Just opened a 24 month old bottle of RJS Cru Select Ripassa - the longest aged of any of my kit wines. The oak and tannins just haven't mellow out, but it's drinkable. Looked back at my notes and fermented for 14 days till dry at .990 SG, started at 1.10. That's about 14.75 % alc. The kit came with 4 packs of oak and a really big bag of dry-sangiovese grapeskins. My point is, 12 premium red kits later non have had that much alcohol, oak or tannins, even with the usual added tweaks.
RJ Spagnols Still an Oak Monster
- Thread starter Bacci
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Hard to believe you could over oak a kit using just the supplied oak. The manufacturers know their product pretty well and usually err on the conservative side with oak. On the other hand that sounds like a lot of oak for a Ripassa and 24 months is plenty of time for it to have settled down you would think. Have you tried letting it air out (decant) for an hour? Sounds like a good wine to me!
It is a standout! I've only got 6 bottles left and I'm sure it'll become just fabulous by the last bottle, it's maybe closer to a Amarone than a Sangiovese. I believe it was the 14 day fermentation that led to the strength of tannins and oak, IMO, a bit too long. But all the Cru Selects call for 14 days in fermentor, most are juice only, but the Ripassa is one of the few with a dry grapeskin, TWICE the size of the Cru Select -Limited Shiraz, Zin, Barbera, I did last fall. It too called for 14 days in fermentor and the tannins are very firm. I believe, the EP kits with the same type of larger dry grapepaks only call for 7 day fermentations.
Now your making me put this on my wish list! Lol
The Ripassa is basically an Amarone just on the lighter side and not so raisiny. I dont recall mine being that oaky but it was many years ago now since I made that kit but I do remember liking that 1 a lot. I have to admit I love the oak monster though!
No tweaks needed, just a couple of years aging on that one. I never read/hear much about the results of RJS genuwine dry packs. The RQ kits have them, but wasn't impressed with the 2012 lineup. My 2011 RQ SZB blend has more body/mouthfeel than most other premium kits i've made.
I am looking at the Winery Series one!
tonyt
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I have made the cru select twice. It is outstsnding. Both times I used all provided oak plus added some AND ran through Vidal barrel for 3 months. Both itmes I blend some with Rosso Fortussimo and back sweeten just a bit to make something called Rubio by Italian producer L'Arco.
sounds like a great Italian blend - I would call it Giambotta "all mixed up"
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