Secret Santa 2013

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Had a note pushed through the door from the postie saying I have a parcel to collect.
I'm not expecting anything else so I'll wager it's my secret Santa wine swap!
Going to collect in the morning! :party:
 

Tea and Jam wine collected from the post office.
Looking forward to enjoying this over lunch on Christmas Day!
Thanks!! :thumb:
 
Received W10 - Thanks :)

I think the post is getting slower down this neck of the woods now either that or they are drinking a lot of xmas prezzies :) lol
 
after a long wait in the sorting office....

I finally had a chance to collect W9 today :-)

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thanks Santa :hat:

going to have fun guessing the ingredients, before I open the love letter :cheers:
 
It's looking like most have come through now, keep the feedback coming, 10 more days until tasting starts :cheers:
KC :thumb:
 
Review of W13.

Rosé and very clear.
Served chilled
Pleasant floral nose
Body light
Taste was pleasant with fruity taste coming through at fist with a hard to fathom aftertaste, which had a slightly sour note, then a very slight peppery sensation. Probably the acid as I tested it at 3.1. Which is quite high but appeared quite well balanced by a slight sweetness.

Overall a very pleasant wine. Well done to the maker. Thanks very much and Merry Christmas. :cheers:
 
Hi

First of all i would like to say thank you to bobsbeer for the nice review on W13, That was the first wine i have made for about 4 years it was just a standard youngs strawberry wine kit but im glad it turned out ok.
 
Review of W14

White wine
Served Chilled

Nice crisp refreshing taste this was a very clear wine, Went very well with the roast chicken we had for christmas dinner.
This was a little dry for my liking but it was a tasty, crisp, clear wine that i enjoyed very much.

Well done to the maker for lovely wine overall.

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Dave
 
W8 was a great white wine - we cheated and had it on Christmas Eve on it's own as we were going away for Christmas Day.

It smelled like peaches and was clear and crisp, and the peach came through in flavour as well. Fairly dry.

We tried it both chilled and unchilled (due to forgetting to put it in the fridge) - but much preferred it not chilled - it went a bit too sour when put in the fridge.

I was hoping for a wow wine and was really pleased that what was turned up (i'm guessing - not checked out recipe as hinted to yet) - i've never made one and was really keen to see what they were like. Pleased with what they taste like so will now have a go at a wow once one of the dj's becomes spare.

Edited - after checking out recipie it's not a wow! :) Didn't even cross my mind that you could get that amount of peaches/apricots - not sure i'll ever be able to get those fruits to the extent brewer did - may have to start nosying around local marketstalls. Very impressed with how quickly the wine has become a nice drinkable wine, based on when i think it was made.

Second review from other half:

Very strong peachy aroma, very clear and a nice light golden colour. Quite an acid taste but to my liking, the peach taste was nowhere near as strong as the aroma implied. Long dry finish, nothing unpleasant at all.

When drunk chilled it seemed to lose all it's qualities of smell and flavour - if we had only drunk it cold I think we would have been quite disappointed and would have missed all of the charm of this wine. We let it warm back up before polishing it off!


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(oops, focussed on the table..)
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This is my review for W12 Dry White Wine.

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I tasted the wine before opening the letter attached as requested by the sender. The wine poured perfectly clearly and had a slightly darker tinge to it. On initial tasting I thought it may be a juice wine as I have made several and it reminded me of previous batches, there was however an underlying flavour which I couldn't quite put my finger on. The wine tasted perfect and I was impressed at how the wine tasted 5 months after bottling, I say this as juice wines I have made never last this long so I have yet to try one of such an age. The flavours had definitely mellowed and rounded together which was nice to know and has encouraged me to leave some to improve with age.

After opening the letter, the sender had enclosed the ingredients and I believe the grapefruit may be the flavour which I had tasted but couldn't figure out. All in all this is one of the best Juice Wines I have tasted and I was really impressed!

Thanks very much to the sender! :cheers:
 
Thanks Dizzle for your kind review. Glad you liked it. When you say age, mine don't usually get past 6 months and some 6 weeks, so you are not alone. :lol: :cheers:
 
Seeing the new year in with my wine swap.

Tea and jam wine.
Plenty of blackcurrant(?) coming through.
A really nicely balanced and deeply coloured red with lots of tannin.
I'd very much like this recipe!! :thumb:
KC
 
Glad you liked the Tea & Jam. I thought this batch was a little too sweet for me but that is just a question of taste.

I cannot give you the exact recipe as it is a bit of an on going experiment and something I am altering with each brew. However the basics are;

Box of red berry fruit tea bags.
2 jars of blackcurrant conserve (Aldi)
2 litres RGJ
3 ripe banannas.
1/4 teaspoon powdered tannin
All the usuals.
Sugar to make up to 1100g



And now on to 6W which I sampled yesterday.

Liver, asparagus and honey. Three things in this world that I really do not like. I was a little disapointed to see honey mentioned in the note that came with my bottle. :oops:
However, I cannot let personal taste get in the way of science!

The note reccomended serving at room temperature so that is what I did. It was beautifully clear and had that slight viscosity of a desert wine.
There was a light fruity aroma comming from the glass and I was relieved to find no trace of honey. A taste gave quite an intense blast of fruit, almost cider like. It was sweet but had none of the honey tang that you get in a mead. The honey was there but it was so mellow and smooth it complemented the fruit flavours rather than overwhelming them. The flavours lingered in the mouth with no nasty after taste.

This is a very pleasent drink. One to maybe be sipped at the end of an evening, by the fire, like a glass of Port. I couldnt drink lots of it in one sitting but I look forward to having my second glass tonight.

Well done.
 

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