At the urging of another wine writer, I decided to once again give a kit wine a try. My first kit wine attempt was a Cabernet Sauvignon. Since then I’ve come to discover, that for me a red wine needs to be made with grapes and kit red wines or juice don’t measure up to what can be accomplished with the grapes. White wine however is different. Some vineyards harvest and press there white grapes before sending to wineries. Since there is little or no skin contact with the juice in white wine production, this practice makes sense since shipping the juice has a lower carbon footprint than shipping the grapes. So I decided to try a high priced white wine kit.
Rather than purchasing an entry level kit, I purchased the WineExpert Selection Estate New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. We traveled to the Marlbourough wine region in New Zealand in 2010 and enjoyed the Sauvignon Blancs. So this choice made sense. I started the wine in early September. Because of travel, the wine was often left in the carboy longer than the directions stated, however this did not bother the wine. I did have to top off the wine and I selected a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc to use for topping off. The wine was bottled the first week of November.
After resting for almost two months, I tasted the wine. First impression was that it did not have the “kit wine” taste associated with some kit wines. The wine had a gold color with lemon and tropical fruits on the aroma and taste. The crisp finish was accompanied by tropical fruits. There are different profiles for Sauvignon Blancs and this is one that I enjoy. This wine kit wine can be given as a gift rather then destining it for the mulled wine crock pot during the winter or summertime Sangria. I look forward to trying another Selection Estate Series Ultra Premium Wine Kit white wine. I’m still prejudiced towards red wines made from juice.
Cheers,
Terry
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