Other Different Kit Manufacturers and End Result

[RiderEh]

I thought I'd start up a discussion on the difference between kit manufacturers, ie which is thought of to be 'better'. I know where I'm from Winexpert is supposed to be the high end brand, and Celler Craft lower. Yet when you speak to the Celler Craft sellers they explain they are all made by Global Vintners anyways. RJ Spagnols is also supposed to be nice, though I have never made one of these. I realize Winexpert wins a lot of awards, but that could just be because more people make these kits. Feel free to voice your opinion! Notice I titled this 'end result' and not quality, as I believe quality control by the manufacturers are similar, but maybe a certain brand uses a lower end grape?

 

[cpfan]

As far as I'm concerned, Winexpert, Vineco (now includes Cellar Craft), and RJ Spagnols are more or less equal. Different lines and different varieties may be better than others. Winexpert and Vineco are part of Global Vintners but AFAIK continue to have separate production facilities. Wine Kitz (also part of Global Vintners and probably made in the Vineco facility), always seemed a bit of a lesser brand to me. I'm really not sure about Mosti Mondiale, again various lines available. Advintage and Paklab always seemed like lower brands to me. There are some others that I don't really know anything about.

RiderEh: Since you live in Calgary (although with the nickname RiderEh I wonder if you're from Sask) you should be able to access all of these brands to form your own opinion.

Steve

 

[Brian55]

Based on my limited (just under 4 years making kits) experience. I started off making nothing but WE kits (That's what the LHBS carried) The LHBS closed up a couple years ago, so I branched out. CC Showcase, as far as I can tell at this point, is what WE Eclipse is/was inspired by. Both are as good as I've experienced regarding kits, CC Showcase having the upper hand so far. I've recently branched out into RJ's Winery Series and En Primeur, and have been quite impressed with early results, but I don't have anything from them at the 12 month point, which is where I typically bottle. I've started one MM all juice kit, but heard from other WMT members to not get my hopes up too high with that particular line. The early mid grade WE kits we made were all mediocre at best, even with 12-24 months of aging. Like most things in life, you get what you pay for.

 

[Boatboy24]

I've done the top line kits from Spagnols, WineXpert, and Cellar Craft (Kenridge). With Spagnols, I consider both their winery series and en primeur lines the high end. All three brands produce excellent wine by about 18 months, with the En Primeur maybe needing a bit longer. The two EP kits I've done are about 21 months now, but they are still improving. Bottom line: my choosing one line over the other has more to do with the varietal I'm looking for or what is on sale than anything else. I don't think you can go wrong with any of them.