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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2020
We carefully performed each step according to the instructions, but instead of bottling the wine a month after clarification, we let it age in the jug and bottled about 3 months after clarifying. Once poured, the wine we made was dark, had decent alcohol content and "legs" when swirled around the sides of the glass, but this wine really lacked body and flavor vs. any cabernet I've tasted, even when compared to cheaper cabernet from a grocery store. When drank with a grilled chicken dinner, this wine tasted like water. Later that evening when tasted on its own the flavor did improve, but only slightly.
In summary: Buy this kit to make wine as a fun activity or to learn a few basics about winemaking, but don't expect to make decent quality wine with the ingredients in this kit in our experience. If looking for quality wine, save the $70 you'll spend on this kit which yields about 5 bottles of vino. You can buy 5 bottles of surprisingly good quality cabernet sauvignon in a wine store for that price.
I bought the cabernet sauvignon kit for my spouse as a gift. We made the wine together and it was a fun activity to pass an hour of time during each step of the winemaking process, but as other reviewers have stated, the directions should be more detailed. Two examples: 1) There's an attachment for the bottom of the racking cane to keep sediment from being drawn in, but nowhere in the instruction book does it explain what that piece is or tell you where to attach it (I figured it out on my own after looking at other winemaking sites). 2) The booklet also states you should have 2 separate ingredients packs for one particular step of the process. They've actually combined both into 1 packet, but it's not properly labeled and the instruction book hasn't been updated with correct info.
We carefully performed each step according to the instructions, but instead of bottling the wine a month after clarification, we let it age in the jug and bottled about 3 months after clarifying. Once poured, the wine we made was dark, had decent alcohol content and "legs" when swirled around the sides of the glass, but this wine really lacked body and flavor vs. any cabernet I've tasted, even when compared to cheaper cabernet from a grocery store. When drank with a grilled chicken dinner, this wine tasted like water. Later that evening when tasted on its own the flavor did improve, but only slightly.
In summary: Buy this kit to make wine as a fun activity or to learn a few basics about winemaking, but don't expect to make decent quality wine with the ingredients in this kit in our experience. If looking for quality wine, save the $70 you'll spend on this kit which yields about 5 bottles of vino. You can buy 5 bottles of surprisingly good quality cabernet sauvignon in a wine store for that price.
We carefully performed each step according to the instructions, but instead of bottling the wine a month after clarification, we let it age in the jug and bottled about 3 months after clarifying. Once poured, the wine we made was dark, had decent alcohol content and "legs" when swirled around the sides of the glass, but this wine really lacked body and flavor vs. any cabernet I've tasted, even when compared to cheaper cabernet from a grocery store. When drank with a grilled chicken dinner, this wine tasted like water. Later that evening when tasted on its own the flavor did improve, but only slightly.
In summary: Buy this kit to make wine as a fun activity or to learn a few basics about winemaking, but don't expect to make decent quality wine with the ingredients in this kit in our experience. If looking for quality wine, save the $70 you'll spend on this kit which yields about 5 bottles of vino. You can buy 5 bottles of surprisingly good quality cabernet sauvignon in a wine store for that price.
Fun activity, but directions aren't always clear. Resulting wine (cabernet Sauvignon) isn't good.
By My reviews 125 on September 12, 2020
I bought the cabernet sauvignon kit for my spouse as a gift. We made the wine together and it was a fun activity to pass an hour of time during each step of the winemaking process, but as other reviewers have stated, the directions should be more detailed. Two examples: 1) There's an attachment for the bottom of the racking cane to keep sediment from being drawn in, but nowhere in the instruction book does it explain what that piece is or tell you where to attach it (I figured it out on my own after looking at other winemaking sites). 2) The booklet also states you should have 2 separate ingredients packs for one particular step of the process. They've actually combined both into 1 packet, but it's not properly labeled and the instruction book hasn't been updated with correct info.By My reviews 125 on September 12, 2020
We carefully performed each step according to the instructions, but instead of bottling the wine a month after clarification, we let it age in the jug and bottled about 3 months after clarifying. Once poured, the wine we made was dark, had decent alcohol content and "legs" when swirled around the sides of the glass, but this wine really lacked body and flavor vs. any cabernet I've tasted, even when compared to cheaper cabernet from a grocery store. When drank with a grilled chicken dinner, this wine tasted like water. Later that evening when tasted on its own the flavor did improve, but only slightly.
In summary: Buy this kit to make wine as a fun activity or to learn a few basics about winemaking, but don't expect to make decent quality wine with the ingredients in this kit in our experience. If looking for quality wine, save the $70 you'll spend on this kit which yields about 5 bottles of vino. You can buy 5 bottles of surprisingly good quality cabernet sauvignon in a wine store for that price.
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