. I might have to try one.

 

[pillswoj]

I have used the Vintners Reserve Merlot as a quick drinking wine while waiting on the big kits to age, it won't blow your socks off but it is fine as an everyday table wine.

 

[Trick]

Just knew Bergamais is gamay from this thread. thx for the info. As a fan of nouver wine, i went to store to grab a RJS bergamais grand cru yesterday and started it right away.
Different from the other reds i did, the one i will minimize the tweak. Only to swap yeast with 71b and may add half pound of red fruits half way thru the fermentatiom.. No oak or tannin to be added. Temperature will be maintained below 19C to keep fruitness. Typical strategy for white. and curious to see how it turns out.

 

[sour_grapes]

As a fan of nouver wine, i went to store to grab a RJS bergamais grand cru yesterday and started it right away.

I see what you did there!

 

[robert81650]

To answer your question about the Red Sangria, I put one teaspoon each of dried orange peel and Lemon peel per gallon jug and worked out great. Good as store bought sangria.

 

[Bts]

I did it as my first kit(mostly because it was cheap and would be ready quick) and I liked it quite a bit. It's light, lower tannin, higher acidity, with plenty of juicy red fruit flavors....pretty much what you'd expect from a kit that's attempting to clone a Beaujolais. Seemed pretty comparable to the $12 Beaujolais Villages I picked up from Trader Joe's a while ago. Disappeared rapidly to may compliments at family gatherings. I've done maybe half a dozen reds now and it's still my father's favorite(he's a fan of lighter reds, Beaujolais, Valpolicella and the like). I started drinking it about 4.5 weeks after it arrived in the mail and it was quite nice from day one....might have improved slightly over the first few months but not enough to bother waiting. If I was starting from scratch I'd do one of these and an Amarone(or your cab). Drink the Bergamais now and stick the Amarone in the closet and forget about it for a year. Repeat as needed to maintain a supply of young light gamay/valpolicella/etc, and old bold Amarone/Cab/Barolo/etc. It's nice to have both.

 

[Elizajean]

I did the WE Vintner Reserce Spanish Tempranillo as my first red and it was drinkable quickly, and excellent while still under a year, rave reviews from friends who love Tempranillo. Medium body, hint of tannin and nice oak. By contrast, the WE eclipse kits, made at the same time, almost a year later now are still too "new". Just got another Tempranillo to get into inventory. Need a balance of drinkers/agers, so we have the reward of enjoying our labor!

 

[Trick]

Mine (Rjs Bergermais) was bottled only 80 days after pitching yeast with minimum tweak, which broke my red wine making record. It came out pretty good. Very fruity with beautiful color. To utilize the beauty, I dumped a bottle into my Fontana Souv Blanc batch to produce a rose with salmon color.

 

[Syrah-volution!]

Hey Scott, did you end up making this? If so, how'd it go?

For anyone else that has made this kit, if I held off on the clarifiers and still bottled at the 30 day mark, what would be the result? Would it be cloudy yet still drinkable, or just a real bad idea? I like dirty cab francs and pinot noirs from Loire Valley, so I was wondering if this would kind of get me there.

 

[Syrah-volution!]

For anyone interested, I bottled the WE Bergamais last weekend. That would have been on Day 41. I followed the directions mostly to a T. The only changes I made were shorting the batch to about 5.5 gallons and skipping the sorbate.

Results
Yield = 28 bottles
ABV = 12.5%

Drank a bottle after bottling. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great. It was basically drinkable communion wine.

I'll let them sit for 30 days and then come back to it. If it doesn't mellow, I'll probably use half the batch to make sangria.

 

[ibglowin]

Well it is a basic low entry level kit with only 10L of concentrated juice. Good one to start the hobby on in case you make a mistake or two or three.

 

[Syrah-volution!]

Well it is a basic low entry level kit with only 10L of concentrated juice. Good one to start the hobby on in case you make a mistake or two or three.

Exactly.

Over the weekend I squeezed half a grapefruit into a chilled glass of it, ended up being delicious. Sangria will be the way to go