French Cabernet Sauvignon (Selection International)

Over the past six years I have made several batches of wine from the Selection International Series of wine kits from Winexpert. Each one has turned out well. I attribute this to the quality of the grape juice in the kit and the explicit and easy-to-understand directions that come with it. The entire process is straightforward and shouldn't take more than a few hours' time. I've discovered that with the exception of the bottling (which generally takes 45 minutes, primarily because the sanitizing of the bottles takes time) each of the other four steps (mixing, racking into the carboy, stabilizing, and secondary racking) take about half an hour each. So, with three hours' total effort (over a 6-8 week period) one will produce a great bottle of wine.

The French Cabernet, which I bottled about a year ago, is one of the best cabernets I have ever tasted. It is smooth and full-bodied with a great bouquet and excellent clarity. It holds its own against the highest quality cabernets on the market. And the best part is that by making it from a wine kit, it's fairly reasonable. One can expect to get approximately 30 750ML bottles. At a cost of less than $120 for the kit, that comes out to under four dollars a bottle. It's a great bargain.