Time For Wine - Comparison Of 3 Wine Colored Inks

[DrDebG]

Every now and again, whether it is from too much wine or other, we make a mistake that turns out to our advantage. Such is the tale of the 3 wine colored inks.

 

Recently, after pen-cleaning, I loaded two of my pens with wine colored inks. I admit it was late at night and I was really tired. I already had one pen loaded with Montblanc Antoine de Saint Exupery Encre du Desert (whoever came up with that name deserves to be dipped in the ink!), which is a lovely burgundy ink. But I was loading about 12 pens full of ink, and by the time I got to the last couple of pens, I had forgotten what I loaded in the first few pens. So, I ended up with three inks very close in color.

 

Well, my sleep deprivation provided this ink comparison.

 

So, here they are:

 

Taccia Ebi

Pen: Lamy Scala with M nib

Sailor Manyo Kuzu

Pen: Monteverde Prima with 1.1mm stub nib

Montblanc Antoine de Saint Exupery Encre du Desert (aka MB ASE Desert)

Pen: Montblanc Unicef Legrand with OB nib

Paper: Col-o-ring Ink Testing Swatch

Paper: Tomoe River 65 gsm

Paper: Tomoe River 65 gsm - Each line is written with the 3 inks.

The color of all three inks is fairly well saturated. The two that are closest in color is Taccia Ebi and MB ASE Desert. Sailor Manyo Kuzu also has a lovely green-gold cast to it.

In terms of performance, all are very well behaved inks, and are moderately wet. Of the three, Sailor Manyo Kuzu is just a bit wetter than the others.

Dry times of all three were comparable at about 15-30 seconds depending on nib width.*

Showthrough and bleedthrough were minimal with all three, but Taccia Ebi does have some bleedthrough on lesser quality papers.*

None are water resistant, but Taccia Ebi seems just a bit more water resistant than the others. *

In terms of sheen, Sailor Manyo Kuzu wins hands down. MB ASE Desert has some sheen, and Taccia Ebi has a small amount.

In terms of shading, again Sailor Manyo Kuzu shades very nicely, but so does MB ASE Desert.

Overall, all three inks are excellent! But, Sailor Manyo Kuzu outperforms the other two, but MB ASE Desert is close behind.

* Sorry, I did not photograph these.

Edited May 14, 2020 by 5Cavaliers

[tinta]

Thank you for your detailed comparison. I have a weakness for what I call claret (not the wine but the colour). The Sailor & MB ink fills the bill.

Is the Taccia billed as a "wine" colour? Does first it lay down as a burgundy then changes to a tint of green as it dries?

[DrDebG]

Thank you for your detailed comparison. I have a weakness for what I call claret (not the wine but the colour). The Sailor & MB ink fills the bill.

Is the Taccia billed as a "wine" colour? Does first it lay down as a burgundy then changes to a tint of green as it dries?

 

Thank you for your comments. Taccia Ebi does not really do that. It does have a bit of sheen when pooled, but not in the writing, even on Tomoe River.

[cattar]

So interesting to see them right next to each other.

I still like that Manyo Kuzu.

But water resistance is important to me, so it'd be the Ebi.

Thanks for the comparison.

[amberleadavis]

Great comparison. Whatever you do, don't hunt down the Wine Inks made by De Atramentis. They are addictive and made from real wines. I fell in love with unobtainium.

[DrDebG]

Great comparison. Whatever you do, don't hunt down the Wine Inks made by De Atramentis. They are addictive and made from real wines. I fell in love with unobtainium.

 

Oh, I have really wanted to try them out, but haven't yet. I have been really tempted to buy one of these: https://www.de-atramentis.com/en/ink-inks-ink-for-fountain-pens--463.html

 

I think if I do, I will likely order several to save on shipping. I really like DeAtramentis inks.

Edited May 15, 2020 by 5Cavaliers

[BaronWulfraed]

 

Oh, I have really wanted to try them out, but haven't yet. I have been really tempted to buy one of these: https://www.de-atramentis.com/en/ink-inks-ink-for-fountain-pens--463.html

 

I think if I do, I will likely order several to save on shipping. I really like DeAtramentis inks.

Oooh, Evil Person... Me Want!

 

I do have Levenger Claret and Shiraz inks left...

[Sailor Kenshin]

These all seem very close in actual color...and very pretty! Thanks for the review.

[ENewton]

How lucky we are that you made the mistake. Thanks for this valuable comparison.

[yazeh]

I wonder maybe Saint-Exupéry's colour is a reference to the Little Prince's rose?

 

Great comparison - Lucky for us you were tired