RJ Spagnols CC Winery Series vs En Primeur Grape Packs

After three winery series red kits with their luscious, jammy grape packs I was disappointed upon opening my En Primeur Shiraz and finding a small bag of dried skins. I was also disappointed in the small amt of oak shavings, and EC1118 yeast. For a higher end and more expensive kit it was disappointing. Can anyone recommend other brand name kits that come with more/nicer oak and grape skins? Or should I stick to the Winery Series? Thanks

For my taste, I have never met a Winery Series kit I didn't like. I have only made the En Premeur Amarone and, at 2 years, is still hot and harsh. I have decided to forego the En Premeur.

BTW, any truth to the rumor En Premeur is going away and merging with Winery Series? I seem to recall reading that somewhere.

Northerngal said:

Can anyone recommend other brand name kits that come with more/nicer oak and grape skins? Or should I stick to the Winery Series? Thanks

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I have made more Cellar Craft ("the other CC!) Showcase than anything else, and they have nice, big grape packs. However, I have been slightly more impressed with the grape packs in the WE Eclipse line (although I have only made a couple, and they are hard as Dickens to get out of the plastic pouch).

The Winery Series definitely has the best grape packs. So much easier to work with than CC and WE plastic pouches...

Thanks. I am planning to branch out into a few other brands of kits, good to have a heads up about the grape packs. Cheers! Anyone done Ken Ridge? Any thoughts?

I've made 2 EP kits. Both are now 2 years old, plus a few months. They are the New Zealand Pinot Noir (no longer offered), and the Amarone. They have taken a long time to come around. The Pinot is still not good, IMHO, but is improving. The Amarone was decent early on, but not great and certainly not reflective of the style. I had my most recent bottle of that several weeks ago, however, and was blown away. I'm not 100% convinced yet; but think, based on my experience and limited feedback from others, that these just take a good while to hit their potential. The only winery series kit I've made is the super tuscan, but I've made that twice. It's great. And I've made several of the Showcase/Limited Release kits from Cellar Craft/Kenridge. All have been winners.

The Mosti Mondiali Meglioli kits have nice, big grape packs.

sour_grapes said:

I have made more Cellar Craft ("the other CC!) Showcase than anything else, and they have nice, big grape packs. However, I have been slightly more impressed with the grape packs in the WE Eclipse line (although I have only made a couple, and they are hard as Dickens to get out of the plastic pouch).

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Paul, I used to have the same problem getting the grape skins out of the plastic pouch. What I now do is after reconstituting up to 23 liters per the instructions, I spread the strainer bag they provide over a large pot and secure it with a rubber band. I remove the skins by cutting out one corner of the bag and squeezing out the skins much like using a piping bag for icing a cake into the strainer bag. I then draw out about a half gallon of the must and use it to rinse the bag a couple of times by pouring in the must, sealing the opening and shaking the bag and dump the liquid into the straining bag. Most of the liquid runs through the bag into the pot. I then remove the rubber band, tie up the bag and drop it in the must in the fermenter and pour anything caught in the pot and any remaining must into the fermenter. Works real well.

roger80465 said:

For my taste, I have never met a Winery Series kit I didn't like. I have only made the En Premeur Amarone and, at 2 years, is still hot and harsh. I have decided to forego the En Premeur.

BTW, any truth to the rumor En Premeur is going away and merging with Winery Series? I seem to recall reading that somewhere.

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To answer your question, YES En Premeur is going away but not totally. Some of the taste profiles will rolled into the Wnery Series. An Example is they will have 2 Amarone in the winery series. One as it is now and the other with the En Premeur profile.

I also like the winery series over the En Premeur for the reasons listed by others. Also dont like the black fleck diamonds they drop. Great wine though when you let them age enough

cheers