RJ Spagnols Cru International Australia Cabernet Sauvignon Style

[Grabo]

When we got into wine making about 5 months ago we purchased our first kit, which was a Cru International "Australia Cabernet Sauvignon Style". However, when it arrived, the juice had leaked inside the box. We called Morewine to ask what we should do, and they were super nice and helpful (especially for us, this being our first ever kit). Their customer service said to make it anyway and they would send us a replacement kit at no charge. Probably the best answer we could have heard. That first kit is now bottle aging, so we started our replacement kit!

We have done a few other kits that are still aging, so we are a little more confident in our skills, which means it is time for us to tinker with this duplicate kit. Right now my plan is to just change the yeast from EC-1118 to RC-212. I hope to learn the difference a yeast can make in the flavor of the wine. I've read on this forum and on many other websites about what a yeast can do for taste and mouth feel, but I'm still learning so it's time to see what I actually notice.

Anyway the kit is a 12L kit with dried skins and is described as: "A classic Cabernet Sauvignon with a nose of blackcurrants, dark chocolate, and subtle toasty notes with hints of coffee and vanilla notes on the palate." Sounds right in line with my taste.

We started the kit on 6/18, but I have been travelling for work, so I haven't been able to start a thread. We are following the directions as listed by RJS just like with the first kit. The only change is the yeast and some other small things like aging time, but my goal is to compare the taste of this "free" kit to the original with the EC-1118.

The juice smells and tastes amazing, just like the first batch. I prepared the bentonite, dumped in the juice, and added both the oak chips and dried skins to the mesh bag before tying it and dropping it in the must. The first kit we did, we added the oak "tea bags" into the must (per instructions), and they eventually popped little holes after gentle stirring and let all the oak out, so this time we just opened the bags and added to the mesh with the skins.

After topping up to 6 gallons, the SG was 1.088 @ 78F.

6/23 - 5 days later, the SG dropped to 1.020 @ 74F, so we racked into glass to let it finish fermenting. RJS instructions have you rack at 1.020, and we noticed that Winexpert is different, having you rack at 1.010 for the kits we have done. Either way, we are following the RJS instructions because we are still new and want to follow their recommended process.

We will measure the SG again this weekend to see if it is ready to proceed to the next step, but the bubbling in the airlock is almost nonexistent now, so I expect it will be ready for the Stabilizing and Clearing.

I intend to build on this thread as I progress, since threads like these were very helpful to me when I first started.

 

[DryFly]

I just bottled my Grand Cru Australian Cab after six months of bulk aging. While I was bottling, I enjoyed a bottle myself. I was very surprised at how good it tasted. It tasted like a legit wine. I don't know what I was expecting but it surpassed all my expectations. I can't wait to start my next kit!

The only issue I had with the Australian cab was that I could never get all of the sediment out of the carboy. I would rack and re-rack and there was always a thin layer of pink stuck to the bottom. I ended up with about 26 bottles and had to pitch probably three bottles worth because of the amount of sediment.

 

[terrymck]

When you think that you are leaving too much behind; just rack to a gallon jug and let it sit on the counter for a few days to settle. Siphon or pour carefully off the top and either drink it(quality control) or use it for topping up.

 

[Grabo]

@DryFly I was pleasantly surprised at how my first batch turned out, too. I only bulk aged for 3 months, so I could free up the carboy for the second batch. I would have bulk aged longer, but this second kit looks to have been manufactured about 12 months ago, so I really wanted to get it started. We drank the leftover bottle (~3/4 of a bottle) and I didn't expect it to be as drinkable as it was since it was so young. I definitely understand now when I read about a wine tasting "young." It was a little boozy and the flavors were sharper than I taste in a commercial wine. I have patience, though, and the flavors were more than I hoped for, so I'm excited I have 2 kits!

After 3 months of bulk aging, there was lees in the carboy, similar to DryFly's picture, but I racked onto some K-meta, waited a week prior to bottling and didn't see any lees fall again. If I have some sediment in the bottles, I won't mind, though. It will just encourage me to use my new decanter.

 

[Grabo]

Checked on my carboys yesterday, and the cab was down to 0.992 @74F. Skipped the sorbate, added the sulfite, racked into a clean carboy, and then added the clarifiers (in this kit's case chitosan and kieselsol). I plan to let it sit for a couple weeks before I rack again, but it's already dropping lees pretty quickly.

 

[rustbucket]

Grabo,

Thanks for starting this thread. I find reading about other members' wine kit making experiences informative and reassuring.

Please keep the updates coming.

 

[Grabo]

Today we noticed that the wine had some weird looking clumps of stuff in it. It looked kind of slimy on the sides, and the clump floating on top was about 2" in diameter and also looked slimy and kinda bubbly.

We're still new to wine making, so does anyone know what this could be? We don't detect any off smells or off flavors, so we just racked into a clean carboy and added 1/4 tsp of k-meta. We were due to rack for a 3 month nap anyway.

 

[Grabo]

If we follow the instructions for the kit, we would bottled this weekend, which is why I checked on the carboy last night. We plan to bulk age anyway, so we just racked a few days early, added k-meta, and topped off with a bottle from the original kit we made about 3 months ago.

As we racked last night (using the All in One pump), the weird floaties stuck to the sides of the carboy, and were left behind. Hopefully nothing happens in the new, clean carboy.

We use Oxy Clean with the green lid to clean our equipment, and Star San to sanitize.

 

[Johnd]

Most of the time, there are things floating around in there after fermentation, they can pretty easily make their way into your carboys during racking. Sometimes little patches of protein will form, when you're using skins or fruit, it's just not unusual to have some minor stuff floating around in there.

As long as your sanitation practices are sound, and it seems that yours are, it's usually not a cause for concern, time and rackings eliminate those little floaters.

 

[Grabo]

Thanks John. There doesn't seem to be any issues in the new carboy that is topped off. I'll check on it periodically while it bulk ages to make sure nothing else grows. Time to get distracted by another kit!

 

[Grabo]

I checked in on the carboy with the RC-212 last night and still no floaties! It's properly topped off and patiently waiting to be bottled in a few weeks. It has a little more sediment on the bottom, but not much. I'll likely rack it in 2 weeks, give it some more k-meta and then patiently wait to bottle it for another week.

I've been spoiling myself on white wine lately, so I opened up a bottle of the original kit, the one with EC-1118. I don't get much dark chocolate yet (from the description), but I do get dark fruit. It might taste like black currant, but I've never tasted any currant before, so we were describing it as "dark fruit, maybe plum." I also get some toasty flavors, like it is described, but they're not prominent. We pitched the yeast on 2/27, and it still has a touch of tartness to it, but definitely drinkable now. It doesn't have as much body as I'd prefer, so I'm really curious to see what RC-212 does to this.

We will taste again near the end of the year, but right now, I would say that it is meeting our expectations as a table wine, and I'm pretty happy so far with our first ever wine kit.

 

[Rtrent2002]

I started this same kit 12 months ago (10/16). To one point above, the must smelled amazing, like chocolate covered cherries. Makes me wonder if they add some artificial flavoring to the must. Anywho, as a beginners mistake, I added sorbate to stabilize and was stuck with an off sweet taste which I did t care for. However, after about 10 months of bulk aging in the carboy, most of the off flavors have dissipated. It's now a very smooth wine with no harsh "bite" but has also lost some of its bouquet and complexity. Overall I think I will enjoy drinking this one though.

 

[Grabo]

Anywho, as a beginners mistake, I added sorbate to stabilize and was stuck with an off sweet taste which I did t care for.

I did the same thing on my first kit. I was following the directions to a T, so I like to call it a "learning experience".

I didn't add the sorbate in the second batch, and I had a taste last week while adding the k-meta and racking. I don't get a slightly sweet off taste on the second one, and I'm quite happy with it. I'm excited to try them side-by-side after the second batch is at least a year old.

 

[Grabo]

I bottled version 2 of this kit over the weekend, and got about 30 bottles from it. I had a half bottle left over, which I drank with my spaghetti and meatballs on Saturday night. Even though the wine is still young, it tasted pretty darn good with some Victoria marinara and Wegman's brand frozen meatballs.

I checked on the bottles the next day to move them into our wine closet, and found that one of the bottles somehow broke and leaked all over my brewing area. The bottle was a cheapo, second hand bottle, so it must have had a thin wall at the bottom. At least it only leaked on the unfinished part of my basement, so nothing got damaged; it just stained the concrete floor and ruined 1 box I used to hold wine.