Wine Kit Sadness

[kuziwk]

Does anyone get a bit depressed when you are close or finished drinking a excellent wine that has been aging for a few years? Say a limited edition kit that you will never find again. I Mean sure...you can make more but it takes a long time to age and the limited edition kits you will never find again.

 

[sour_grapes]

Well, yes. OTOH, I have also been pleased to finish off the last of a poor batch!

 

[pillswoj]

Worse is a batch that was wonderful at 2 years so you put the last 6 aside and it loses something when you open one at 4 years

 

[Rocky]

Does anyone get a bit depressed when you are close or finished drinking a excellent wine that has been aging for a few years? Say a limited edition kit that you will never find again. I Mean sure...you can make more but it takes a long time to age and the limited edition kits you will never find again.

I know just what you mean. A few years back one of the kit producers (don't remember which one) featured a limited edition Nero D'Avola and I only bought one of them because I was unfamiliar with the wine. It was one of the best wines I ever made and it was a sad day when bottle No. 31 bit the dust.

 

[jsbeckton]

Does anyone get a bit depressed when you are close or finished drinking a excellent wine that has been aging for a few years? Say a limited edition kit that you will never find again. I Mean sure...you can make more but it takes a long time to age and the limited edition kits you will never find again.

I wish, but so far every kit I have made was at best only “pretty good” at the 3-4yr end. Basically most were forgettable and a few were decent enough to make again...but sadly...none were good enough to really make me think twice about the last bottle.

 

[ras2018]

To date my favorite kit I’ve made was the International w/ skins line Chilean Malbec/Shiraz. Discontinued right after I made it. It was mighty tasty.

 

[StreetGlide]

To date my favorite kit I’ve made was the International w/ skins line Chilean Malbec/Shiraz. Discontinued right after I made it. It was mighty tasty.

This kit was better then the larger grape skin kits?

 

[ras2018]

Yes. The international line was basically just like Eclipse. There was another one that stands out, the Red Mountain Cab. My only thinking is these kits were sourced from premium grapes.

 

[Rocky]

It would be interesting to me to learn what makes a wine a "limited edition" and why they come and go. Is it from demand? Or did they come upon a great buy in grapes?​

 

[StreetGlide]

Yes. The international line was basically just like Eclipse. There was another one that stands out, the Red Mountain Cab. My only thinking is these kits were sourced from premium grapes.

The Italian Primitivo was also very very good before discontinued.
Makes me believe the Italian Zin in the EP Series would be great.

 

[joeswine]

Here's how I see it, some reds age well 1,2 years, some reds are early drinking and some never make it off the ground no matter what the cost.
Kits as a rule are meant to age about a full years the to be consumed. But we're we all differe is each one of us have different taste buds so there for aging and taste are subjective.
That goes for whites and Rose, l do like my reds depending on the cost of the kits to have at least 2 year of growth, if your lucking enough to have room and the cash to build up a good stock pile of wine then aging isn't any concern or is it?

 

[sour_grapes]

It would be interesting to me to learn what makes a wine a "limited edition" and why they come and go. Is it from demand? Or did they come upon a great buy in grapes?​

I believe it is to CREATE demand. I.e., perceived scarcity increases the perceived value.

I say this as I am sipping from my final bottle of a WE 2014 LE Super Tuscan. It's okay... not much more.

 

[joeswine]

That's what ok was referring to, most kits are designed to be consumed early

 

[kuziwk]

Yes. The international line was basically just like Eclipse. There was another one that stands out, the Red Mountain Cab. My only thinking is these kits were sourced from premium grapes.

I've heard about those, sadly I've never tried them. "Premium" or "Better" is subjective though, lol.

 

[kuziwk]

It would be interesting to me to learn what makes a wine a "limited edition" and why they come and go. Is it from demand? Or did they come upon a great buy in grapes?​

I think it's just a sales pitch or incentive to keep consumers coming back every year and create a thriving community...something to keep us coming back every year. I do beleive the manufacturers go around the world and hand select grapes every year. It could be from growers that won't sign a contract but are willing to sell the grapes occasionally. I think the main objective is to keep us coming back though, create exclusivity to increase sales. It works on me haha.,

 

[kuziwk]

I wish, but so far every kit I have made was at best only “pretty good” at the 3-4yr end. Basically most were forgettable and a few were decent enough to make again...but sadly...none were good enough to really make me think twice about the last bottle.

Perhaps it a bit different elsewhere but in Canada wine and alcohol is heavily taxed. One would need to spend over $30-$40 a bottle to have better wine than I've made in a few of my kits. That's pretty good for something that cost me $6 a bottle to make. I also have never had a better Chilean carmenere than the Cellar Craft Showcase kits can make. Assuming the trump tax on imported wine has kicked in in the US, All you have left is California and they dump mega purple in some of their wines to cater to the snowflake generation. The worst feeling is getting excited over a bottle from California and it sucks.

 

[joeswine]

They more likely. Buy regional concentrate , by. Volumn with few exceptions.
50 to 60 $ kits short term early drinking.
80 to100 & kits 1to 2tears.
145 to tope of the line 3 to 4 years if everything was done correctly,there are exceptions.

 

[kuziwk]

They more likely. Buy regional concentrate , by. Volumn with few exceptions.
50 to 60 $ kits short term early drinking.
80 to100 & kits 1to 2tears.
145 to tope of the line 3 to 4 years if everything was done correctly,there are exceptions.

Perhaps, but than why did the Red mountain cab for example get pulled from the market? I heard that the farmers growing it, their contract expired. One of them got smart and decided to open a winery selling bottlesfor an inordinate amount. Although, yes this could be the exception. Obviously not all the kits are that good. I do know though however that a major commercial winery; Peller estates and it's owner Andrew Peller owns vineco, wine expert among others. I would almost venture to guess that they buy fresh grapes and Peller estates for example crushes them. I could be wrong, but if it were me I would buy fresh from the farmers and have one of my sublets that I own process the grapes...why pay someone else to do it and employ a competitor and pay markup aswell.

 

[joeswine]

There are coops out there who sell to different wineries there grapes and then crush for kits. ( Tanker juice).
Canada is big on this,. Yet they have wineries also.in New Jersey you only need to grow 50% of your own grape's to call yourself a winery.
Kits crops are bought from massive coops.
Has nothing to do with the aging process has a lot to do on the structure of the product waiting to be processed into wine. Even good commercial grade wines can stand the test of time, sometimes .

 

[joeswine]

can

(Can't stand the test of time )