Fontana Cabernet Sauvignon - how to make it better?

[crabjoe]

Yes, I know about the thread about making cheap wine kits better, but that thread has gotten so long, I was having trouble trying to figure out what to do with the 6 gallon Cab Sauv kit I got.

This kit seems very basic. It came with the extract, bentonite, K-Meta, K-Sorbate, and some fining agents. Being it's a red, which I normally don't drink, I'd like to age it. Even though it's a 4 week kit.

So my questions are.. How muck and when should I add oak? Should I be using raisins? If so, how much and when should I add it? Is there anything else I should I ... maybe some tannin into the primary fermentation?

Any help with making this a better wine is appreciated.

 

[wine o]

This guy has a lot of good advice on his channel. This video answers your questions. This link is for improving cheap wine kits.

 

[crushday]

Honestly, @joeswine wrote the manual that answers your questions and many more... https://www.winemakingtalk.com/threads/tweeking-cheap-kits.51904/

 

[joeswine]

We started writing this thread on 2007, that's when a lot oF us transferred herd from the old thread.