adding RGJ to a kit

[sampvt]

There seems to be many healthy debates on how RGJ and 100% fruit juices can be used to make wine but from someone that likes the fruitiness of wine, without overly sweetening it, my question is simple.....

Could the addition of RGJ or juice to the mix prior to fermentation, enhance the flavour of kits that are left wanting at the end of their cycles. I've found that the best results come from the kits that are 10 litres or more of juice as opposed to the kits that carry only 7 litres of juice.

Should we, or could we not consider that for a few extra pennies, the addition of a few litres of grape or specific fruit juice. or dried fruits, to a mix prior to fermentation, would it give us a slightly stronger wine with a more definitive fruitiness to it. My best wine so far was one I added dried fruits to and its never been beaten to date for nose and taste.

We are after all paying over £48 for a good kit, why not add a few quid more in juice to bolster the taste and abv.

 

[cpfan]

RGJ = real grape juice?

 

[sampvt]

Does nobody agree that more fruit or juice = more flavour and body ???????? Seems a shame to me to allow the kits with less juice in them to slide away and allow the big boys to flourish when all the difference lies in the volume of juice available to ferment.

Bad grapes = bad wine..........Good juicey grapes full of flavour = good wine.

Isnt the solution simple, that's what I am asking.

 

[MattWI]

Yes, it is that simple (mostly). Additional fermentables will help boost body (via additional alcohol). Whole fruit on the skins will provide even more body and complexity. Both will aid the nose of the wine and may aid the overall flavor.

For some non-grape fruits, back sweetening may be needed to get that fruity flavor.

Lots of threads here about tweaking cheap kits. Plug the kit you're looking at in the search field and see how other people have modified the recipe/process.

 

[DoctorCAD]

...

Bad grapes = bad wine..........Good juicey grapes full of flavour = good wine.

Isnt the solution simple, that's what I am asking.

I will agree with the first part, but wine grapes don't always taste great or are they very juicey. Wine grapes have been refined over thousands of years to make good wine and nothing else.

One thing you are missing in your "simple" solution is that the solids from the grape skins are what you really need in a wine to give it "backbone". Juice simply doesn't have as many solids as the grapes themselves.

The real simple solution is to add a grape pack to your kits if you really feel that they are lacking. Juice is only half the battle.

 

[sampvt]

I will agree with the first part, but wine grapes don't always taste great or are they very juicey. Wine grapes have been refined over thousands of years to make good wine and nothing else.

One thing you are missing in your "simple" solution is that the solids from the grape skins are what you really need in a wine to give it "backbone". Juice simply doesn't have as many solids as the grapes themselves.

The real simple solution is to add a grape pack to your kits if you really feel that they are lacking. Juice is only half the battle.

Having never worked with grape packs before, could you be a little more specific. How much grapes, do they need crushing, should I press them instead and does the addition of dried fruits do a similar job.

 

[MattWI]

Dried fruit has a different flavor profile from fresh fruit, but it can be very successfully used. There are important considerations as many dried fruits are sulphited and may have undesirable oils.

I don't personally make grape wine, but will regularly add 1 can of grape concentrate and/or .5 lbs per gallon of rehydrated and chopped up raisins to my primary for body and balance. You can use the same principle with prunes, dried elderberries, or blackberries for red wines, or dried apricots or pineapple for whites. Amounts per gallon will differ drastically based on the fruit, as well as how much fermentable sugar they will impart.

Terry Gary's book "The Joy of Home Winemaking" has a whole chapter devoted to dried fruits - good principles that can be adapted to using them as an adjunct.