RJ Spagnols Favorite RJS Spagnols Kits

[harrymf]

Out of curiosity I was wondering if there are any suppliers in the UK of rjs kits.
they sound like they are excellent kits, done a few eclipse kits but always w willing to try others

 

[tgatesp]

ordered 2 kits from southern homebrew a few weeks ago both cooking now, rjs trio red and cru select cab/shiraz/merlot. actually got a call from southern homebrew informing me that the trio red was on back order and would ship a few days after the select. I read that they are under new ownership. so far so good. have 1 bottle left of RJS australian cab. need to order a new kit, have made 2 super tuscans, need to start a new one of those also.

 

[Monty Knapp]

Started the RJS Italian Amarone Wine Kit today.
It had two 1.25 kg clear plastic bags of grape skins (wet) and one 375g silver/metallic package of raisins. Only 50g of medium toast oak chips.
Looking forward to this one.

 

[joeswine]

Amarone ís excellent wine to make should be 15% ABV. Deep in a flavor profile of its own love it best left bottled for at least 4 years
.If you can

 

[Bplewniak]

How did these kits turn out? I just put in an order on Amazon for the super Tuscan and the Italian Amarone.

 

[joeswine]

My super Tuscan

 

[joeswine]

Phase2

 

[joeswine]

phase #3

 

[joeswine]

Phase#4 .. It's a bit long but worth the work.

 

[DizzyIzzy]

Amarone ís excellent wine to make should be 15% ABV. Deep in a flavor profile of its own love it best left bottled for at least 4 years
.If you can

At my age Joe, don't know whether I will live long enough to enjoy that wine. I will probably have to stick with kits that can be drank young.....sad!.........Dizzy

 

[joeswine]

Yes I agree with you when you reach a certain vintage as we would say a young wines is good enough for now.

 

[joeswine]

This wine posted above is drinkable young, most Rose'are.

 

[Lukaswine]

My super Tuscan

I made my first kit four years ago and three more since then . I’ve not made the WE Super Tuscan. I fell in love making the kits . I have not indulged in alternating the recipe. I see you will add raisins, what value does raisins add if you already have grape skins?

I have not learned the reason why every ingredient is used,but I can see being apart of this forward this forum (recent new member) I will learn a lot.

I prefer reds and grape skins and like RJ brands . Thank you.

 

[joeswine]

Raisins add a certain depth to the heavy or big red Italian wines just a full cup can go along ways to adding to the structure of the wines body and flavor , especially if you intend to let it age.

 

[Lukaswine]

Raisins add a certain depth to the heavy or big red Italian wines just a full cup can go along ways to adding to the structure of the wines body and flavor , especially if you intend to let it age.

Ok, thank you. I am planning on purchasing the Tuscan. My usual reds or cabs, Zins and some Malbecs

 

[joeswine]

Look up the wines flavor profiles before you start that will give you an excellent starting off point.
Try it.

 

[Aiserock]

I just bought a RJS Super Tuscan kit from Homebrew Ohio. I will probably start it this weekend. I did a WE red blend and it didn't come out well, not sure what I did wrong exactly. It had a zip to it, I thought I made vinegar. I let it sit two years out of frustration, the zip left in some ways but it was still meh..

I joined this sit a month ago, read some stuff and thought I might have not degassed it well, so I dumped a bottle in my mixer and ran it for a few minutes, scooped off the foam and the wine was drinkable, and not the best but the zip was gone. I said (typed) all of that because I'd like to do well on this kit.

When you make these kits, do you just follow the directions to the letter, or would you let it clear without the fining agents? I see Joe adds raisins to his kits, are there any other creative things to do? I've been reading a lot on here and I am excited to make wine again. Thanks in advance for any input.

Anthony

 

[Lukaswine]

Phase2

Do you always add water later in the process to top off the carboy? Or do you add a like wine whether it be cheap box wine or bottled wine?

 

[Rocky]

I just bought a RJS Super Tuscan kit from Homebrew Ohio. I will probably start it this weekend. I did a WE red blend and it didn't come out well, not sure what I did wrong exactly. It had a zip to it, I thought I made vinegar. I let it sit two years out of frustration, the zip left in some ways but it was still meh..

I joined this sit a month ago, read some stuff and thought I might have not degassed it well, so I dumped a bottle in my mixer and ran it for a few minutes, scooped off the foam and the wine was drinkable, and not the best but the zip was gone. I said (typed) all of that because I'd like to do well on this kit.

When you make these kits, do you just follow the directions to the letter, or would you let it clear without the fining agents? I see Joe adds raisins to his kits, are there any other creative things to do? I've been reading a lot on here and I am excited to make wine again. Thanks in advance for any input.

Anthony

Anthony, first off, welcome to the forum. Nice to see a neighbor. I am in Powell.

Yes, Joes adds raisins to many of his wines to increase body and enhance the taste but I don't think he would to a wine like the RJS Super Tuscan. That kit is a very good one and comes with 2 liters of crushed grape skins. I have made it a number of times in the past and the only thing I added that was not in the box was a gallon sized can of Blackberries to enhance that particular flavor in the wine. Regarding fining agents, I use what comes in the kit and I let my red wines bulk age for at least a year before bottling. During that period, I add 1/4 teaspoon of Potassium Metabisulfite every 4 months or so. Just prior to bottling, I carefully rack the wine to a clean carboy.

Just curious. What was the WE kit that you made that was so disappointing? How long did you let it age? I have made kits from both companies and, to me, RJS is always superior.

 

[Aiserock]

Anthony, first off, welcome to the forum. Nice to see a neighbor. I am in Powell.

Yes, Joes adds raisins to many of his wines to increase body and enhance the taste but I don't think he would to a wine like the RJS Super Tuscan. That kit is a very good one and comes with 2 liters of crushed grape skins. I have made it a number of times in the past and the only thing I added that was not in the box was a gallon sized can of Blackberries to enhance that particular flavor in the wine. Regarding fining agents, I use what comes in the kit and I let my red wines bulk age for at least a year before bottling. During that period, I add 1/4 teaspoon of Potassium Metabisulfite every 4 months or so. Just prior to bottling, I carefully rack the wine to a clean carboy.

Just curious. What was the WE kit that you made that was so disappointing? How long did you let it age? I have made kits from both companies and, to me, RJS is always superior.

Honestly, I can't remember the specific kit. Wine making wasn't even on my radar, wife got me a setup for xmas a couple of years back. Initially when I was bottling it (followed directions so it didn't bulk age) tasted pretty decent. I opened a bottle about a month later and that was when I noticed it tasted pretty sharp so-to-speak. Tried it again a year-ish later and still disappointing. During quarantine (about 2.5 years), we were not wanting to run to the store that much so I think we suffered through a bottle one night, I used my aerator that I got from Cooper's Hawk and that seemed to help it but it still had this wild kick-back. Got to looking on here and thought maybe it wasn't degassed well, that's when I did the blender trick.

Not sure if it was degassing that helped or just aeration from blending, there was a pretty good head on the wine though.