CC Showcase Amarone versus RJS Winery Series Amarone

For me, Amarone style is one of the great reasons to make wine kits. These usually retail from $40 to over $300 a bottle for good examples. Since I've spent some time in Italy and southern France, I've had the opportunity to get acquainted with the style aged to perfection from several vinters.

For those that don't already know, Amarone is a blend of Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara grapes (in order of prominence). Traditionally these are stored in lofts to partially dry and concentrate the grape juice prior to fermentation. Since that was a risky proposition, the drying process is done in dehydrators now. Once the desired concentration is achieved, it is fermented to at least 14% ABV (over 15% is normal) and aged for at least 5 years. In my book, asking for a hobbyist to wait 5 years to enjoy their wine is just crazy. So my experiment was to find out which of the most popular Amarone kits shines the brightest after about a year.

The RJS Winery Series Amarone is just over 1 year old and still has a predominant fruit forward taste. The oak barely comes through, although the wine clearly has the full body and 14-15% ABV, it only finishes with the classic taste of an Amarone. In fact, I'd be willing to guess that Petit Verdot is blended to a great degree in this example. Maybe over a few more years it will transform, but as of now, it's not my first choice. Don't get me wrong, this is one mighty nice wine! If you love the RJS Winery Series Super Tuscan and normally shrug at an Amarone, this might be the perfect choice for you.

I've been sampling the CC Showcase Amarone since it was 8 months old and I have to hand it to these folks. They really know how to produce a great example of these regional wines without all the work and waiting. My example is currently 1 year 4 months old and I'd stack it up against any of the better examples I've had. Full bodied, strong, and unmistakable flavor.

So which is your favorite Amarone kit?

Amarone

Now you're talking my speed there is nothing like AMARONE for me out of the big Italian reds, and yes it does take some time to come around with the kids that we use because it just is not available from the mother country that's for certain ,so we usually have at hand I made them both with fresh juice and with a wine expert kit and if you think about the process that you described above you can achieve these ones in a most respectable taste manner in a short period of time. E

Thanks Joe. I just bought (for comparison) a bottle of Tommasi Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2009 ($80). Neither of my kits can compare to this wine at so young an age. It's black cherry and raisins galore! The mid-palate and finish of the commercial wine is just phenomenal. BUT, since I can't afford it more than rarely, I'll settle for my young CC Showcase Amarone any day of the week

take a tour

TAKE A TOUR to the sangiovese thread and follow the same process you'll see what can really be done by home wines makers, just trust in the process..


WHAT your bought is a excellent bottle of wine of this I have know dought,I've bought it myself more than once, but if you follow the process you'll discover you have the same ability as they do at home, it takes time and patience's, you can do it, and in the end it's your.

joeswine said:

TAKE A TOUR to the sangiovese thread and follow the same process you'll see what can really be done by home wines makers, just trust in the process..


WHAT your bought is a excellent bottle of wine of this I have know dought,I've bought it myself more than once, but if you follow the process you'll discover you have the same ability as they do at home, it takes time and patience's, you can do it, and in the end it's your.

Click to expand...

Time = A wonderful, beefy Amarone

Joe,

So you are ,if I happen to get an amarone juice pail this fail from my Juice guy. I should be able to take it through the same steps as the sangivose you documented and it should be a shining example of a top quality amarone?

amarone

Yes, the results you will get in the end, with time and patience and a little work will be a very good amarone, this I know for a fact that the results you will get will be what you expect.

Joe. Thank you kind sir. I will be ordering a pail this fall

Okay you got my attention.

joeswine said:

TAKE A TOUR to the sangiovese thread and follow the same process you'll see what can really be done by home wines makers, just trust in the process..

Click to expand...

Joe, I've read that thread twice now and I'm confused about the usage of "oak powder", "oak tannin", and/or "wine tannin". 4 tablespoons of wine tannin could be disastrous, while 4 tablespoons of oak powder would make more sense I guess.

Are you really using the product in the pictures? It says use 1/3 teaspoon per gallon in reds. So 2 teaspoons versus 4 tablespoons in 6 gallons is a really big difference.

Thanks!

wine tannins

EVERY item and step in those pics, are as they happened and what they happened, remember, I like thinking outside the box, the tannin powder is as it's labeled, and the final proof was the samples I sent out for tasting. THINGS TO CONSIDER, tannic acid will dissipate over a period of time, the cause and effect it has to the wines molecular structure is extensive and if not control can be over powering, knowing that is the key to what I call accelerate aging, it transforms a average kit into a very good wine from= march 7th to the end of June roughly 90 days in the works ,read the reviews, about the AMARONE I have made and sent out or the sangiovese recently SENT out, you figure the average wine cast has a delivery of oak about 5 years and then it's just a storage vessel, a wine maker can accelerate that process by adding oak tannins at the same time, it's an expensive way to go for a winery they buying oak tannins in 40 lb. plastic bags, we can do the same...THIINK OUTSIDE TTHE BOX.enjoy

Joe, are you still adding Oak beans for the flavoring as well?

Oak beans

THERE is no need to add any more oak to the sangiovese, the tannins are enough for me, on the other hand the AMARONE requires a touch of oak up front in the primary and tannis in the secondary along with the raisins to round out the structure, at least that's my take on it .

Joe...What are your opinions on Concentrates? I ordered some concentrate to make a blackberry wine. I believe the brand is Alexander. This will be my first venture into concentrate.

Concentrates

NEVER tried one ,never had the need for that style of concentrate. However might be a good fpac, wade did some of these as I recall, black current....there is a wed site out there that has concentrates, I bought a pineapple and blueberry, will experiment with them of line in the future.....

Thanks Joe,

Wade.......your opinion would be much appreciated.

joeswine said:

TAKE A TOUR to the sangiovese thread and follow the same process you'll see what can really be done by home wines makers, just trust in the process..


WHAT your bought is a excellent bottle of wine of this I have know dought,I've bought it myself more than once, but if you follow the process you'll discover you have the same ability as they do at home, it takes time and patience's, you can do it, and in the end it's your.

Click to expand...

link to this thread?

When good wines gone bad

LOOK FOR--WHEN GOOD WINES GONE BAD..--ON THIS FORUM

Joes has like 30,000 posts, how about a link to this thread? THanks, WVMJ

Back to the OP topic...

We did a double blind taste test last night with 7 friends participating and the CC Showcase Amarone versus RJS Winery Series Amarone kits.

3 people said there was little (if any) difference! They felt the toasted oak made up the difference and was barely perceivable. The other 4 were evenly split We used saltines to cleanse the palate.

When forced to choose, 1 of them chose the CC Showcase Amarone saying it was the oaky notes, and 1 chose RJS Winery Series Amarone saying it had a peppery finish. The last hold out said "flip a coin".

Now I'm going to take Wade's advice and try the EP kit (which has no peers that I know of).