New Apres kit

[fermenter]

Just starting an Apres Cabernet Franc Icewind. 3 gal. kit. Anyone tried it?

 

[rustbucket]

I haven't tried the Cab Franc Ice wine but I bought an Apres Reisling Ice Wine kit that I will be starting in a few weeks. My kit came with two packets of EC-1118 yeast.

Good luck with your ice wine kit. Follow the directions that come with it and report back on your wine making progress.

 

[fermenter]

2 packets of yeast in this one too. I added a little oak too even though it didn't say to. We'll see in about a month.

 

[Grabo]

I made Winexpert's Cab Franc "Icewine Style" back in 2017. I believe it was a Selection kit then, so I'm not sure if Apres is just a rebrand.

My taste on the wine: it's okay. Of the 28-ish 375mL bottles, we still have 16. I'm not much into sweet wines, but I really like icewines we had in Niagara On The Lake. This kit tastes nothing like an icewine. It's more of a very sweet wine, and to us the wine tastes like gummy bears. There is nothing wrong with that, but I enjoy the wine much more when I think of it as a sweet dessert wine instead.

After initial taste in the carboy, we split the 3 gallons into 3 experiments because we have a bunch of 1 gallon containers. First was the kit on its own without modification. Second we added medium toast Hungarian oak cubes. Third we added brandy. If you do this, follow your own taste. I think we added 15g of oak to the second gallon, and we added enough brandy to leave us at a calculated ABV of 18%. Of the three, I like the gallon with the brandy added, but that could be the extra ABV speaking

 

[fermenter]

Couldn't find out where the Apres name came from, it's a Winexpert product. Thanks for the info. We're not too big on sweet wines but will give this a try. I did add some oak. If nothing else it might make good gifts to friends.