Cellar Craft CC Showcase Red Mountain Cab Autour de Deux

[ibglowin]

Round two for me on a CC Showcase Red Mountain Cabernet!

I picked this guy up back when they were running out and not sure if they would be able to source fruit from the Mecca of Washington State Wine AVA's so this is last years juice. Date code shows it was packaged on 3/10/2010 so its 9 mo old at the moment.

Came with the usual 2 types of Hungarian oak. Shavings and Cubes. This will spend a 6-9 month rotation in the Vadai Barrel so will not be using the supplied oak.

Starting SG without the Grape Pack was 1.090 and SG with the Grape Pack added in and stirred very well as 1.104 making for a nice 14.4% ABV when finished. Has the usual (now) Enzyme Pack as well. Brew Belts and Heating Pads are keeping this guy in the 72-74 degree range.

My first Red Mountain Cabernet is just now at 18 months and is starting to hit its prime. I still have around 25 bottles but will be giving a few away (to very special friends) so its definitely time to get another one going!

Nothing smells as good as a Red Mountain Cabernet fermenting in the Winery!

 

[Wade E]

Its already 9 months old, just bottle it!

 

[ibglowin]

That would be the worlds most expensive grape juice!

 

[Wade E]

Ahhh, but it was a good year!

 

[Bartman]

I'm glad to know I made it onto the list of Mike "very special friends" who will be receiving a Red Mt. Cabernet gift this Christmas. Right Mike??

 

[ibglowin]

Of course Bart! The wine is in the mail just like that check I sent you!

 

[v1rotate]

The last RMC I did finished at 0.988. If you are starting at 1.104, this alcohol calculator comes up with 16% ABV, Mike!

On that batch I have only 12 bottles tucked away.

But I got 2 more RMC kits from George that I will run through the Vadai next year.

Sure is a good wine.

 

[ibglowin]

Wow!

I can't seem to get below 0.996 no matter what. I have had one batch that made it to 0.994 but that was it.

I was thinking it was the high altitude (less O2) but I guess you just blew that theory out of the water since your even higher than me!

 

[ibglowin]

Forgot to mention this guy took off last night. It was 72 when I went to bed (heating pad on) and when I checked in on him this AM at 5:30 the temp strip was 78!

I seem to remember the first one was an "aggressive fermentor" as well. Anyhow heat off till lunch time and I will punch down the grape pack once again.

After I squeezed as much of the grape pack into the mesh bag I got some warm water and rinsed out the bag and got every last drop of sugar into the Primary. New little experiment to see how high I could get the starting SG.

Looks like it worked, I think this is the highest starting SG I have ever measured on a CC Showcase kit with grape pack.

 

[v1rotate]

Wow!



I can't seem to get below 0.996 no matter what. I have had one batch that made it to 0.994 but that was it.



I was thinking it was the high altitude (less O2) but I guess you just blew that theory out of the water since your even higher than me!

Well I made the last batch of RMC in Austin, Tx. Your theory is still possible. I started the batch in late April, so it was probably fairly warm in the house to help the fermentation go low, if not necessarily the best regime from a flavor standpoint.

 

[tonyt]

I can almost smell it from here . . . yum!

I have looked at this kit every time y'all talk so favorably about it. But this description always scares me away from it "The vineyards have high calcium carbonate content in their soil. This imparts a distinctive chalkiness". Any comments.

 

[Randoneur]

I can almost smell it from here . . . yum!

I have looked at this kit every time y'all talk so favorably about it. But this description always scares me away from it "The vineyards have high calcium carbonate content in their soil. This imparts a distinctive chalkiness". Any comments.

I keep looking at it too. I'm not put off by the descriptionbecause the reviews by forum members are so good. I think I'll do one in the spring when the new batch comes out.

 

[ibglowin]

Yea, its good!

It doesn't taste like Tum's if that's what your worried about. It definitely has an earthy minerality. Since the Columbia Valley gets less than 7" a year of rain the vineyards are all under drip irrigation so they can control the amount of water to the vines and thus make the roots run deep into the rocky terroir where it picks up the mineral notes.

Try a bottle of wine from the region. I can name many that come from Red Mountain but they are not cheap, usually $35 to $100 at a good wine shop.

Look for the Columbia Crest "H3" Cabernet or the Columbia Crest "Grand Estates" Cabernet or the Chateau St. Michelle "Columbia Valley" Cabernet. All of these are usually available at your large Supermarket chains or places like Costco if you have one in your neck of the woods.

 

[ibglowin]

Moved this to glass the day after Xmas. Nice color for sure.

SG when checked a few days ago was 0.997 and still bubbling pretty good. May see my first 0.994!

Will probably degas and stabilize on Friday afternoon.

 

[ibglowin]

UPDATE

Bottled this guy yesterday. I think (no wait, I know) it is even better than the first batch that got me started in this hobby/obsession! Over 8 months aging including 3 months in the Vadai barrel. I also layered an ounce of Med+ toast French Oak beans several months after pulling it out of the barrel and while it went back to the carboy. I kicked up the finish with a small addition of Tancor Grand Cru as well. Filtered with a 5u whole house filter. Free SO2 was 18ppm before filtering. After filtering it bumped up to 28ppm. I needed 38ppm by the book as the pH was 3.48 so I added 0.4gm Sulfite powder and stirred well several days before bottling. Absolutely no detection of sulfite on the nose in the leftover glass.

Commercial quality all the way.

This is in a league of its own folks!

 

[tonyt]

Any chalkiness?

 

[ibglowin]

None that I could detect right now.

 

[tonyt]

None that I could detect right now.

On the wish list it goes . . . wait, maybe they'll do a super pack version as LR next year.

 

[ibglowin]

I wish, don't hold your breath, just buy an additional Cab Sauv grape pack from George and toss it in as well!

 

[patc]

UPDATE

Bottled this guy yesterday. I think (no wait, I know) it is even better than the first batch that got me started in this hobby/obsession! Over 8 months aging including 3 months in the Vadai barrel. I also layered an ounce of Med+ toast French Oak beans several months after pulling it out of the barrel and while it went back to the carboy. I kicked up the finish with a small addition of Tancor Grand Cru as well. Filtered with a 5u whole house filter. Free SO2 was 18ppm before filtering. After filtering it bumped up to 28ppm. I needed 38ppm by the book as the pH was 3.48 so I added 0.4gm Sulfite powder and stirred well several days before bottling. Absolutely no detection of sulfite on the nose in the leftover glass.

Commercial quality all the way.

This is in a league of its own folks!

Hey mike!!! Now your talking i was wondering how long it was going to take until you started to play a little and i stand by my taste impressions the tan cor gran cru is amazing when used correctly.but i gotta hand it to ya you held out for quite a while

Next you gotta try using a different yeast strain to enhance the flavor profile

trustme your gonna like it