RJ Spagnols Australian meritage winery series

[fuzzmeister]

I am getting ready to start this kit, and as I am looking over the instructions, I noticed it has a long spiral peice of oak in it, the instructions do not mention anything in it, other then the oak chips in the bags, my question is do I add this into the primary, the same time as the other oak chips? or what is the common procedure with this? I have made other winnery series kits, that have not included this spiral I realize you do not have to add it at all, but I would like to find out what the actual potential of this wine will be.

 

[Dugger]

The spiral is intended for the secondary - I've only just used my first one so can't tell you much. I simply added it to the carboy after stabilizing and left it floating. Some, I understand, hang it with a line of some kind either through the airlock or around the bung. I'm not sure how long it should stay in there, presumably to your taste. Others will have more experience with these and may suggest how long to keep them in.
.. Doug

 

[fuzzmeister]

Hi Dugger
Thanks for the reply, I started this kit this afternoon and was not sure what to do with that spiral, because I have never seen one in a kit before, and it is not mentioned in the instructions, so I elected to leave it out of the primary. Are you making this kit now? if so we will have to keep in touch as how it turned out, and how it tickles your taste buds.

Gary

 

[Dugger]

Actually, the kit I have going with the spiral is the RQ Italian Barbaresco. I also have two of the RQ Okanagan Meritage kits going but they didn't have spirals. I wonder how these would compare with the Australian Meritage?! It will be a while before I get to taste them, unfortunately.

 

[fuzzmeister]

Dugger
I have a freind that gave me a bottle of that okanagan red meritage this fall and I loved it, I then tried to purchase it from some different wine stores, but there was none avaliable any where, so I did some looking around to see if I could find something that was close to that, and this is what I found, so I am hoping it will be close. Where and when did you purchase your meritage kits from?

 

[Dugger]

These meritage kits were RQ ( Restricted Quantity) kits put out by Spagnols last year ( march/april?) and I only got them started in December. They were a one time offering and unless some store has some leftover kits or Spagnols decides to offer these as a regular listing or they bring them back under the RQ program sometime, you won't be able to get them again.
Hopefully, the Australian one will turn out as well - I'm pleased to hear the okanagan one is good and look forward to it.
.. Doug

 

[fuzzmeister]

Dugger

You will not be dissapointed I thought it was awesome!