Cab kit

Review by Samuel on 5/13/2011

Pros: for the price this is a great kit. I ordered it with the winery and it has everything I need. It was supper easy to make if you want something less time consuming then brewing beer. Cons: I was looking for something a little more complicated then this but this is good for my first wine. Also the instructions on the package are very vague. I think a more detailed instruction manual would be nice for beginners like myself. The instructions say to add water until you reach 5 to 5&1/2 gallons which I did thinking it was great that I was gonna have more wine..... However, I just found out that the better bottle that is included in the winery is only 5 gallons so I might be wasting a little wine

California Cabernet Sauvignon Kit

Review by RCH on 2/8/2010

Pros: I consider myself to be still in the process of making this wine. I have it in a carboy and I have "barrel tasted" it and so far it is the best from concentrate wine I have ever made.

Cons: I don't know for sure but, it may be better to instruct people to add the oak after the first racking instead of during primary fermintation.

Cabernet

Review by Tim B. on 7/11/2008

Pros: This wine is very easy to make. The taste is more like a mild bodied port than a Cabernet at the moment... probably needs time to mature. Overall, I am happy with the results.

Cab kit

Review by MJL on 3/7/2008

Pros: Easy to make, smells incredibly awesome while fermenting. Even simpler than making beer, since no brewing is required. When I serve it to guests, they generally like it.

Cons: Time is a major factor. I made a cab in 2004 (3.5 years ago) that still needs some aging to mellow out. The wine starts out overly fruity with a wicked bite. The bite has left now, but it's still only average - comparable to a roughly $5 bottle in the store. I'm hoping another year or so in the cellar will give it some complexity.

William's Cabernet

Review by BRUCE C. on 9/30/2005

Pros: Easier than brewing beer, this has been my first adventure in wine making. As a beginner, I appreciated the fact that I didn't have to worry about acid balance, ph, or sulfite. Instructions are limited, but as with most who brew or make wine, I keep adequate reference materials on hand to supplement instructions that come with the kit. Although I did purchase fermenters dedicated to making only wine, I needed to buy very little additional equipment before I was ready to bottle. Most references report that the wine will taste dramatically different after a year or more in the bottle. I suspect that is true of the wine I made, but it actually tastes pretty good right now. Starting gravity 1.110 Final Gravity .998 ABV at bottling 15.2% These kits seem to be very consistent. I've made Cabernet from three in the past few months, and the characteristics of the wine produced are very much the same.

Cons: At bottling the wine is slightly sweeter than is typical for a Cabernet, but not so much so as to make it objectionable.