WineXpert Toasted Marshmallow Dessert/Port style

[geek]

I have to say that this kit is 11.5L whereas the RJS dessert kit is 11.7L of juice.

 

[geek]

Ok,

Added the f-pack, chitosan and the 30gr of toasted oak cubes plus a used medium toast oak spiral I used with a just-bottled RJS Vanilla Fig dessert wine, stirred well and had to use more than 1-1/2 bottles of wine to top it off, used WE LE14 Super Tuscan, which I do not care much for....

I didn't check the gravity after the f-pack addition, next time I rack it then I will.

Hope this will taste good for 2018 Christmas.

 

[Brigitte]

Ok,

Added the f-pack, chitosan and the 30gr of toasted oak cubes plus a used medium toast oak spiral I used with a just-bottled RJS Vanilla Fig dessert wine, stirred well and had to use more than 1-1/2 bottles of wine to top it off, used WE LE14 Super Tuscan, which I do not care much for....

I didn't check the gravity after the f-pack addition, next time I rack it then I will.

Hope this will taste good for 2018 Christmas.

Thanks for the update... can you smell the marshmallow yet? This kit intrigues me. I love marshmallows

 

[geek]

Thanks for the update... can you smell the marshmallow yet? This kit intrigues me. I love marshmallows

I think it will taste good; if I did it again I’d not add any of the fpack upfront but rather the entire pack at the end.

Yes, I can taste and smell marshmallow [emoji4]

 

[Brigitte]

I think it will taste good; if I did it again I’d not add any of the fpack upfront but rather the entire pack at the end.

Yes, I can taste and smell marshmallow [emoji4]

I may have to order this kit [emoji106]

 

[geek]

I may have to order this kit [emoji106]

I got mine on sale from Label Peelers, they may have more left overs.

 

[Brigitte]

I got mine on sale from Label Peelers, they may have more left overs.

Thanks. Was just looking at fine vine wines. Will check out label peelers too

 

[Doug’s wines]

I am in the middle of this kit as well. Followed the Kit instructions with no mods yet. Started the kit on Nov 7th. When I moved from primary to secondary and added the fpac, I had about 250ml left over that we “had to drink”. I’m surprised to see the head space in your carboy. Did you make any other mods behind the fpac in primary?

 

[geek]

I am in the middle of this kit as well. Followed the Kit instructions with no mods yet. Started the kit on Nov 7th. When I moved from primary to secondary and added the fpac, I had about 250ml left over that we “had to drink”. I’m surprised to see the head space in your carboy. Did you make any other mods behind the fpac in primary?

The only mod was a little bit of the fpack up front, maybe not even 10%.

250ml left over? Wow, do you have a true 3gal glass carboy?

 

[Doug’s wines]

The only mod was a little bit of the fpack up front, maybe not even 10%.

250ml left over? Wow, do you have a true 3gal glass carboy?

Yep. Full 3 gallon. After adding the fpac and the oak cubes I was left with about 250 left over in reserve. Tastes pretty good as a ruby port. I almost didn't add the fpac.

 

[Doug’s wines]

Barrel tasted my port today. Pretty good. Still very sweet, but the toasted marshmallow comes through which slightly knocks back the sweetness. Kit finishes next week. Trying to decide if I will imediately bottle or bulk age at all.

 

[Doug’s wines]

Tasted Again today. Oak seems to be knocking back the sweetness (although I tasted a few others before this so that may have had some impact). The marshmallow really comes through. You have to like carmelized marshmallow a lot. Luckily I do, but if you aren’t a huge fan, you might want to hold back some of the fpac. Kit has bottling this Thursday. I plan to bulk age 1 gallon and bottle the rest for holiday gifts. I bought everclear as well and plan to boost the abv on about half of them. Going to bench test different Abvs this week before I bottle.

Worried about bottle shock this close to the holiday.... may have to gift with a warning.

 

[geek]

It will be a really young wine to gift for this Christmas....
Mine is in the clearing stage, I'm shaking the carboy a bit to knock off the sediment from the sides, I may rack next week but need to find something to top off, thinking about 40% VSOP brandy or ever clear.

 

[cmason1957]

I would go with the brandy, but that is always my choice. EverKleer seems to impart harshness to everything, which can't be masked by sweetness. YMMV.

 

[geek]

Yep, that is the #1 option. Thanks.

 

[Doug’s wines]

Racked mine over this morning. Tasting pretty good. The toasted marshmallow is pretty integrated and still moving to the background. Back to the original comment about size of the kit, after racking and removing the oak I was down about 350ml. After a few bench tests, I topped up with brandy. Felt that it had more of a port taste / mouthfeel with brandy. Tried different ratios and think that less is more at this stage as going heavy with the brandy overpowered the marshmallow a lot and we happen to like that flavor coming through. Tried everclear (cleanest taste and least flavor impact), brandy (gave it a traditional port flavor profile), and another ruby port (just in case I wanted to keep it low abv).

@geek I’m curious how much the marshmallow comes through on yours having used half the fpac in primary. Not sure if that will be better integrated flavor or if the it needs to be a higher residual sugar to get the impact.

 

[geek]

Doug, I will check my notes when I get home but I didn’t use half of the fpack but rather a little bit, maybe 10% if that much.
I’m glad this is tasting good.
When I rack it I’m sure I will need another .750ml bottle of some red wine again [emoji30]

 

[Doug’s wines]

There was definitely a lot of sediment after this racking.

 

[geek]

Did you add VSOP brandy?

 

[Doug’s wines]

I had an inexpensive XO handy so I used that instead. I can get a nice one for 16usd at my local liquor store and think it's more rich than vsop. I did not try blending with vsop, but it would probably work as well.