heron bay blackcurrant merlot - anyone else done it?

[RatboyOllie]

hey up

ive just done the heron bay blackcurrant merlot and was wanderin if anyone has any exeperince of these kits.

Ive got giddy and already drunk a bottle which i realise is pretty much straight from the fv but i was thirsty!!

Im a bit disappointed at this stage coz to be honest it tastes identical to Ribena ! It really does, its basically ribena with a kick.

Now i know its a fruit wine so ya might be thinkin well what do you expect ratboy you idiot, but it doesnt taste like wine at all?! I was thinkin i was gonna get a merlot, already a fruity wine, with a bit of a blackcurrant feel about it, buts its feckin 13% Ribena !!

Anyone know whether this will age and mellow?

I drunk the beaverdale straight from the fv and that was rancid, but left for a couple fo months turned out to be a really really good wine, very good in fact. Im hopin this will do the same and the artificial blackcurrant flavours will mellow................

what ya reckon?

[shandypants5]

I did a "niagara mist" Black cherry that ended up like yours.

It dropped to 1000 so was dry, but then the instructions said to add the fruit flavoured syrup, this pushed the reading up to about 1020 Next time I will only add just enough syrup to flavour it, not the whole bag like the instructions say.

It was way too sickly to drink as it was, It got a bit smoother after about 6 weeks but still too sweet.

I brewed a cheap red kit, delberately got it as dry as I could get it and then mixed it 50/50 with the fruity stuff.

The resulting wine is quite nice (good job really coz now I have 10 gallons of it )
Its dry tasting as it goes in the mouth but has heavy fruity aftertones, very quaffable.

[Northern Brewer]

I've made a few of their Premium and Ultra-Premium wine kits with mixed results. All have been drinkable but only one Red, an Ultra-Premium Cabernet Sauvignon, was truly good. The 'Premium' Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc kits both produce a half-decent White.

[RatboyOllie]

cheers chaps, im a bit disappointed to be honest, especially as i also picked up the cranberry shiraz coz it had a fiver off it !! Real shame coz i tasted the wine before i added the fruit flavour and it tasted lovely, unfortunately the fruit flavour isnt very good and is way too powerful.

I might just email them to be honest coz it does say on the box that they offer a money back satisfaction guarantee and im reet pssed off wi it at the minute !

I will leave it a good while now and see what happens,

in the mean time though i will make the cranberry shiraz and like you say just add half of the flavour sachet i reckon.

Word of warning to anyone who is making this kit, i really wouldnt add all of the fruit, its really not very good.

If i change my mind in a few months i will reopen this thread !!

cheers for replies

Ollie

[Mogwyth]

A lot of these fruit wine kits are meant to be "social" wines, not serious wines, they have a low abv for wine about 8-9%. We have just done a Niagra Mist and yes it's very fruity, it needs to be well chilled and served on a summers evening after the bbq to those not on the beer

cheers

Bill

[spud]

This is probably why Heron Bay is being discontinued in the UK various sites all say this product is poor.
Stick to California Connoisseur much better. Just finished my 3rd Pinot Grigio.....quality!

[Northern Brewer]

This is probably why Heron Bay is being discontinued in the UK

It was my understanding that the original importer went bust. I've personally given these kits up anyway so it's no big deal.