Chateau Classico 6 Week Wine Kit, Australian Chardonnay, 40-Pound Box

As far as wine kits go this is a middle of the road kit. Not too cheap (Vino Italiano) not too expensive (Vitner's Reserve).I let the finished product age in a 6 gallon carboy for 6 months before bottling, and it turned into a Pinot Noir with a great palate. It begins light bodied, but becomes a medium bodied delight as it hits the back of your palate.This will give you the equivalent of a $15-$20 Pinot Noir for less than $3 a bottle just make sure that you age it for several months before bottling, you won't regret it.

I have been making wine for just under a year. This is my fourth kit. I tried the other cheaper cabernet merlot 4 week kit sold on Amazon and was not very happy. So I decided to spend a little more money and see if there was a big difference. The directions were a little off but I've done this enough times now including making wine from fruit that I had a pretty good idea of the order of things. I did the full six weeks. I did not filter. I racked once at about 5 weeks and 2 times before bottling. It made 29 bottles plus enough to fill 2/3 of one. I put the 2/3 full bottle in a bottle I had with a screw top and kept it on the stove for the past 2 weeks thinking I might use it to cook. I poured myself a glass last night and neither my husband nor I could believe it! It was SO SMOOTH! It had great body. It was perfectly CABERNET like I was looking for all along! If I had filtered it might have a little better clarity than it does, but it really doesn't seem to be affecting the taste. I am so impressed with this brand I setting it up for automatic delivery. I also am going to try their Pinot Noir next and hope for the same results. If you like dry and smooth, this is the wine for you to make!

I had this item ordered under subscribe and save. The first one came normally with a set of instructions that closely resembled the other kits I have made in the past. It is currently in secondary fermentation. Can't comment on the final product but I will later. Since I was so late getting the first one going, the second kit arrived shortly after. The box was destroyed and put in another box for shipping. The wrong labels were included as was a note saying that they were all out of labels but could email them for some if I still wanted them. The worst part was the large sticker on the front indicating that the kit had an expiry date of 01-2015. I received this kit at the end of February. I also noticed that the instructions were slightly different, as were the contents - they included a package of yeast nutrient that was not included in the first kit, nor were they mentioned in the instructions. The instructions in the second kit appeared a photocopy (there was no colour on it as there was in the first kit) and it did mention that you were to add the yeast nutrient at the beginning.I can't help but think that this is what they do with their older kits - and them dump them on their customers that are willing to buy them more regularly. I've put this kit to test as it is much easier than sending it back. It will probably work fine (I will comment at a later date), but you can be sure that I've removed this item from my subscribe and save automatic purchases.

Before making this Chateau Classico kit, I mostly just had experience with WineExpert kits. This is considerably less expensive than the higher end kits by WineExpert or other makers. However, the maker of this kit includes corks, labels, and the shrink-wrap tops that give your kit-made wine a classier look. So, the big question is: how does it taste? I was pleasantly surprised with the early results of this kit, especially for the price. As you'll read in other reviews, the labels are a bit generic and the corks are not as long or as high quality as the better ones out there that you can buy in bulk; however, this is also not a wine that's likely to be cellared for years and years either. I also found the kit instructions to be clear enough. I'm favorably impressed!

I bought two of these kits and both turned out very good wine.My first attempt at wine making!After 6 weeks, both wines turned out really nice, definitely drinkable quality wine, about 14.5% alcohol. If you purchased the wine at a store, I would estimate the quality in the 12-15 dollar range. Not incredible, but highly drinkable and remember this is just after 6 weeks with no aging.Although it was my first attempt at making wine from a kit, I did have some coaching from a very experienced beer making friend. As the others said, the kit comes with corks, labels and concentrated juice. The rest you need to buy on your own. The rest consists of a wine making bucket, a carboy (6 gal), a gravity measuring device, thermometer. stirring stick I attached to a drill, wine thief, 6 foot clear plastic hose, siphoning tube, bottling device and of course bottles. I spent about 120 for all these items, which of course are re-usable. The bottles I collected from a local liquor store.For one of the two batches I followed the instructions precisely. The second batch, I added oak chips during the fermentation phase.Most of my family and friends favor the non-oak added wine. They enjoy it very much. We had a big gathering for my daughters graduation ceremony and the wine flowed fast! I suspect the oak produced wine needs a little more time to fully develop, but that's just a guess on my part.I'll update as these two 6 gallon kits age.I started a third kit 4 weeks ago, without adding any water. I'm looking forward to the finished product.Best, Mike