Mosti Mondiale George's "Drink One, Age One" Special -any takers?

Bartman · May 13, 2009

Has anyone else taken advantage of George's current special on the two MM products? In order to more precisely compare the qualities of the Alljuice (slower to be ready-to-drink) and Vinifera Noble products ("ready" sooner), I got one Sangiovese kit of each. The Alljuice Sangiovese is already in the carboy for second. fermentation, and the Vinifera Noble is in the primary now. Based on what I have heard reported from Winestock, I don't plan on bulk aging them for long - maybe 3 months each - so I plan on bottling both around September-October, and hopefully make the first taste comparisons by Christmas.

Along the same lines, has anyone else tried a side-by-side kit comparison like this - same varietal, different brand/series? I'm sure I'm not the first to think of this, especially with the increasingly crowded marketplace of wine kits - George currently has 22 cabernet sauvignon kits listed. Any conclusions regarding high/low price, 100% juice vs. concentrate, one brand vs. another?

Bart Reeder
Dallas, TX

Jack on Rainy · May 13, 2009

Bart,
We have made over two dozenAll Juice, ME,and Megliolis over the last two years and can tell you that 3 months aging doesn't give any of them, either red or white,a chance to show what they will be.They need more time and at 3 months you will be wasting them.

As to brand comparisons, We have made a WE 16 liter Amarone and a Meglioli. TheWE is now over two years old and the Meg is 9 months. The WE is better now but we believe the Meg will be better than the WE with time. Similar results with WE cab and Meg Cab del Vento.A comparison betweenWEFr Chard and AJ Chard was not "apples to apples" but we liked the AJ better and still thought the WE very drinkable.

My thoughts on cost: I think the cost of the premium kits is the same. I am making wines that cost less than 6$ per bottle.If you make a kit a month and mix them up(as to cost), it averages out to less than$6so try them all. The amount of work is the same from kit to kit, all you need is space to age the higher end kits.

Our experiment started inlate winter of 2007 has lead us to these conclusions:
1. We have purchased a second kit of AJ Chianti, AJ Chardonnay, MM cab this time Meg Cab del Vento, and will purchase second kits ofAJ Castel del Papa, Rojo Encantando,AJ Trebbiano, AJ Cab d Avola, all for sure as space permits.
2. We will occasionally purchase premium WE and CC kits of limited release but most of our purchases will be Mosti although the WE merlot has turned out very well after two years.
3.The ones we've tried which will not be repeated will be Amarone and Port, the Amarone because it was not dry enough on the palate and the port because it did not remind us of port at all.

Hope this helps and I look forward to reading other's thoughts on this subject.

Darryl · May 13, 2009

Hi Bart,
Yes... I went crazy with the special!!!
VN Bourg Royal White=All juice Sangiovese
VN Chard/Semillon=All juice Amarone
VN Carmenere=Meglioli Amarone
also received
Renaissance Barolo
Renaissance Chilean Malbec
Waiting for(Backorder)
Meglioli Barolo

So I have alot of work ahead... But look at the wine I get to drink!!!!!!
Darryl

Bartman · May 13, 2009

Jack on Rainy,

Thanks for sharing your experience. I have made about 15 kits so far (these Sangiovese will be 16th and 17th), and agree that they all do better with age of at least six months to a year or more. I have only made two varietals twice (one of which was port, and as an interesting contrast to your experience, everyone who has tasted it has compared it positively to other ports).

In trying to be somewhat systematic about it, though, I intend to taste them together periodically to see how they compare longitudinally (as the demographers might say), starting after only three months (when the VN is supposed to start being "ready") and progressing over 3-6 month intervals, until the Alljuice is expected to peak a year or so later.

I'm not sure I agree about the points you made on prices though - I figured with the current special, these two Sangiovese kits total about $170 for what should be 60 bottles of wine (give or take 1 or 2 bottles), or less than $3/bottle. The least expensive kits George sells could yield a price of about $2/bottle ($60 kit - 30 bottles of Cab. Sauv.) while the most expensive kits work out to about $8/bottle ($240 Meg - 30 bottles). That seems like a big enough price difference that there should be some consensus, at a minimum, whether the highest-end wines are worth the extra cost, and some level agreement about the respective values of those priced in between. The AJ Sangiovese is about 60% more expensive than the VN Sangiovese - I hope to reach a conclusion of whether the AJ is ~60% better than the VN, if that's possible.

Bart Reeder
Dallas, TX

vcasey · May 13, 2009

Bart if you plan on tasting your wines often during the aging process you may want to consider bottling some of the wine in smaller bottles, just to stretch it out a bit.
VPC