Cellar Craft Min. Aging Recommendations for Various CC kits?

[DrJayman]

Maybe I'm a little OCD, but I like to plan or forecast what I have aging and available. By that I mean, some of the heavy hitters are allowed to age gracefully long-term while I enjoy some of the smaller kits as "Quaffers." This has generally worked well unless something goes awry or not as expected, (i.e. had a Chard I needed to have bottle-aged/ready 9 months down the road, but took much longer than expected/accustomed ....)

To do this forecasting/planning, I have generally used the aging recommendations on George's site as a rough benchmark and assessing progress by "euthanizing" a bottle about each month beginning just before that recommended time to monitor progress. However, I picked up a couple CC Premium kits, (Meritage Blanc and Italian PG) from a local retailer to backfill my quaffers down the road and George doesn't carry these in stock anymore. (Meritage Blanc has also been dc'd by CC.)

So, thought a thread might be helpful for myself in this situation and others in the future looking for some rough aging benchmarks/experiences for CC kits.

For some reason I seem to recall rightly or wrongly, these had a 6 month minimum bottle aging recommendation, but don't recall the "peak" or "best consumed by" dates.

Anyone have any input on these?

 

[ibglowin]

I only make the Showcase series kits but I have made plenty. The Showcase reds need minimum of a year IMHO and 18mo is better. I always bottle a couple of splits and will try one at 12-14mo, then the second at 14-16mo and then ease them into the drinking rotation at 18mo. I have been using Vadai barrels for a year now and they seem to make a wine much more approachable at 12mo than one that has just sat in a carboy for that length of time. Micro-ox from the barrel helps out a lot in the aging process. My oldest reds are coming up on 2.5 years old and are really hitting their prime now. I would expect them to be good for another 1-2 years at least but I doubt I will have them around that long.

The Showcase whites are all much faster to mature. Some like the Showcase Riesling and Pinot Gris were very good/great at 3 months and were excellent at only 6 months. Others like the CC Showcase Viognier and the Chardonnay took 6mo to get good/great and 9-12mo to get excellent.

YMMV as they say.

 

[DrJayman]

Ah, that darn mileage!

Thanks for the input Mike. I actually have a Yak Chard and PG bottled in the cellar, so your 'scouting report' will help me and others going forward.

Keep 'em coming people.....

Also appreciate the reports on the reds. I kind of (begrudgingly) gathered that was the case, but of course one always wants to believe the magic will happen sooner. Been at this about a year, and my first CC red says 6-9 months, which is now, but probably going to hold off until Feb to really start pillaging.

Killer is I absoluting love Washington and French Syrah and my first Yak is in the primary.

Where do you get the barrels? I am quite interested!

 

[ibglowin]

Glad to help you spend some more $$$$$!

Look here

 

[robie]

I have a barrel just like Mike's. Yep, go with the barrel if you possibly can. It will do more to make your kits like the commercials than any other thing you can do for them.

As a side benefit, before you start aging your reds in the barrel, I read someplace else you can ferment a couple of whites in the barrel first and it will impart some special characteristic to the barrel. Characteristics that will help enhance future reds, which will age in that barrel.

 

[RJB]

Interesting info re the barrels Mike. How many uses do you get from one barrel? At $145 each inquiring minds want to know...

Bob

 

[ibglowin]

The best part about the barrel is as long as you take care of it (keep it full) it will last forever!

It will lose its oaking capability after about 2-3 (neutral barrel) years but then you just use it like a carboy and add oak beans or spirals.

The secret is in the fact that it actually lets O2 in at a slow rate (micro oxidation). This combined with the concentration through evaporation effect (the Angel's share) will take your wine to the next level!

 

[robie]

The best part about the barrel is as long as you take care of it (keep it full) it will last forever!

It will lose its oaking capability after about 2-3 (neutral barrel) years but then you just use it like a carboy and add oak beans or spirals.

The secret is in the fact that it actually lets O2 in at a slow rate (micro oxidation). This combined with the concentration through evaporation effect (the Angel's share) will take your wine to the next level!

So true. I actually prefer a neutral barrel, because I can take advantage of micro-oxygenation and concentration, while adding the preferred type of oak chips/spirals, which is best for the particular wine being aged. You can't beat using a barrel.

 

[RJB]

When making a red that you intend to age in the barrel, do you still add the oak chips, cubes etc, that come with the kit?

bob

 

[ibglowin]

I just posted about this earlier just this AM. If the kit comes with two types of oak, say oak sawdust and oak cubes, I add the sawdust in primary as directed and then hold out the beans or cubes. You especially want to do this if they are two different oak varietals as this is part of an oak layering technique/process. Its especially noticeable when you have say American oak sawdust that gets added in primary followed by Hungarian oak beans added in secondary/bulk aging time frame.

I have a drawer now full of oak beans just waiting for the day the barrel becomes neutral. I will have plenty!

 

[DrJayman]

Wow! Thanks Mike! Definitely intriguing.... I guess if you can get a couple uses over time it would pay for itself..... I like hungarian, just wish there were Med toast French barrels as well and as reasonable.

Sure it is only a matter of time...... before there are one or two in the basement.

 

[ibglowin]

Hungarian is so close to French (oak) that you would be hard pressed to tell the difference really. You can probably find a small French oak barrel but it will coast you double just because its French. Its the exact same species of oak just grown in Hungary. Hungarians also seem to work for a lot less $$$ as well.