WineXpert Fourtitude with Grape Skins
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Got my shipping notification today as well........twice. Realized I pre ordered this one twice, nearly two months apart. Hope it's good.
With five kits in carboys aging, and another two on deck, I just ordered my last kit for 2016. I may pick one more up if the mood strikes me right(or let's be honest, if one night I have too much to wine and really want to pull the trigger on the Eclipse Nebbiolo). But, for the final kit of 2016, I ordered the Fourtitude.
This one will hit the primary in early May, and age in the carboy at least 6 months.
Of any of the LE's this year - this was my must have.
This one will hit the primary in early May, and age in the carboy at least 6 months.
Of any of the LE's this year - this was my must have.
The Fourtitude was dropped at the office today, ended up with two of them, guess Matt couldn't stop my double order quick enough.
18L kit with juice and grape skin pack, mesh bag along with 30g American oak cubes, KMS, Bentonite, Sorbate, two 150ml bags of chitosan, EC 1118 and RC 212.
Since I have two, here's my plan. I've got two Brehm OVZ Sonoma must buckets coming in next week, once pressed, I'll use the skins from each one of those buckets and add to each of the Fourtitudes, just to up the ante. One Fourtitude with RC 212, one with BM 4x4. Skip the oak, sorbate and clearing agents on the kits, bulk age and barrel the same amount of time, see how they come out in the end.
18L kit with juice and grape skin pack, mesh bag along with 30g American oak cubes, KMS, Bentonite, Sorbate, two 150ml bags of chitosan, EC 1118 and RC 212.
Since I have two, here's my plan. I've got two Brehm OVZ Sonoma must buckets coming in next week, once pressed, I'll use the skins from each one of those buckets and add to each of the Fourtitudes, just to up the ante. One Fourtitude with RC 212, one with BM 4x4. Skip the oak, sorbate and clearing agents on the kits, bulk age and barrel the same amount of time, see how they come out in the end.
Only 30 gr of American Oak cubes? That's it?? I'm a little surprised there's no oak chips for the primary.
I would say it is likely that the yeast strain that ferments your Fourtitude kits will be whatever strain was in the Brehm bucket.... The RC212 and BM4x4 will get dominated, methinks.
I had the same thought Paul, the Brehm buckets are not inoculated, and I'll be using the BM 4x4 on the Brehm must buckets. When the buckets are pressed, I'll divide the skins and freeze them for a short period of time. Then I'll start the two kits separately with the two different yeasts, thaw and add the skins in after the fermentation is moving along well. I'm hoping that the RC 212 kit yeast in full swing will dominate the previously frozen BM 4x4. One will be all BM 4x4 any way you look at it. Any problems with that, theoretically??
Me too, but that's it............at least in the one that I've opened.
AZMDTed
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Yep, that's all that's in mine too.
I'm kinda disappointed. Maybe tannin in with the skins and some additional American oak in the finish.
I think that sounds like a fine plan!
Remember, he'll get some tannins from the skins, so it may be fine the way it is. Plus @Johnd always ages it at least a year, so plenty of time to add extra oak or tannins or both. Plus now that I think of it (my one thought for the day) those two yeasts will accentuate the oak in different ways via the by-products each yeast produces during fermentation. Sorta like when certain beer yeasts accentuate the hops and others the malt.
Craig's right, I should get a pretty good tannin, color, and hopefully body boost from the zin skins, plus the kit skins, but I may put a tsp tannin in primary to help hold on to as much color as I can. Fingers crossed on the body. Oak much later in the barrel, so that doesn't discourage me. I've got so much leftover kit oak, spirals, wine stix, will use when the barrels get neutral.
If the Brehm Zin from grapes blows all of my kits away (I bought a really good one), my kit production (reds anyway) is gonna go way down. Expectations are very high.......
I have a new Forza set of rules, no beer before a Forza. I was really, really fuzzy last Sunday morning. That is a strong glass of wine.
Only had beer today so far, late enough I might save my wine drinking for tomorrow. Gathering bottles for a pre-40th HS reunion meeting tomorrow afternoon. Taking my carbonated Sauvingnon Blanc keg, should be interesting...
Hmmm... A little after the fact, since the kit is already sitting in my wine room. But, I'm interested to see what I'll get for my labor. I'll need to travel 100 miles in the PRP to get it tho.
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Shotfire makes several excellent wines and this and the shiraz are their best. Personally, I cannot see a kit getting close to the flavor and body of this wine no matter how much you tweak the kit. Maybe I am not doing it right but have not had a kit wine that is close to a $25+ bottle of commercial wine.
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My plan is to add Tannin Rouge in the primary with the grape skins. I'm good with the yeast they include. But, i'll prepare for more oak in the finish, but will decide that later.
I've come to the point where I don't find comparing kits to commercial wines (and using dollar values) to be very constructive. I've had plenty of $50 bottles of wine that I didn't care for; while a $6 bottle of Sangiovese was one of the more satisfying bottles of wine I've ever had (maybe in part because I got it at such a bargain).
Even a well regarded and readily available wine can vary in price - a wine I buy in the People's Republic of Pennsylvania costs me anywhere from $5 to $50 more than it would in DE or NJ.
That said, I make wine that tastes wonderful to me and comparable to commercial wines that I would buy and share. Others who drink my wine enjoy it as well (not just people trying to be nice, but close friends who have license to be as brutally honest as possible).
I think we're all searchers... Looking for wine that we want to drink. Looking for a bargain. Looking for (fill in the blank if I missed something).
I've come to the point where I don't find comparing kits to commercial wines (and using dollar values) to be very constructive. I've had plenty of $50 bottles of wine that I didn't care for; while a $6 bottle of Sangiovese was one of the more satisfying bottles of wine I've ever had (maybe in part because I got it at such a bargain).
Even a well regarded and readily available wine can vary in price - a wine I buy in the People's Republic of Pennsylvania costs me anywhere from $5 to $50 more than it would in DE or NJ.
That said, I make wine that tastes wonderful to me and comparable to commercial wines that I would buy and share. Others who drink my wine enjoy it as well (not just people trying to be nice, but close friends who have license to be as brutally honest as possible).
I think we're all searchers... Looking for wine that we want to drink. Looking for a bargain. Looking for (fill in the blank if I missed something).
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Maybe the solution is not tweaking the kit. I actually have a belief that kit winemakers have a good idea of what they are doing, so for the most part, I just follow the instructions. I recently gave a foodie friend of mine a bottle of 2+ year old LE2012 Nebbiolo. He said it was as good as $30.00 wine he gets at the liquor store (Canada pricing though).
AZMDTed
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I pitched mine today, using the supplied yeasts. It was odd not having oak chips in primary on a big red. After two hours the SG was 1.086, after six it was 1.093. I'm sure that it will keep going up as the pack releases its sugars. WE told me that the final SG is usually reached after 12 hours, but I plan on being asleep then.
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