Recent content by RJB

I did the CC Showcase Yakima Chardonnay about 18 months back. Personally I preferred the Showcase Viognier (more body, and a bit sweeter), but the ladies like the Chards, and it didn't last long - seems to me it started to disappear after about 6 months. I will probably do it again this year...

Greetings to the group and happy Monday :( I am currently making the Showcase Barbera, my first time making this particular kit. I racked it into clearing on Jan 15 and expected to see some evidence of clearing by now (roughly 2 weeks), however it still appears opaque - I check for clearing...

Seems like every batch is a little different, even from previous batches of the same type of wine. Happy to say this one has not lost its flavour, and I could darn near drink it right now. That said, the CC Viognier seems to mature nicely, gets some structure and loses some of that...

Well, looks like it finally cleared. Thanks for the help folks, it just took its sweet time.

Yesterday I fitted the vacuvin, and that helped speed up the clearing. Typically i do not use the vacuvin until the wine has fully cleared, as I have had some instances where the vacuvin has lifted whatever gunk has already cleared from the bottom of the carboy, rendering the wine no longer...

This is the Cellar Craft Showcase Viognier. It is excellent if aged over one year. Re the degassing, I have not attempted this yet - I degass using a Vacuvin (yep it works, but again, you gotta be patient, it can take regular pumping over several days). I am concerned that using the vacuvin at...

Good morning to all. I currently have a Showcase Viognier in the clearing stage - I have made this wine before (Jan 2011 IIRC), and do not recall having clearing problems. That first batch has all been consumed, and the natives are yelling for more (wife and her girlfriends. At the time I...

Cork trick worked =:O Thanks for the tips gang! After watching a couple of youtube vids showing guys getting corks out of wine bottles, I tried it on my 6 gallon carboy. It took a few tries to get the cork more or less axial with the neck of the carboy - then I was able to yank out the plastic...

Thanks for the rapid response. I checked it out on youtube... holy cow, that's pure witchcraft, gonna try it when i get home =:O Bob

After racking my Limited Release CC Pinot Noir into a fresh carboy (for clearing), I accidentally used too small a cork. In the process of inserting the bubble lock the cork squeezed through the neck, right into the carboy full of wine. Dang! I then racked the wine out into a fresh carboy, along...

I tried this on Sat night at a dinner party, my 9-month Viognier blind-tested against a supermarket V (Maryhill, not very expen$ive). The initial reaction was that the ladies preferred the Maryhill, due to its sweetness, but after a few sips they tired of that, declared it a "supermarket wine"...

I made the Showcase RF about 7 months ago. As it is now holiday season 2011, my wine stocks are being heavily depleted. So... when my wife asked for a red yesterday, instead of sacrificing another of my Amarones I opened a 7-month RF. It is certainly drinkable, but my sense is that it is still...

Well... the responses seem clear enough, Porto Corinto it is. Interesting thing, I googled "Cellar Craft Dessert Wines", and amongst other things, it threw up the vinecowine.com website. The Vineco site currently contains the full list of CC wines, from Classique through Showcase. Meanwhile...

Good morning to the forum. I have been using CC wine kits, mostly Showcase, for going on a year now, and have been overall very happy with the results. Now I am considering the Dessert Wine kits. (The Orange Muscat and Classic Port look interesting.) Can anyone comment on these kits? Are...

When making a red that you intend to age in the barrel, do you still add the oak chips, cubes etc, that come with the kit? bob