Cellar Craft Showcase Rosso Fortissimo

[wines just fine]

I just bottled this one tonight. Very nice.

I can hardly wait to taste it again in a year or two. If you like red wines you must consider doing this kit.

I think that in the future I won't do any kits which don't come with grape skins.

I also got to try out my new Buon Vino MiniJet Filter on this kit. Pretty cool!

 

[smurfe]

Still to date this has been the best kit wine I have ever made.

 

[carmine]

I just opened abottle of rosso fortissimo that i bottled 5 months ago and its coming along great it will be a great wine
carmine

 

[gawine]

So the skins go into the primary and then you just leave them behind when racking to secondary..? that easy?

 

[carmine]

Its that easy is right. piece of cake

 

[carmine]

I'm really disapointed I opened a bottle of the rosso fortisimo the other night and its disgusting its about a year old everybody is raving about this wine i followed the intructions to a tee. It has a serious kit flavor to it just nasty.I 'm just going to stick to making wine from crushed grapes.
carmine

 

[Wade E]

Ill have to try a bottle of this someday off ya Carmine, I wont be at maltose this weekend though as Im working all weekend.

 

[wines just fine]

I'm really disapointed I opened a bottle of the rosso fortisimo the other night and its disgusting its about a year old everybody is raving about this wine i followed the intructions to a tee. It has a serious kit flavor to it just nasty.I 'm just going to stick to making wine from crushed grapes.
carmine

I'm curious about how your wine was 5 months old in mid January and now it's "about a year old" 1 1/2 months later.

Are you talking about 2 different kits?

 

[carmine]

I made this kit last april I bottled it a good 5months ago i opened a bottle a month or so ago and it wasn't to bad . The other night i tryed another bottle and it was really terrible totally different from last months bottle it is cc rosso fortisimo
carmine

 

[Rock]

Hopefully with more aging this nasty kit flavor will go away.My CC syrah has the same kt taste.When all i have read was how great these wines are so lets wait another few months and judge agian as my syrah was also made last april.Bulk aged for 6 months and bottled for 5 and still has that taste.

 

[Wade E]

Give me a week or 2 and Ill send you my Syrah which is a RJ Spagnols Winery Series and is just over 2 years old now.

 

[Rock]

Sounds gooood to me Wade keep that CC aging for a while like 6 months and then let me know.

 

[Slyder73]

I'm bottling the 2 carboys I have today and tonight will be putting on the Showcase Rosso Fortissimo. This batch is for us to test drive it so to speak. If we like it, and I'm sure we will another batch will be put on to give as a wedding gift later in the Fall.

Question, my kit came with a seperate packet of enzyme and an additional instruction card for when to use this enzyme (after primary fermentation). Did the kits you folks do have this? I'm wondering if they discovered an issue and this is the correction? Or is this just something they do for grape skin kits (THis is my first grape skin kit)?

Also, as to the grape skins. It came with the bag, but I've read various views on this forum. For you guys who did this kit, did you use the bag (float, sink?), did anyone put skins in freely and stir? I'm feeling like I want to put the skins in without the bag, mostly for the litte extra pleasure of feeling a bit more rustic about it. LOL Any issues if the grapes are free, with losing volume at racking time?

 

[Wade E]

The fermenting bag makes it much easier but just make sure to move all the skins around in there good everyday so that they all get good exposure, the enzyme pack is for a problem they were having with an oily film on top of the wine, even if this still happens dont panick asyou just rack off it later but it was unsightly.

 

[Rock]

Did not make the s.r.f.but i would put the skins in freely,and tweak at your desire.

 

[Slyder73]

FINALLY got around to getting this one going in the primary this afternoon.
Typical primary bucket (sorry, don't know exact dimensions but it's the one that seems to come with all beginner kits, which is where I got mine). With this kit, the added volume of the grapeskins and the toppoing up before that, my level of liquid os only about an inch and a half from the lip of the bucket.
I've put the lid on semi-secure as I'll need to stir quite often on this one, but I'm a bit worried whether or not this particular kit will foam up all over the place, inundate my airlock and make a mess in the house?
For safety I've put a plastic garbage bag under the bucket and wrapped the bottom with a towel to absorb.
Can you guys having done this kit give me an idea of the the level of vigour of the fermentation? Again, it's about an inch and a half from the lip of the bucket, 78 to 79 degrees F at start time.

Thanks!

 

[wines just fine]

The primary bucket that came with my kit is much bigger than the 23 litres that a kit usually makes. The 23L mark is just over half a bucket.

As I recall this kit didn't boil much but that of course can change with temperature, yeast, etc. If it's that close you might want to look into getting a larger primary. I bought mine from Winexpert and it probably holds 40 litres.

I used the bag that came with the kit to hold the grape skins and punched it down once or twice every day.

 

[mharris_335]

Mine is about two years old now. It was very good two months ago when I had a bottle and I mean very good (Good fruit and smell). Just opened another last night and it was shut down, with little fruit and smell. Some reds need to hit the 3 year mark before they are ready. My CC Red Mount. Cab was just like this one, 3 years is the magic number. Keep letting it age and try it every 2-3 months.

 

[robie]

Three years is a long wait for a kit wine. Can't see how most people would be willing to wait that long.

 

[JimO]

Rosso Fortissimo Ingredients- added sugar

Hello all,

Just started a Rosso Fortissimo showcase collection and was disappointed and surprised to see the ingredient label. The bladder: water, concentrated grape juice, grape juice, liquid invert sugar, glucose syrup. The pack: liquid invert sugar, grape skin, white sugar, glucose syrup.

I'm pretty disappointed as I thought I was going to get just juice and concentrate and more juice than concentrate. I didn't at all expect sugar added.

Does anyone on this forum have any thoughts?

Thanks

Jim