Cellar Craft Grape Packs

[geocorn]

There seems to be a lot of discussion regarding the value of grape packs and why they are not used my Mosti Mondiale; therefore, I thought it time to discuss this topic.


As Tim Vandergrift pointed out in a recent issue of WineMaker Magazine, the solidsgive your wine aroma, flavor, body and ageability. The problem is that wine kits come from processed grapes. Since you don't start with the actual grapes, the wine kits don't contain as many solids as you would have if you started with fresh grapes. In addition, the concentration process removes more solids. Compounding this problem is that you can only suspend so many solids in a given amount of liquid; therefore, a 10 liter kit will have more solids than a 7 liter kit with the 23 liter All Juice product containing the most solids.


To get around this problem, most of the wine kit manufacturers that use concentrates have gone to including grape packs in their higher end wine kits to get more solids. Since the Mosti All Juice product is 23 liters of juice, it automatically has more solids than any concentrate. A grape pack would improve an All Juice, but not as much as using a grape pack with a concentrate kit, as back to basic physics, you can only suspend so many solids in a given amount of liquid. Mosti does use raisins to add a few more solids, but the raisin pack is more for raising the alcohol and adding some body than anything else.


This gets back to the first rule of wine making, the better the fruit, the better the wine! As I have stated on several occasions, grape packs will improve almost any wine as it will increase the total amount of solids, but starting with the best possible fruit or juice will always produce a better wine, if handled properly.


Maybe someday Mosti will follow suit and we will be able to compare apples to apples. In the meantime, if you feel wines made with grape packs are better than those without, then follow the second rule of wine making - make what you like to drink.

 

[PeterZ]

George, I have never done one of the grape pack wines. My MM AJ Amarone came with a pound of raisins, though. Is there a big difference between grape packs and raisins? Seems to me that a grape pack is just chopped up grapes/raisins.

 

[smurfe]

Pete, there is quite a difference. The grape packs are similar to a large glob of jam. The raisins are very processed so the "innards" will blend into the liquid mass. You basically have skins left over after the wine making process. All the goodness inside the grape is in the wine now.


Using raisins the grape will rehydrate but not break down in the limited amount of time we use them. They will basically release their sugars. I have never noticed any body from raisins unless they were chopped to break open the skins to allow the "innards" to release into the wine much like the grape packs.


Basically. look at a box of raisins and look at a huge jar of runnygrape preserves jam (not jelly) with the skins thrown in and that is your difference. Grape packs between manufacturers are different as well. I liked the grape pack from Cellar Craft better than Wine Expert and I made old kits before they improved them. Much more solids in the wine with nothing but skins left over with the CC. I had to really squeeze the WE bag to get all the goodness.


The 2 CC grape pack kits (Amarone and Rosso Fortissimo) have been the best wines I have made to date IMHO. I haven't sampled any of the Mosti kits yet. It sounds like good things to come.

 

[Wade E]

RJS has 2 different kinds, some are dried skins and some are the gooey ones. I think just the Winery series are the gooey ones. The RJS EP Amarone actually comes with grape skins and a raisin pack.

 

[stubedo]

I have a raisin grape pack. Would it be better to soak it in water for a couple of days before putting it in the ferminter bucket? And, should I dump the raisins in or use the sock and weight it to the bottom with marbles? Thanks, Stu

 

[cpfan]

I have a raisin grape pack. Would it be better to soak it in water for a couple of days before putting it in the ferminter bucket? And, should I dump the raisins in or use the sock and weight it to the bottom with marbles? Thanks, Stu

Not sure what you mean by a raisin grape pack. Did this come with a kit? If so, which kit?

BTW, not a great idea to add your question to a 4.5 year old thread. Don't be afraid to open a new thread with your questions.

Steve

 

[tonyt]

Stubido that's mot a stupid question. Grape pack or raisons I'd put either in sock, neater that way. Good back story on skins kits in this thread. Btw Mosti now has several kits with grape packs and or raisins.