Italian Riesling Wine Kit - Master Vintner® Winemaker's Reserve®

This was a little different than previous Riesling kits I've made, but the wine turned out fantastic. There's no bentonite, the instructions called for more racking steps than I'm used to, and there was a bottle of concentrated grape juice to add after fermentation. The wine tasted great as it was, so I didn't add any sweetener and ended up with a nice crisp, clean, dry Riesling.

The window to do a purchase review is a little shorter than it should be. The Italian Reisling I purchased just got bottled today! There was limited information about this kit, but after submitting questions I decided to purchase this. It ended up at 12.37% abv. I woukd consider this a medium/heavy kit. It comes with a conditioner to sweeten the wine, but I prefer a dry finish. After examining suggestions from previous reviewers, I started at 50% conditioner, and tested every other day. I ended up at 90% conditioner added and reached a sweet and dry finish my wife amd I could agree on. It needs 2 or 3 weeks to settle, but my impression as of the bottling date is I can't wait to start imbibing. When testing the sweetness, remember that if warm, it tastes dryer than it is. If cold, it tastes sweeter than it is. Chill for 1 hour and use that as your baseline.

This kit is excellent however it came with no directions. I did end up finding directions online but it’s also the first time I’ve used oak powder. The directions online say not to cheese cloth the powder so it will be interesting to find out how it turns out. Still fermenting

I would say it’s probably a $12-15 bottle quality. Very easy to make, nice citrus notes. I always go longer in secondary and usually even a third racking before bottling anyway. Crystal clear. Looks good, taste good. I’m gifting a few bottles so I’ll update with outside feedback if I can.

I brought 2 Italian Riesling Wine kits. the 1st is in the carboy and is bulk aging
hoping to bottle 1st of September....stay tune