Fusebox Wine Blending Kit - The Winemakers Edition
$39.99 + $5 shipping
Condition: Red Product:
1 Fusebox Wine Blending Kit The Winemakers Edition

Product website

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Previous Offers:
7/30/09

Recipe:
1 bottle of PS
1/3 bottle of mourvedre
1/6 bottle of zin

3.5 bottles to foist upon your weak palated friends.

In for 3. This is awesome, especially at this price.

Might be more interested if this was their Napa Cabernet kit. There's another amazing offer elsewhere on the web I might have to visit instead...

Also, welcome back PAMELA!!!

Thanks SO much for listening to my incessant nagging and including er.... me... :-) in this Rhone box.

You rock.

i know you will hate me for this, but...
will it blend?

This goes for $80 + shipping (edit: the Cabernet version) on their website. I think you have to register in order to get to the part of the checkout process to view shipping costs, but I imagine it is more than the $5 shipping Woot offers. So it seems like this is 50% off, which is a great deal if it is a quality product (and I've never known Woot to push poor quality products on us). I remember seeing this on Woot a while ago (if it is the same product) but I don't remember the reviews it got, so maybe someone can fill me in. It looks really interesting however I'd definitely like to hear from some past buyers as to what they thought of the product. One thing I am a bit concerned about is how long the bottles will stay fresh once opened, but if you're conservative with your blending you can probably just open two at a time, maybe overlap one towards the end of the open ones' shelf life to make more complex blends without having to open everything at once. Also their website seems to sell custom blends which I didn't know, but that looks like it could be great to experiment with if they don't charge too much for something them.

EDIT: Seems like you have to buy an entire case of a custom blend if you want one made. Seems like something interesting for someone very well-versed in wine, definitely much more than the casual enthusiast like myself. I can definitely understand why they sell it by the case, but it would definitely be nice if you could order a custom bottle or something. It's probably just too cost prohibitive for them to offer that though.

Hi folks, sorry I'm late - was on the phone with my mom. What a nice warm welcome, thank you!

GaleForce wrote:This goes for $80 + shipping on their website. I think you have to register in order to get to the part of the checkout process to view shipping costs, but I imagine it is more than the $5 shipping Woot offers. So it seems like this is 50% off, which is a great deal if it is a quality product (and I've never known Woot to push poor quality products on us). I remember seeing this on Woot a while ago (if it is the same product) but I don't remember the reviews it got, so maybe someone can fill me in. It looks really interesting however I'd definitely like to hear from some past buyers as to what they thought of the product. One thing I am a bit concerned about is how long the bottles will stay fresh once opened, but if you're conservative with your blending you can probably just open two at a time, maybe overlap one towards the end of the open ones' shelf life to make more complex blends without having to open everything at once. Also their website seems to sell custom blends which I didn't know, but that looks like it could be great to experiment with if they don't charge too much for something them.

The product on their website is the CABERNET blending kit. This is different.

GaleForce wrote:This goes for $80 + shipping on their website. I think you have to register in order to get to the part of the checkout process to view shipping costs, but I imagine it is more than the $5 shipping Woot offers. So it seems like this is 50% off, which is a great deal if it is a quality product (and I've never known Woot to push poor quality products on us). I remember seeing this on Woot a while ago (if it is the same product) but I don't remember the reviews it got, so maybe someone can fill me in. It looks really interesting however I'd definitely like to hear from some past buyers as to what they thought of the product. One thing I am a bit concerned about is how long the bottles will stay fresh once opened, but if you're conservative with your blending you can probably just open two at a time, maybe overlap one towards the end of the open ones' shelf life to make more complex blends without having to open everything at once. Also their website seems to sell custom blends which I didn't know, but that looks like it could be great to experiment with if they don't charge too much for something them.

The product on their website is the CABERNET blending kit. This is different.

great mother's day gift... if mom wasn't on so many medications

hld1970 wrote:The product on their website is the CABERNET blending kit. This is different.

I didn't see that, thanks. I can't imagine the price would be too different between the kits though, since they do come with the same amount of bottles and same tools. They don't offer it though, at least not right now, which makes this deal even more enticing (since it can't be had anywhere else). Still, I'm curious if anyone remembers which one was offered last time on Woot and how it was.

hld1970 wrote:The product on their website is the CABERNET blending kit. This is different.

Hi folks - let me clarify - the product that is on the Crushpad website for $79.99 is the Napa Cab Fusebox - the previous version of which was a prior woot.

This version is red rhone wines - and info can be found here: http://thewinemakers.tv/
(turn your sound off - there's an annoying video with sound when you get there).

This version of the fusebox was made in conjunction with THE WINEMAKERS reality show that aired on PBS this year - retails for $69.

Ask me anything - I am, for one final time, your Fusebox Ninja :-)

ptopper wrote:Hi folks, sorry I'm late - was on the phone with my woot mom. What a nice warm welcome, thank you!

How about a California heritage blend? Me, Zin, Charbono, Carignan, and Cab?

I love this idea for my brother-in-law, but I am in Massachusetts. He's in Connecticut, but would prefer to save it for a holiday like Christmas. Ugh.

And 2007 was a terrible year anyhow...wasn't it?

geoffreysteinman wrote:i know you will hate me for this, but...
will it blend?

EPIC!!!

killingtime wrote:I love this idea for my brother-in-law, but I am in Massachusetts. He's in Connecticut, but would prefer to save it for a holiday like Christmas. Ugh.

And 2007 was a terrible year anyhow...wasn't it?

Negatory, 2007 was a great year for Napa

killingtime wrote:I love this idea for my brother-in-law, but I am in Massachusetts. He's in Connecticut, but would prefer to save it for a holiday like Christmas. Ugh.

And 2007 was a terrible year anyhow...wasn't it?

I WANT that cat!

Forgive my ignorance, but are these drinkable on their own and if not, why? Are they too bland without blending? Too harsh? Too...something else? Just trying to ascertain how much experiment/great drinking product ratio there will be.

berrynoir wrote:Forgive my ignorance, but are these drinkable on their own and if not, why? Are they too bland without blending? Too harsh? Too...something else? Just trying to ascertain how much experiment/great drinking product ratio there will be.

Hi Berrynoir, great questions - not ignorant at all.

Each of these wines are fairly good on their own - but drunk alone they are kinda one-dimensional. It's really interesting and really fun to see how a little bit of this and a little bit of that really enhance and round out the wine.

all is fun to blend, and all is fun to drink ;-)

Forgive me for asking, but what is the Winemaker's Winner wine? The one that you would have made out of the 5 bottles that you are giving us, perchance? It's not exactly clear in the writeup.

thrawn1020 wrote:Forgive me for asking, but what is the Winemaker's Winner wine? The one that you would have made out of the 5 bottles that you are giving us, perchance? It's not exactly clear in the writeup.

Another great question - you guys are on a roll.

This kit was made in conjunction with the PBS reality series called The Winemakers (http://thewinemakers.tv/) Contestants competed to make the best wine - and Crushpad bottled it.

So the winner's blend is the blend of the person who won the reality show - and you get to taste your blends against theirs to see if you can do better!

ptopper wrote:Another great question - you guys are on a roll.

This kit was made in conjunction with the PBS reality series called The Winemakers The Winemaker's TV. Contestants competed to make the best wine - and Crushpad bottled it.

So the winner's blend is the blend of the person who won the reality show - and you get to taste your blends against theirs to see if you can do better!

Added link there.

Has anyone tried this product? any thoughts? thinking about getting to do for our wedding coming up in september.

bbalkema wrote:Has anyone tried this product? any thoughts? thinking about getting to do for our wedding coming up in september.

Product is fun, but it's just a blending kit - can't order custom wine when you're done - what did you have in mind for the wedding?

PS - Crushpad's Napa Cab fusebox used to offer the custom wine order option, but that is discontinued after April 15th - they apparently are running out of the blending wine that's contained in the kits.

Interesting kit. For anyone who hasn't done something like this before, it is really a metric boatload of fun.
I helped a winemaker buddy of mine put together a "barrel select" varietal and it was pretty rad.

This does sound like fun. Another question: in the world of professional winemaking, at what stage is the blending usually done? Here, with this kit, we would be blending just before drinking, presumably. But the pros must do it earlier in the process and the various mixtures would tend to age somewhat together since it, of course, would come bottled. So our results, when compared to say the bottle of blended "winner" wine, would they have an chance of being as yummy?

Woo! It's like a chemistry set--only, you can drink the results!

berrynoir wrote:This does sound like fun. Another question: in the world of professional winemaking, at what stage is the blending usually done? Here, with this kit, we would be blending just before drinking, presumably. But the pros must do it earlier in the process and the various mixtures would tend to age somewhat together since it, of course, would come bottled. So our results, when compared to say the bottle of blended "winner" wine, would they have an chance of being as yummy?

Blending is most often done just before bottling - so this experience is not that far off. Although the winner's wine has some bottle age as a blended wine, each of the components has bottle age as well - so the comparison will be pretty much apples to apples.

ptopper wrote:Blending is most often done just before bottling - so this experience is not that far off. Although the winner's wine has some bottle age as a blended wine, each of the components has bottle age as well - so the comparison will be pretty much apples to apples.

Thank you so much for your great responses!

berrynoir wrote:Thank you so much for your great responses!

My pleasure - this is my third or fourth woot, and I always have fun - made lots of friends, too!

Probably signing off for the night pretty soon - I'll check back in tomorrow - nighty nite all!

I found this on Crushpad's March 12th Newsletter....

http://www.crushpadwine.com/newsletter?page=nl0310

Crazy Blowout of The Winemakers Fusebox
I don't normally shill stuff like this, but... as part of The Winemakers reality show on PBS, we made a number of special Rhone varietal Fuseboxes. The winner of the show ultimately launched a 6,000 case wine brand. Well, we've got some extra Fuseboxes and we need room! This is just like our Bordeaux version except it's got Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, Petite Sirah and, well, Zin. Normally $69, now $29 or 4 for $99 - a great gift. Use the codes BRILLISAWESOME for 1 and IWANT4 for 4. ;-) Get them here.

Cesare wrote:

Product website

Well, whatever the price / value of this post-bottling blending fun home kit, fromt he website, I love the idea at least of Crushpad's business. Sort of like the Hitching Post having their own wine through deals with local winemakers, but here Crushpad does all the difficult bits for you!

http://www.crushpadwine.com/make/howitworks

So will w.w be lowering the price to match the direct price then?

Edit: Nevermind, shipping is ridiculous direct, carry on.

dublwrap wrote:I found this on Crushpad's March 12th Newsletter....

http://www.crushpadwine.com/newsletter?page=nl0310

Crazy Blowout of The Winemakers Fusebox
...

Hmm, that seemed like an interesting deal too, especially if you wanted 4. Once again, Woot's $5 shipping proves to make a great deal.

The shipping from Crushpad comes out to $25 for one set, $67 for 4. Not saying that this is excessive, just that Woot's $5 ship is a very nice thing! I've always considered that when you buy a wine from Woot, part of the cost of the shipping is factored into the product, since I'm pretty sure it usually costs them more than the $5 to ship a big box of wine. It's probably also true (but don't know this for a fact) that Woot may have worked out some deal with UPS for these large quantity shipments and might be getting a better deal than a small producer would have to pay to ship.

What's the drinking/mixing window on these bottles? How long can we store them in our wine fridges before they need to be consumed? I'd like to grab one and sit on it until a special occasion arrives.

dublwrap wrote:I found this on Crushpad's March 12th Newsletter....

http://www.crushpadwine.com/newsletter?page=nl0310

Crazy Blowout of The Winemakers Fusebox
I don't normally shill stuff like this, but... as part of The Winemakers reality show on PBS, we made a number of special Rhone varietal Fuseboxes. The winner of the show ultimately launched a 6,000 case wine brand. Well, we've got some extra Fuseboxes and we need room! This is just like our Bordeaux version except it's got Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, Petite Sirah and, well, Zin. Normally $69, now $29 or 4 for $99 - a great gift. Use the codes BRILLISAWESOME for 1 and IWANT4 for 4. ;-) Get them here.

Yeah that looked like a fantastic deal on a single kit... until you find out that ground shipping is a whopping $33! Putting it at $62 a kit. What's that, buying four must make it worth it? Oh yes, yes it does...until shipping is $93 for 4! So if you were to grab 3 + $5 shipping on woot and then grab another one + $5 for shipping, it's still $22 less on woot. So there ya go. Myth debunked!

dublwrap wrote:I found this on Crushpad's March 12th Newsletter....

http://www.crushpadwine.com/newsletter?page=nl0310

Crazy Blowout of The Winemakers Fusebox
I don't normally shill stuff like this, but... as part of The Winemakers reality show on PBS, we made a number of special Rhone varietal Fuseboxes. The winner of the show ultimately launched a 6,000 case wine brand. Well, we've got some extra Fuseboxes and we need room! This is just like our Bordeaux version except it's got Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, Petite Sirah and, well, Zin. Normally $69, now $29 or 4 for $99 - a great gift. Use the codes BRILLISAWESOME for 1 and IWANT4 for 4. ;-) Get them here.

So, it looks like this product can be had for much less, pre-shipping, from the producer's site direct. Hmm...

olabner wrote:So, it looks like this product can be had for much less, pre-shipping, from the producer's site direct. Hmm...

Keyword is pre-shipping. There's no way crushpad isn't make a whole bunch of money off of $33 shipping for one kit. Even if you say shipping costs them $23, which I can't believe it would, then the real cost of the product on their site is $39. I think $15 seems more reasonable for shipping, so add another $18 onto that $29 and we're at $47 just for the product. Or are my assumptions inaccurate?

RyanCianfarani wrote:Keyword is pre-shipping. There's no way crushpad isn't make a whole bunch of money off of $33 shipping for one kit. Even if you say shipping costs them $23, which I can't believe it would, then the real cost of the product on their site is $39. I think $15 seems more reasonable for shipping, so add another $18 onto that $29 and we're at $47 just for the product. Or are my assumptions inaccurate?

That was what I figured. Either way, I was in for 3 at 12:30 last night, and excited to get my shipment. Looks like a ton of fun.