WineXpert First of the Limited Edition

[wines just fine]

I got a call today to say that the first of the LE kits had arrived at my local dealer's. I ordered the South African Shiraz.

 

[Runningwolf]

I also got an email my limited Edition California Lake County Trio Bianca is in!!

 

[Greenman]

I passed on the first couple but have the;

Australian Petit Verdot
Pacific Quartet &
Italian Brunello

all on order.

 

[NSwiner]

We didn't get the Pacific Quartet but now that I realize your so close Greenman I could just sample yours for you . Course I would let you sample our California Trio in return . We are in Truro .Ours is on now and bubbling away nicely .

 

[Dugger]

Nice to hear from fellow Bluenosers - I also passed on the Trio Blanca & SA Shiraz since they didn't excite me the first time around. I am getting the Pacific Quartet ( very nice 1st time) and the Verdot & Brunello - haven't tried these two but looking forward to them
.. Doug

 

[smurfe]

I am not much of a white wine drinker but I have to say, the Trio Banco, at least if it is as good as the 2006 vintage is the best white wine I ever drank. Besides making a Pinot Grigio for the wife, that is one white wine I would make for myself.

 

[wines just fine]

Nice to hear from fellow Bluenosers - I also passed on the Trio Blanca & SA Shiraz since they didn't excite me the first time around. I am getting the Pacific Quartet ( very nice 1st time) and the Verdot & Brunello - haven't tried these two but looking forward to them
.. Doug

Are you saying you did the Shiraz the first time around and weren't impressed?

 

[mmadmikes1]

I see some bluenoser joke in the future, I may have to convert some of my Newfie jokes.

 

[NSwiner]

I see some bluenoser joke in the future, I may have to convert some of my Newfie jokes.

That's alright .
I hope the Trio is good as the samples they did up for us before we ordered .

 

[Dugger]

Are you saying you did the Shiraz the first time around and weren't impressed?

Yes, I made the Shiraz before and unfortunately didn't degass it well and it has been disappointing - I still have a couple of bottles. I believe I was at fault, not the wine. At the LE tasting last fall the commercial equivalent for this one was outstanding and I was tempted, but I can only afford so much and I'm getting 3 LE's and 3 RQ's so that will do me for the year.
I also made the Trio Blanca first time around and it was also disappointing and again I may have been at fault - the wine did start to taste good at about 2.5 years and I still have a few bottles but they are going downhill.
Anyway, I believe that all of the limited kits that come out will be great wine, if you can find the ones that suit your tastes.
.. Doug

 

[wines just fine]

If you ordered 3 of the LE's did you receive a Vinturi wine aerator?

I got mine when I picked up the first of the three LE kits that I ordered. The local retailer said it was Winexpert that was giving them away not just the local shop.

 

[Dugger]

If you ordered 3 of the LE's did you receive a Vinturi wine aerator?

I got mine when I picked up the first of the three LE kits that I ordered. The local retailer said it was Winexpert that was giving them away not just the local shop.

No, this is the first I've heard of that - I'll have to check into it. The first LE I'm getting is the Petit Verdot, the Feb kit.

 

[wines just fine]

I tried mine out tonight. It works!

It instantly decants the wine. I googled them and found them advertised for $39.99. Make sure you get yours.

 

[NSwiner]

I think it's only with the reds and because it's the one for reds and you have to buy so many of them to get one free . I bought mine about amonth ago for whites it works well even on store bought wine .

 

[Dugger]

I contacted WineExpert about the aerator and they informed me that this would be a retailer incentive and not through WineExpert directly. I asked my retailer but have yet to get a response. They make a separate one for reds and whites?
.. Doug

 

[wines just fine]

I contacted WineExpert about the aerator and they informed me that this would be a retailer incentive and not through WineExpert directly. I asked my retailer but have yet to get a response. They make a separate one for reds and whites?
.. Doug

Thats strange because I specifically asked my retailer if it was theirs or Winexpert's incentive and they told me it was Winexpert's not theirs.

 

[NSwiner]

That's what I heard lady at our store tell another customer that they came from WE . Maybe they plan on selling them instead of giving them away like they are suppose to .

 

[rawlus]

could be a distributor promo maybe? maybe some LHBS get their WE orders via LD Carlson?

 

[rawlus]

from Tim's blog

One of the things that I've been putting into the talk is a plug for the Vinturi wine aerator. Some of Winexpert's authorised retail partners are offering it as a bonus item for people who order five kits. That might seem like a lot of wine kits even for a lovely wine gift like that, but they're a special case. Not only are they handsome and well-made, unlike a lot of gadgets I've seen as giftware over the years, they actually fulfil a useful purpose.

The biggest issue wine made from our juice and concentrate kits have has nothing to do with the raw materials, our winemaker or the practices of the folks who make them, either in on-premise operations or on their own at home. It has to do with age. Almost all commercial wines have a full year of age when you see them on the wine shop shelf. There are some exceptions, like Beaujolais Nouveau, but they pump that stuff so full of chemical stabilisers and gum Arabic and sugar that it's not really wine, more of a 'wine-like beverage'. Blech!

Very few consumer winemakers age all of their wines for a full year before tasting them. Not that I can argue that as a purveyor of products: steady turnover is what keeps me in cheese sandwiches and coach-class airline tickets. Wine is a living beverage, even after bottling it continues to go through biochemical processes that profoundly change its flavour, aroma and appearance, sometimes so much so that it seems to completely transform the wine from a pleasant but thin and light beverage into a lush, rolling blockbuster of flavour and richness. I swear, I hear about it every single day, when folks find a two year-old bottle they've forgotten and try it.

Now, there's one thing that can help a very young wine out if you are having a wine-related emergency and need to crack that month-old Shiraz (these things happen), and that is aeration. By getting some air into the wine it can drive off some reductive compounds (essentially sulphur-based compounds in the wine) and let the wine 'open up' to express more character and aroma. Traditionally the way to aerate wine is to decant it into a glass or crystal decanter with a wide base, to expose the maximum surface area of wine to oxygen exchange.

 

[Dugger]

Sounds like a lot of mixed messages out there regarding this - here is the response from WineExpert:

"Hello Doug,
Thank you for choosing our products. Your retailer is the one to contact regarding the Vinturi aerator. They may be offering it as a promotion with their Limited Edition Program.
We wholesale the Aerator to the retailers.
Cheers,
Linda Kazakoff

Customer Service
1622 Kebet Way
Port Coquitlam, B.C.
V3C 5W9
604-941-5588
1-888-424-4888, Ext. 241"