Vino Italiano 4 Week Wine Kit, Cabernet Sauvignon, 15.5-Pound Box

I'm a value shopper at heart so in all honesty I bought this wine kit primarily based on price. I figured $41.35 shipped for a kit that includes everything I needed except bottles was worth trying out. I've made some of the premium kits from other companies in the past, and I wasn't expecting anything great from this kit, but hoping for a drinkable wine. However, I've been pleasantly surprised with the quality of the finished product. My wine has been bottled and aged for 3 months now and the flavor is very good and getting better. Crisp with hints of apples and peaches, no unpleasant or bitter aftertaste. I'll let it age a few more months before sampling again. Granted the kits that cost 2 to 3 times more do make a better wine, but the difference isn't what the price would indicate. This kit will make a decent wine, comparable to a bottle you could buy in a store for about $8.Previous reviewers have indicated that if you make it to 6 gallons the wine will be a little weak and thin in flavor. I believe this would be correct. I was aiming for a specific gravity of 1.090 to start, and I got that with a little over 5 gallons volume. What I did was add 2 cans of frozen concentrate white grape juice and brought the total volume to 6 gallons, which gave me a starting gravity of 1.092. Fermentation took longer than indicated in the kit instructions, probably because the juice concentrate I added isn't intended for fermentation purposes and contained sorbate as a preservative. To help counteract any problems from this I made a yeast starter 24 hours in advance to pitching the yeast and had it bubbling good when I pitched it.The finished wine was fairly dry; my wife and I prefer just a hint of sweetness in a riesling so I added some additional sorbate and sweetened a bit just before bottling. It was a little harsh when bottled but that's normal. and has improved significantly after 3 months. I expect it to be even better after 6 months. Adding some metabisulphite when bottling provides increased protection for longer aging, I did that and will let half the batch age at least a year. We're very pleased with the results. The next time I make this kit I will consider adding some golden raisins to the primary fermtation, I think this would increase body and result in an even better wine. Mostly what I make are fruit or floral wines from scratch, but I will purchase additional Vino Italiano kits in the future of various types for my grape wines. I've rated this kit 5 stars because it yields a good wine for an excellent value.

Like other Vino Italiano kits I have made, the Montepulciano turned out well. I was not familiar with Montepulciano previously so I can't compare with the store bought one. All I know is that it is fruity like I like and tastes very good. It was quite yeasty when I first bottled it but that smell and taste disappeared after 2 or 3 weeks in the bottle. After adding water to the five gallon mark the SG was 1.090. Instead of making only 5 gallons like many reviewers, I added 3 cans of generic frozen grape concentrate and then added water to make 6 gallons. That made the SG 1.095. I bumped it up a little more by adding sugar until I got to 1.098. Previously, I've had trouble completely degassing my kit wines. This time I bought Harbor Freight Brake Bleeder And Vacuum Pump Kit (Pittsburgh Automotive - Item#69328) for around $30. It is a hand pump and includes hoses, and many adapters -- enough for me to cobble together a setup to easily pump 20 inches of vacuum. I degassed as well as I could with a drill and whip, and then used the pump to finish. Result: no gas in my wine at all this time.Update 11/21/14: As the wine making sites say, a couple of months in the bottle further improves the taste. Over the last few months I have also made VI's Cabernet Sauvingion and Chardonnay kits. The Cabernet turned out absolutely wonderful. It was good immediately and improved more over time. I have reordered more. The Chardonnay was a big disappointment. It tasted harsh and resiny, and has gotten worse, not better, as it has aged. I don't know if I did something wrong or it was the nature of the kit. I'll not try that one again.

I am not sure if I would still consider myself a beginner, anymore, but I am relatively new to this. Only making wine for a little over a year... In the past year, however, I made about 11 kits from different manufactures.This wine, Tuscany Rosso Magnifico, is quite fantastic. I made it at 5 gallons by putting in all of the juice concentrate, but only re-constituting with water up to the 5 gallon mark. I also added 30 Grams of Oak Chips. Now, I personally don't like a lot of oak in a wine. For that reason, I don't like many commercial wines... 30 Grams of Oak is enough not to actually taste excessive oak, but have a better mouth feel. I got the oak from a home brew close to where I live. Medium Toasted Oak. Again, it is just my opinion, but less is more with the oak... You should trust your tongue, and not worry about what others say. You can always add more oak, you can't take it away...I put the oak in the carboy for the secondary fermentation. Not in the bucket. I learned that from copying a Mosti Mondale kit. Some kits but oak dust in the primary... So far, I have had good luck with the oak chips in the secondary.The wine does taste much better, if you let it sit in the bottle 6 months after you bottle it. But, you will most likely not be able to wait that long.... Put 3 or 4 bottles away to age, if you can't wait for the whole batch...I am putting a video series up on YouTube, that shows you how easy it is to make this kit. Search for Sicilian Prince and vino italiano, and you should find my videos. It may be helpful if you never did it, to look at the process and once you see it, you will be confident that you can do it...You will need some equipment to do this, but you don't need more than a beginner equipment kit to be successful. Once you do it, you will be hooked... I typically do two or three at a time... At the time of this writing, I am doing WE Nero D'Avalo, WE Chocolate Raspberry Port, Vino Italiano Merlot. When I get a free carboy, I will do the Rosso Magnifico again. Mrs.Claus got it to me for Christmas.By the way, everyone who has tried my Rosso Magnifico loves it...See what I mean. You will get hooked...I hope this review helps some of you out there.Cheers!