Whats In The Juice?

[jake77]

I have been trying to figure out whats in the juice that comes with the kit. Well really, whats the difference in a 23L kit and a 10L kit when water has been added to make 6 gallons? Is the 23L pure grape juice? Is the 10L watered down juice? RJS has an En Premier line that is 18L and is a high dollar kit, on the other hand they have a Premier Cru line that is 23L and is quite a bit cheaper. What is the difference? If they take 23L of must and concentrate it down to 16L or 10L, then you add water to bring it back to 23L shouldn't they be the same?

 

[vcasey]

Sure would be easy if it was the same, but they are not. Think of the smaller kits as the stuff you would get from a variety of different vineyards all combined together. The larger kits have more grape juice/solids in them and they tend to produce wines that will need to be aged. They also tend to come from single vineyards that produce better grapes which will result in better wine. There was an article in winemaker magazine about this that explains a lot better then I can. I found the linkhttp://www.winemakermag.com/stories/kit/article/indices/25-kit-winemaking/550-picking-the-right-kit-wine-kits
VC

 

[vcasey]

Here is another articlehttp://www.winemakermag.com/stories/kit/article/indices/25-kit-winemaking/90-big-kits-wine-kits

 

[ibglowin]

Those are great articles. Who would have thought that making a great wine comes down to the amount gunk (TDS) in your juice!

If I recall we have a couple of waste water engineer types on these boards.

They must be GREAT winemakers since they are the TDS experts in life!

 

[Dean]

In most cases, you can always just use the old saying "You get what you pay for". Generally speaking with kits, the higher the price, the higher quality of juice/concentrate you are getting, and in the end, the higher quality of wine will be made.

Don't just look at it as up front costs like the EP costing more. Look at it in cost per bottle, and you'll find that the higher end kits only cost about $1 or $2 more per bottle.

 

[admiral]

I liked both of those articles. They really helped me understand the differences in the kits. I suppose my intuition told me that higher prices equal better stuff but now I know what kind of stuff (TDS). Thanks vcasey!

 

[jake77]

Thanks Guys! They are good articles that help explain whats what. You would think that by taking water out of the juice then the concentrate would have more of the TDS. So back to the RJS kits, would the 23L kits make just as good wines or better than the smaller En Premier series or vice versa?

 

[Dean]

No, the EP is the top of the line Kit in RJS lineup. Following that, there is the Cellar Classic Winery Series, the Cru Select, and finally Premiere Cru (23L). The Premiere Cru 23L pail is basically between a Cru Select 16L kit and Cellar Classic 15L kit with the water already added for you.

There is more TDS and higher quality juice/concentrate in the EP lineup.