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I let the wine age in a 23L carboy ~6 months after fermentation (racked a couple of times) then rack to the 19L barrel for 6 months topping up monthly (I bottle the leftovers from the carboy into 375 ml and use them for topping up). After I rack out of the barrel to a 19L carboy for 1-2 months...

Hi Will, I do the RJS EnPrimeur kits with skins and use an 19L oak barrel. They spend 6 months in the barrel and generally age for 2 years total before drinking. I am sure that grapes or frozen must would be better but I feel the wine from these kits are very good and the real issue will be...

My LBS in Canada as well, Order by Monday @4 and they will have it by Friday for me to pick up.

From what I can tell CC is gone, the are now just branded VineCo and are just repacks on the Winexpert kits. Really is a shame as the CC amarone and the Walla Walla Cab Merlot were 2 of the best kits I ever made, far better then any of the WE Eclipse I have made.

Sounds like someone found Jack Keller's website and recipes......I always found those extremely low in fruit.

A few years back I tried a super cheap costco kit (worse then the argentia ridge) I think it was branded Europea and claimed to be a "Merlot style" it remains the only kit I have ever dumped. Even after fermenting dry it had a cloying sweetness that I attributed to an over abundance of...

What kit exactly? Was there a reserve pack added? A wine that finished at .990 will not taste sweet.

I plan to let my local RJS dealer know they will be getting more of my business because of this move by Vineco and that they should send word up the chain not to mess with reducing volumes on the high end kits.

I really like the BC Pinot Noir, very nice at 6- 8 months as a lighter drinking red.

The Darb in December and the Big Shot was the 1st week of February.

I have the first 2 Reds, The Darb and The Big Shot

Depends on the kit, I will likely do the Walla Walla cab Merlot repeatedly, but the RJS Amarone won out of the Showcase Amarone in my house. Overall I do a lot more RJS EP then I do the CC Showcase.

I do cold ferments on my Riesling kits and they can take 8 weeks at 50F. What temperature is your friends fermentation area at?

@sugar be careful with the peppercorns, it does not take much to overpower any other flavours in the wine.

Fortitude never impressed me, it was light in body and aging did not really help. It along with the LE Super Tuscan were the 2 kits that convinced me to stop doing the Winexpert LEs every year. Last year I did none of them, this year I will be doing the South African Cape Blend but if it is...

Good luck with that, my impression was a glycerine overload from the fpack which was all I was able to taste. My wife liked it but I won't ever make it again.

Worse is a batch that was wonderful at 2 years so you put the last 6 aside and it loses something when you open one at 4 years

I don't think you will gravity thru a .35 micron filter. I have a mini jet so I push, but would have no problem using my AIO to pull if I didn't.

Assuming that the question is how to get more fruit taste / aroma, once fermentation is complete SG under 1.000, stabilize with Potassium Sorbate and potassium Metabisulphite then backsweeten up to ~1.005 - 1.010. Fruit wines need some sugar to bring the flavours out. The problem you still...

Any RJS kit I have bought (I buy mostly RJS). Is also shrink wrapped with plastic, if this one was not then the question is who removed the wrap and why.