Cellar Craft 2010 LR Rosso Fortissimo Reserve Cuvee

[v1rotate]

Started this Showcase kit on Thursday, 20Jan. I am making a double batch to get a 4 month ride in my 40L Vadai starting in April. This kit comes with the 2.6L "Super Pack" grape pack. I anticipate a challenge keeping it contained in my 7.9G bucket, so I am keeping the wine room at 66' to try and control the must temp and keep it below 72'.

Starting SG before the GP was 1.080 at 79'. I dumped the GP in loose this time. I'll see how racking goes. SG after mixing in the GP was 1.100, which I expected. That is a .020 rise due to the GP. What I didn't expect was to measure 1.106 6 hours later! I couldn't get the must to stay in the wine thief due to all the sediment, so I floated the hydrometer in the bucket to get the 1.106 reading. Perhaps it isn't very accurate, don't know. I'll be interested to see how low this ferments for me. I did a regular Rosso Fortissimo in Sept 09 which finished at 0.990 77'. If this batch finishes that low it would be a 16% wine! Room temp in '09 was 77' so that might make a difference.

Not much room left in this bucket! There is a huge cap which I am punching down with a plastic spoon 4 or 5 times a day. Sad to think I won't get around to drinking this batch until 2014. The cellar will contain about 1000 bottles by the time I bottle this next Sept. <sigh>

 

[v1rotate]

Hmm, where did the 2 pictures go?

 

[v1rotate]

I'll try again.

And the must:

 

[tonyt]

I just racked this to glass on Jan. 18th. I used the mesh bag for the grape pack. It fit fine in the plastic fermenter and did not overflow, kept the temp at 75 with brew belt. It is now down to SG .995. We ought to swap bottles in a year or two.

 

[Bacci]

Just put my Rosso LRup to bulk age after racking on day 52. Iwas blown away with thearoma and taste at thispoint.I addedand extra 1.5 oz Hg. cubes. I'm considering bottling this one early after 3 months of bulk aging.

 

[ibglowin]

Man that is one full bucket my friend!

That will be a tough one to contain, good luck with it!

 

[v1rotate]

I addedand extra 1.5 oz Hg. cubes

In addition to the 100g that came with the kit? Seems like a lot, but a big red like this can probably handle it. I'll be putting mine in the barrel in April and see how the oak is coming at 3 months. I plan to leave it in a month after that so that will leave time for a spiral if I need more oak.

That reminds me, my 2 kits came with 2 different types of oak cubes. Each was a 100g bag, but one of the kits came with Hungarian medium toast (marked on the bag) and the other wasn't marked with toast level and the beans were very noticeably darker. The 2 kits were manufactured a month apart. Doesn't really matter to me since I won't be using the supplied beans. Interesting though. I should have taken a picture of the 2 bags...

 

[v1rotate]

Man that is one full bucket my friend!

That will be a tough one to contain, good luck with it!

So far, so good, Mike. The cap is nearly an inch thick when I go downstairs to punch it down. Now, on day 3, there is a ton of foaming at that time which I watch whilst holding breath. The must temp is still at 72' but I may have to lower the ambient temp a bit in the next day or 2 as the fermentation peaks in intensity.

 

[RickC]

I have this one cued up and ready to start this week. I also will be using a 7.9 g fermenter. Jim, keep us updated.I could gobuy a 10 g but prefer not to.

 

[v1rotate]

So far, it looks like the 7.9G bucket will work if you can control the room temperature to keep the must at 72' or so. I am lucky that I have a small heating zone in the wine room. Yes, I plan to keep the forum updated on my experiment.

 

[tonyt]

Mine came with French and American dust that was added in primary, and 100gm of Hungarian medium cubes to be added during clearing. I also plan to add one or two Medium plus French spirals during aging. ALTHOUGH if I convince SWMBO how much I need a barrel it could have a short trip through a new Hungarian barrel rather than the French spiral.

 

[Bacci]

My initial tasting was very fruit forward, tannins were not too rough for sangiovese, (blends). I think it's a great oppt. to add extra oak, I'm using1/2 bag Hg.med house toast for next 3 months,

 

[tonyt]

Man that is one full bucket my friend!

That will be a tough one to contain, good luck with it!

Not only a full bucket but when it came time to clean the bucket it was really messy. The sludge (lees?) was incredibly sticky. I had to use a really stiff brush, detergent and much more elbow grease than ever. Mine even had an oily sheen on top. Since you didn't use the mesh bag for the grape pack it doesn't show in your photo. I was careful at racking to leave the oil behind.

 

[v1rotate]

Day 6 update. The must temp is 70-71' and the fermentation seems to be slowing down, as you would expect. SG reading is 1.030 now and I think the danger of overflowing the bucket is over. The cap is only 1/2" thick now compared to 1" a couple of days ago. There is still quite a bit of foaming when I stir it, but I am confident it will stay contained. Whew!

 

[ibglowin]

A gamblin' man!

 

[tonyt]

I just degassed and clarified. The oily sheen is grossed me out though. I think I was successful leaving it behind. Even the sediment was oily. Do all Cellar Craft kits do this?

Do y'all think this would be a good candidate for the first two weeks in the Vadai barrel I am ordering? I have several kits aging and on order that could break in the barrel if this isn't the best candidate.

 

[robie]

I just degassed and clarified. The oily sheen is grossed me out though. I think I was successful leaving it behind. Even the sediment was oily. Do all Cellar Craft kits do this?

Do y'all think this would be a good candidate for the first two weeks in the Vadai barrel I am ordering? I have several kits aging and on order that could break in the barrel if this isn't the best candidate.

Get rid of the gross stuff first. Sounds like it might be the milky layer the enzyme packet, which CC usually encloses, is supposed to treat. If it is, leaving it behind won't help, it will form again. You have to use the enzyme packet... I know from experience.

 

[tonyt]

I just degassed and clarified. The oily sheen is grossed me out though. I think I was successful leaving it behind. Even the sediment was oily. Do all Cellar Craft kits do this?

Do y'all think this would be a good candidate for the first two weeks in the Vadai barrel I am ordering? I have several kits aging and on order that could break in the barrel if this isn't the best candidate.

Get rid of the gross stuff first. Sounds like it might be the milky layer the enzyme packet, which CC usually encloses, is supposed to treat. If it is, leaving it behind won't help, it will form again. You have to use the enzyme packet... I know from experience.

It formed, I added the enzyme, it formed again. Will it form while clarifying too?

 

[bcfryer]

I started my kit of this 2010 Limited Rosso today and just want to ask a question of the others who have done this kit before me. The sell sheet on this kit says its a 18L kit with a 2.6L grape pack. So what should one expect to have in the way of Juice Volume.


I would say 15.4L.




Seems I had to add over 8L of water to get up to the 23L ring in my 7.9 Fermentation bucket. Closer to 9L. And I was counting as I always do. No mistake.


Anyone else count as they added the water up to the 23L mark prior to dropping inthegrape pack?

 

[vcasey]

CC kits have a history of that milky/oily sheen. I have done many CC kits and have never had that problem so the packet gets tossed.

Yes a good candidate for the barrel. But if you have already used oak with this please be very careful because it may not need very much if any.