Other peoples wines

[eblasmn9]

I received 3 bottles of wine from Tonyt from Texas last week. I've read many reviews of Tonyt's wines and really looked forward to trying them.
Rubio is Tony's blend of Rosso Fortissimo and RJ Spagnols Valpolicella Repasso. I took one taste and knew this was a wine to be enjoyed on the patio with the wife watching the sun set. The first thing you notice is this wine has really nice dark fruit. Then Tony's self professed oak monster comes out to play. I really like oak, and this wine is oaked perfectly. It is back sweetened just enough to smooth out the oak for a long long finish. The only problem with Rubio is it didn't last very long. Well done Tony.
I also received a barrel fermented Chardonnay and a split of MMR Roso D'Avola. I will drink these when they are ready. Thanks again Tony.

 

[tonyt]

Thanks for the review and kind words. I hope you enjoy the splits also. Holding yours for a quite weekend on my back porch. That will not fe for another couple of weeks.

 

[Boatboy24]

I broke into JSWordy's blueberry muscadine (Blues Brothers) tonight. Very nice wine. It is 18%ABV and packs a bit of a punch. But the blueberry and sweetness really mellow out the alcohol and give a nice balance. This is good for dessert, or sipping on a hot summer day. The muscadine brings a nice layer to it as well. I'm going to try some more muscadine wines now. Thanks Jim! Well done.

Jim

 

[Runningwolf]

Dang Boatboy you beat me to it.I also tried a bottle of of Jim's Blueberry muscadine. I thought the aroma was very nice. It is definitely a very sweet, high alcohol wine. Although this type of wine is not one I would buy, Jim did an excellent job making it. Both the Blueberry and musadine came through very nice.

I also tried Jim's Muscadine and again it was very sweet, nice aroma and lasting taste. Jim won a place for this wine at a local competition.

Jim if this is the way you like them then continue to do so. For competitions, I think I would tone down the sugar a bit.

All in all very nice wines.

 

[Boatboy24]

Both the Blueberry and musadine came through very nice.

That was one of the things I liked about it. The presence of both was obvious, but neither dominated and they play well together.

 

[jswordy]

Dang Boatboy you beat me to it.I also tried a bottle of of Jim's Blueberry muscadine. I thought the aroma was very nice. It is definitely a very sweet, high alcohol wine. Although this type of wine is not one I would buy, Jim did an excellent job making it. Both the Blueberry and musadine came through very nice.

I also tried Jim's Muscadine and again it was very sweet, nice aroma and lasting taste. Jim won a place for this wine at a local competition.

Jim if this is the way you like them then continue to do so. For competitions, I think I would tone down the sugar a bit.

All in all very nice wines.

Those are the sweetest wines I've ever made, Dan.

 

[Arne]

I broke into JSWordy's blueberry muscadine (Blues Brothers) tonight. Very nice wine. It is 18%ABV and packs a bit of a punch. But the blueberry and sweetness really mellow out the alcohol and give a nice balance. This is good for dessert, or sipping on a hot summer day. The muscadine brings a nice layer to it as well. I'm going to try some more muscadine wines now. Thanks Jim! Well done.

Jim

I recieved a bottle of this the other day. Boatboy describes it probably better than I can. What really amazed me about it was I almost wanted to start chewing the fruit, the flavor was so intense. Great job, Jim. Hope you made a lot of this stuff, you have given enough away you mite not have any left for you to sample. BTW, set a bottle of this away for a couple of years and let us know how it is. Arne.

 

[tonyt]

Eblasmn9

Eblasmn9 aka Earl sent me two bottles recently. One a WE small lot Meritage. This is two or so years old. This one is deep and dark and nicely clear. Good Job Earl. Decanted and found considerable diamonds indicating high quality juice and nice aging. Note to self to cold stabilize high end WE kits. Aroma is nice and becomes more noticeable with a few minutes in the glass. Taste is very good, nice tannins and opens up as it warms in the glass. We are having this with pizza on the back porch after evening church tonight.

Even though the WE Cabernet is young I opened it for a taste (you told me to wair several months or a year). Still young and as Earl warned a bit tart. I thought the tartness might be coming from gas so I hit it with vacuum a bit and that did the trick. The color is lighter than the small lots Meritige but crystal clear. Still has that young WE taste but that will go away in time. There is obvious fruit still to appear and very nice tannins. I topped it back up and re-corked till next year. This Cab is quite good early and going to be excellent soon.

Great job Earl, I really hope WE does the Meritage again soon, hopefully next year.

 

[eblasmn9]

Thanks for the nice review, Tony. I am glad we did the trade. I learned a few things that I can use which is always good.
Rubio confirmed what I already knew, I am an oak monster. There, I feel better. I am finally getting my oaking down. I open many of my early wines and say to myself, what a nice kit but it needs more oak. I am sure you thought that as you opened the small lots meritage. It is a very good wine but could take a lot more oak. Rubio taught me what a nice combination heavy oak and a bit of back sweetening is.
I also think I need to look into cold stabilization equipment.

Thanks for the tip on the c02 on the Cabernet. I have found many of my early wines have the same problem despite drill degassing at 75 degrees in several 10 to 15 minute intervals. I will vacuum vin the bottles as I drink them.
Since I bought the all-in-one vacuum pump and wine barrels last year, c02 is no longer a problem.
Cheers, Tony.

 

[joeswine]

I wanted to put a quick post up to let you guys know that I just had the pleasure of trying LonestarLori's Mezza Luna White wine tonight. It had medium body, nice mouth feel, and was fresh,crisp, clean, and refreshing. It's a nice white dinner wine for those of you who like fruit-forward wine styles. Nice job, Lori!

 

[LoneStarLori]

I wanted to put a quick post up to let you guys know that I just had the pleasure of trying LonestarLori's Mezza Luna White wine tonight. It had medium body, nice mouth feel, and was fresh,crisp, clean, and refreshing. It's a nice white dinner wine for those of you who like fruit-forward wine styles. Nice job, Lori!

Thank you very much Joe. As you know, it was my first kit and I used your raisin tweak. Since then I have used it on 3 more kits and I am sold. I think the raisin tweak did even better on the Sangiovese. (Coming your way).

I also had the pleasure of trying Joeswine, Almond desert wine. Boy was that a surprise! The Almond aroma and flavor is very prominent up front, but is not overpowering at all. Thinking of a desert wine, I expected it to be heavy and was surprised by the med-light body with jut enough sweetness and a nice citrus finish.
It's a keeper Joe. I hope you took good notes.

 

[tonyt]

Had Earl eblasnm9's CC Showcase Red Mt. Cabernet tonight. Man this is great. Dark and thick as ink. Layers of fruit and tons of tannin. Earl did a great job with an excellent wine.

 

[shoebiedoo]

I got the pleasure of consuming Rocky's Rosso Magnifico! I don't know how you do it Rocky but this one of many EXCELLENT blends you come up with. Thank you for sharrinf

 

[eblasmn9]

Had the pleasure of drinking Tony's (tonyt) Mosti's Nero D'avola he named Vino Siciliano. Having tried one other wine Tony made, I know the oaking on the wine would be perfect and this one did not disappoint. I am not the best at picking out specific fruit but it did have plenty of fruit. All in all it was a very pleasant experience.

Also tried Joe's (Joeswine) Almond wine, and as Lori said it had a really fantastic almond flavor and was a great sipping wine. It would work as a good desert wine too but I used it as a sipper.

Good job Tony and Joe!

 

[Pumpkinman]

I've just had the pleasure of sampling Steve's (All In One Wine Pump) Fontanac port, WOW, I've never had a port and I have to admit that I was cautiously optimistic, but damn is this good!
I have to make a port, this is amazing!
Tom

 

[jswordy]

Tonight's wine is wineforfun's Grape Explosion, a Welch's Concord based wine. A little birdie told me he followed a super-sugar recipe to make this.

Scale of 1-10 with judge's comments:

Clarity: 10
Perfect, no crap floating in this wine. It is beautiful to look at.

Grapiness: 9
This is essential to a Welch's and it is HATED by every wine snob. You hit this feature very nearly spot-on. Maybe some concentrate as a back flavoring to pop it just a tad more. Not too much! It is real good as-is.

Drinkablity: 10
Why the hell did you send only one bottle?

Buzz: 9
This delivers a nice mild head rush buzz after the first two sips. Draining the glass in a gulp simply increases the head rush, with no apparent body buzz. I'll have to see what draining the BOTTLE does!

Drinkability: 10
Oh hell yes, you can guzzle this stuff real good! Wait, did I already cover drinkability? Oh, my bad!

Balance: 10
Perfect balance. Not too acid, as Welch's can often be. It does have tartness but that doesn't linger overly long on the tongue. At the same time, sweet but not overly so. Did I ask why the hell you sent just one bottle of this, wineforfun, you cheapskate???

Nose: 9
Characteristic thin nose smelling of concord. No overriding alcohol smell, so you never suspect what you are in for after a few gulps - er, sips.

Bouquet: No score, cuz I'm a man so I don't do bouquets. That's for the ladies to catch at the wedding. Oh, my wife just said that is a sexist remark. I said yes, I am a sexist, and speaking of *** ... but back on the subject ...

Finish: 10
Lingering tart grape finish but not overwhelming. This is done really well. You nailed it perfectly.

Overall: 9.5
This is a very very good Welch's wine, representative of the best and characteristic of the genre, and I would write more about it but my fingertips are going numb. I do believe you have captured it, for sure. I see there is just one bottle. Wassup with that???

JohnT heart-attack factor: 9.5

Have I asked you why you sent JUST ONE BOTTLE OF THIS???

 

[dralarms]

Jim,

That's a great review.

 

[jswordy]

This afternoon's wine is Joe's Coffee Port, which has been reclining in my Vinotemp for a couple of months. I should probably say I am not generally a port drinker, but I think Joe may be changing my mind here. My wife's first response after tasting was, "Can you start making ports?"

The nose is forward and bold, and evocative of being in a coffeehouse while coffee is being roasted. It intrigues and invites.

The first sip, dark and pungent, explodes on the senses, with chocolate and coffee predominant and even a hint of cream. Strong coffee sometimes is expected to be bitter, but Joe's port rounds off the rush of coffee flavors on the palate and finishes sweet. The bittersweet flavor lingers, probably because Joe has targeted here the perfect balance for the taste buds. There is no hint of alcohol in the taste, but you feel it in the flush you get after a sip or two.

And this is definitely a sipping wine, intense and robust. The nose does not diminish as the wine rests in the glass, but reaches out to embrace at each subsequent encounter. A masterful and complex wine that perhaps would be perfectly suited to a small bowl of vanilla ice cream. Wonderful work, Joe. Thanks for sharing.

 

[jamesngalveston]

hey wordy, where you get that opener...

 

[Boatboy24]

hey wordy, where you get that opener...

Seriously. Cool looking corkscrew.