Cellar Craft Riesling Showcase Collection - Flavour Pack

[Drez]

So I've had great luck with past Cellar Craft Showcase collections, especially given some age. The Amerone remains my all time favourite kit and in spite of being a lighter body red, the Zweigelt is also excellent IMO. I figured I'd try one of the whites and so I started the Yakima Valley Riesling (used to read Johannisberg after the famed Rheingau region wine but I guess they dropped it after Im sure much confusion as to the grapes being from Germany, South Africa or USA, the latter being the case).

Anyway back to the point, quite excited about it but was surprised to find an F-Pack. I guess Its my first white kit to include one.

I have two concerns with this.
1) I love Rieslings but not because they are sweet, in fact I tend to favour slightly dryer Rieslings and I worry that this F Pack will make it overly sweet.

Any recommendations? How much Sweet it it add for others? Maybe only add half...

2) I notice a while layer on the bottom of the bottle, looks like wax or even crystallized honey...should it be there or has this flavour reserve separated in some way?

As always, thanks for the help

 

[robie]

I also prefer almost dry Rieslings. I am not sure if there is anything in the F pack besides sugar. If I were you, I would contact Cellar Craft customer help and ask them. Cellar Craft has a new owner, but I am sure you can still contact someone who can answer that question.

If it is just sugar (and likely some sorbate), maybe you can add only a portion of the F pack to taste.

 

[Flem]

Hi Drez. I made this kit last year about this time. I think the f-pac you are referring to is the small plastic bottle of syrup. Even after adding that reserve and prior to bottling, the S.G. was only .994---dry by anyone's standards. Even though I typically like dry whites and reds, I thought that, since this was a Riesling I'd bring the S.G. up to a, neutral, 1.000. We love it. Good Luck!

 

[PurpleToes]

Hi Drez,
Since I tend to like drier whites myself, perhaps you can do what I've done in the past when confronted with an F-pac: After the wine is cleared and is ready for bottling, try the wine before you add anything and see how you like it. I usually add a couple of the plastic ice cubes (the ones that don't melt and water down your wine) and swirl the wine in a glass for a bit to lower the temp and approach a more normal serving temp.... if I like it, I just bottle it without the provided sweetener. Otherwise, I add a bit and stir, then taste and evaluate. If I do add sweetener, I find that I usually add about 1/3 of the dose, and have never done more than half. But that's my taste - to each his own!

Have also done it both ways... bottle a portion of the wine dry, then add a bit of the F-pac and bottle the rest a little sweeter. The best of both worlds! Just be sure to segregate the bottling so you know which is which.

Believe the F-pac also contains a bit of varietal concentrate to help embellish the aroma.

Hope that helps!

 

[Drez]

Hi Drez. I made this kit last year about this time. I think the f-pac you are referring to is the small plastic bottle of syrup. Even after adding that reserve and prior to bottling, the S.G. was only .994---dry by anyone's standards. Even though I typically like dry whites and reds, I thought that, since this was a Riesling I'd bring the S.G. up to a, neutral, 1.000. We love it. Good Luck!

I 'll be honest, I hadn't considering actually measuring the sugars. I suppose that assumes they don't use sweetener int he f pac but actual sugars that will show up as brix. Im comforted to know that its a dryer product even with the sweetener though

Hi Drez,
Since I tend to like drier whites myself, perhaps you can do what I've done in the past when confronted with an F-pac: After the wine is cleared and is ready for bottling, try the wine before you add anything and see how you like it. I usually add a couple of the plastic ice cubes (the ones that don't melt and water down your wine) and swirl the wine in a glass for a bit to lower the temp and approach a more normal serving temp.... if I like it, I just bottle it without the provided sweetener. Otherwise, I add a bit and stir, then taste and evaluate. If I do add sweetener, I find that I usually add about 1/3 of the dose, and have never done more than half. But that's my taste - to each his own!

Have also done it both ways... bottle a portion of the wine dry, then add a bit of the F-pac and bottle the rest a little sweeter. The best of both worlds! Just be sure to segregate the bottling so you know which is which.

Believe the F-pac also contains a bit of varietal concentrate to help embellish the aroma.

Hope that helps!

I never thought of bottling half dry and half sweater...good idea. I'll be sure to taste and go. Can always add more I guess, but cant take it back out...