Winebuddy, 7 day Merlot kit Review

Thank you very much.

I wanted to write a review of this kit as I was very disappointed with it, and didn't want others to fall into the trap of thinking that a speedy wine will be a quality wine.

It brews in 7 days, true to it's word. No problems with getting the fermentation going or keeping it bubbling. The instructions were easy to follow, laid out step by step for novices like me.

My first hint that this may not be a good wine was that it looked like weak Ribena when it came out of the fermenter. The instructions then say to add the final sachet to the mix, a large, dark plum coloured liquid. I assumed that this was an enriching agent of some sort and it would give the wine a better colour, depth, and flavour. All it did was darken the wine slightly, and add far too much glycerin for my taste to make the entire batch of wine syrupy. It also imparted a rather nasty chemical cherry flavour to the wine which comes screaming through after the dull watery, vaguely alcoholic flavour had limped across my tastebuds.

The wine has been bottled and has been maturing for over a month now in the shed. It's getting another taste soon and if it's not improved any it's going down the drain so I can use the bottles for something which is actually drinkable. If it has improved, it still begs the question, why is it marketed as a quick kit when it still takes months to mature to a drinkable level? As a point of comparison, I have just racked a 30 bottle CalCon Cab Sauv kit into a carboy to bulk mature, and of course enjoyed a 'small' taster glass. It still definitely tastes young, but is vastly superior to this kit.

Please don't be seduced by the lure of a quick brewing kit. If something is worth doing, it's worth doing right. Don't cut corners, take your time. You'll regret it in the end.

also made this, was a lot more like a weak rose than red

I made this, with the one exception of adding a small can of Youngs grape concentrate - and after bottling and leaving for about 3 months I thought the wine was actually quite good.

UPDATE

Having given this a couple of months to mature, it's actually drinkable. It's no award winner but it's scraped through and escaped becoming drain cleaner. Still don't think I'll be doing a 7 day kit again but at least it wasn't a complete waste of time.

Thanks for this review :thumb:

Contrary to all my personal principles, and only because Tesco were selling them half price, I started one of these kits this time yesterday morning. Probably due to the 77g pack of yeast and nutrients, I don't think I've ever seen an airlock bubbling as fast as this one is already going.

I had about 750ml of Aldi's red grape juice just opened for something else, so I threw that into the mix, and I've left it short at 20 litres.

I note your comments about the F-pack and will have a little taste before adding that and the finings next Saturday, then according to the instructions it should be ready to bottle and start drinking next Sunday, so I'll report back then. :lol:

Maybe leaving it short is the way to go... it's very light in colour. Give it at least 2 months before even thinking about drinking it!

Good luck :

I have a cab sav just clearing.

Like Moley I only got it because it was £11 in Tesco.
I brewed it 2L short so have 20L
before adding the flavour pouch I had a little taste as I was not sure of the amount of glycerine they contain. It was very thin so I added half of it, still thin so I put the whole lot in.

It was a bit of an improvement. It tastes quite harsh but I am assuming it will improve given time.

I am going to rack it into 4 dj's and bulk age for a while before bottling. I will report back when I have left it a while.

Ok, so I have to admit that I'm pleasantly surprised.

Now I didn't make this as a 30 bottle kit and I didn't make it in 7 days.

I made it short at 20 litres (25 bottles after racking) but I didn't reduce the sugar, and I let it ferment all the way out, which means I've ended up with 14% alcohol.

Instructions say to de-gas and add stopper / stabiliser after 6 days. Well my airlock was still giving one pop per second so I gave it another 36 hours, by which time it was down to one pop every 15 seconds.

I added finings, following the instructions to the letter, but I didn't leave it for 24 hours, I left it for 60.

Early this morning I racked it to 4 DJs. This evening I've bottled one and put the other 3 away for a few months.

We've tested one bottle. It is drinkable.

At half price for the kit, plus sugar, it has come in at 61p a bottle.

It's a very thin red wine without much colour or body, and there is currently a strange bouquet which we can't quite identify. Daughter said "floor cleaner" and wife said "damp mop". Even so, if I had bought this from some French or Spanish supermarket, in a cardboard carton, for one Euro a litre, I would not have felt I'd been ripped off.

I will report back later to say if, after a period of maturation, this might rival a UK supermarket's three-for-a-tenner deals, but if Tesco were flogging them at half price again, I wouldn't rule out buying another.

At full price, they can get stuffed.

I have racked this wine into 4 dj's too.
Yesterday I looked at it and it is extremely clear, a friend of mine wants a dj of it bottling for the weekend so I filtered it all. It all went through very well, hardly any gunk collected at all. So whilst filtering it I had a little taste and in all honesty its really not too bad.

I think the flavour you are mentioning Moley is the blackcurrant that was in the pouch. Its kinda floral so I can see where the floor cleaner idea comes from lol

Like you, I think at half price its ok and drinkable.
I have just been and bought another 2 from Tesco cos its still half price and has a great date on it. I got the cab sav again and a sav blanc.
I am going to do the sav blanc next then I will have plenty for christmas, gifts and for my own consumption!

Any updates guys? Just wondering if it is worth tying up 5 demijohns for a while for this one...

If you can get the kit at a reduced price it might be worth tying up 4 DJs, but probably not 5.

Moley said:

I will report back later to say if, after a period of maturation, this might rival a UK supermarket's three-for-a-tenner deals, but if Tesco were flogging them at half price again, I wouldn't rule out buying another.

Click to expand...

Well I have to say that after seeing this question earlier I tried a glass tonight, and it's developing quite nicely.

Only 2 months young but the artificial cherry pie filling twang has subsided and it's really quite pleasant and fruity. Not much like a Merlot, maybe leave out the 'F' pack and throw a few black peppercorns into the FV?

For the price I'm actually quite impressed.

Cheers Moley - I got the kit on 1/2 price, so will follow your lead and make it up to 20L. I'll probably start it in a FV, then rack to a screw top fermenter under airlock and leave it to bulk age for a couple of months - does that sound like a reasonable thing to do?

No, start it off in the screw topped fermenter under airlock, ignore their time scale, let it ferment all the way out, then follow the clearing instructions but give it an extra couple of days, then rack to those DJs for maturing. The DJs need to be filled to within an inch or two of the bung.

You can't leave wine in those screw-topped fermenters for any length of time unless it is racked off the sediment and filled up to the neck, which means 30 litres, and that's a bugger to shift on your own or lift to a worktop for bottling.

If you read back, I put 3 DJs away to mature in bulk and bottled the rest for earlier quality control purposes.

Thanks Moley. I think I'll get hold of a few more DJs before getting this one going, as it will tie up half of my stock at the moment.

Well I bottled up 2 dj's of my Cab sav and 2 of Sav blanc this week. Merlot I havent touched yet.
Its not bad, cab sav fairly blackcurranty and yet light. The glycerine taste has subsided and its not so harsh.
The Sav blanc is floral, fruity and extremely clear. I like it.

However the best one I tasted was the 2 bottles of mixed cab sav and sav blanc. Creating a rose it is light, fruity and very smooth. I really like it and plan on doing a full dj of each mixed = 12 bottles. mmmm

I dont intend to drink any of these wines until christmas, using some as presents and lots for me :party:
would I do again?
Yes!

Now people have left it a few months what do you all think? And what is the best way to do it. Make up to 20l, let it ferment all the way out and and leave the finings for a few days?

I did open a bottle last night. sav blanc. It was actually ok. Its been stored in dj's for months and has been in the bottle for a month.

I was still not as sharp as a beaverdale bottle of the same and I could still feel the glycerine in it. But for 50p a bottle I am not complaining!
Floral, fresh, smooth and easy to drink. :clap:

My merlot is going down the drain, i have other wines which i need bottles for and its just not good enough after nearly a year so i cant see it getting any better. It still has an unpleasant chemical aftertaste which is refusing to budge.