Cellar Craft Urgent Help Making a kit for my brother, thoughts?

[Sammyk]

My brother is buying a kit for me to make for him. I will keep 10 bottles in return.

I am looking for feedback on [FONT=&quot]Cabernet/Shiraz Blend. This was his choice from my LHBS. He will have it shipped to me on Monday once I get feedback from here.

I only make fruit wines from fresh fruits. And since this is "his wine" I need to make sure it is great.

We were never a wine drinkers before we started making wines and have no idea what a Cabernet wine is or the taste.
Is there anything I need to do to make this a very good wine for him?
He will be stopping by here the end of May on his way back to his summer home in MI. He lives in FL in the winter.
IS it likely I can have it bottled if started next week by the end of May so he can take it home to age?
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[Sammyk]

I should add he is a big wine drinker and is not real fussy about variety if the wine is good

 

[Boatboy24]

Which kit is it? I'd say May is early for a red. Better that he picks it up on his way back to FL in the fall.

 

[Sammyk]

[FONT=&quot]Cabernet/Shiraz Blend by Cellar Classics, I thought the company showed up because I did tick Cellar Classics.
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[Boatboy24]

Didn't catch that - sorry. I think six months is a minimum based on my short experience in this hobby. The "early drinking" low end red kits I made when I first started back in March and April are coming around now. They've been decent, but I wasn't thrilled with them. I haven't done this kit, but that's my experience with reds, whatever that's worth.

 

[Dugger]

You've actually mentioned Cellar Craft in the category, rather than Cellar Classic, which is a Spagnols product. I'm not familiar with the Cellar Craft kits but I would recommend that whatever kit you choose, make it one with a grapes kin pack. These add greatly to a red kit, IMO.
You would have no problem bottling by May, if you get it started soon. Extended bulk aging can be beneficial but 3 months or so is good. Just make your brother aware that additional aging in the bottle is needed for the wine to reach its potential.

 

[Rocky]

Sammyk, I am guessing that the wine is the RJ Spagnols Cellar Classic Cabernet Shiraz which is a 15 liter kit of juice with oak and no grape pack. These are good kits and you can improve them if you have access to a grape pack or raisins to give it more body. In any case, to answer your question, you will be doing bottle aging rather than bulk aging. I prefer to bulk age my reds for a minimum of 9 months, preferrably 1 year. The upside to bulk aging is consistency from bottle to bottle and ease of making any additions or corrections that are needed along the way. What you are doing will work but not be optimal.

 

[Sammyk]

I looked it up on my suppliers and it is a 23 liter kit. Below what it says.
Sweetness: 0
Body: 4
Oak: medium to heavy
Elderberries: yes

Is that still considered a good kit?
Rocky this is the type of information I was looking for. I can buy raisins no problem. Regular or golden. Or do I even need raisins since it has dried elderberries? IF raisins how many boxes for this kit?

 

[Sammyk]

My error, it is Cellar Classic. He just emailed me the code and I did not bother to look it up. I have never made a red wine kit, only from fruits and fruit juices. I do think I can do this with a little assistance from here.

I cannot start it until Tuesday when it arrives to me.

 

[cpfan]

I looked it up on my suppliers and it is a 23 liter kit. Below what it says.

It makes 23 litres, but as Rocky said it comes as a 15 litre pouch of juice/concentrate, and you will need to add 8 litres of water. 23 litres is 6 US gallons. Do you have the appropriate sized equipment for that?

Mid-January to mid-April is three months. That should be fine for MAKING the kit. After a month or so in bottle, it will be drinkable; however, as already pointed out it will be much better after a few more months, say Christmas.

Steve

 

[Sammyk]

It would be late May and I will wait to bottle it when he is here as is interested in seeing how it is done. The kit is 41 pounds if that is an indication of course that includes the box.

 

[cpfan]

It would be late May and I will wait to bottle it when he is here as is interested in seeing how it is done. The kit is 41 pounds if that is an indication of course that includes the box.

An extra month. That's only to the good. Make sure that your brother realizes that patience is a winemaker's best friend.

41 pounds? It's a 15 litre box, that's the only thing that matters.

Steve

 

[Sammyk]

I decided to call my local brew shop where it is being shipped from, it is 23 liters and does need water added.

 

[g8keeper]

as stated sammy, that means, like rocky and steve both stated, it's 15lts of concentrayed juice that comes in the pouch, and with the water you add to the kit, it will make 23 lts of wine....like you said, this is your first kit, so we are just explaining what it all means, is all...good luck, and have fun with it....

 

[Sammyk]

I do greatly appreciate all the help. I just want it to be good because he is paying for everything including shipping to me. I will keep 10 bottles in exchange for making it for him. I would not know the difference between a good and bad red wine...!

Since it has dried elderberries ( I don't even know what they are) should I still add raisins?

 

[Rocky]

Sammy, I would not add the raisins if the kit comes with dried eldreberries. IMO, you would get too many conflicting flavors. I have not made that particular "flavor" of wine but I have made the Cabernet-Syrah-Zinfandel from that series and it was very good. A friend of mine made the "Rosso Grande" from the series and it also turned out very good. I think you will be very pleased with the results.

 

[Dugger]

I still think your brother would be more pleased by a kit that has grapeskins. They just seem to add so much more body to the wine, although they do also require more time to reach their potential. FYI, Spagnols also make a line called Cru Select which are 16 liter kits ( still make 23liters) and some of them have skins. One, in particular, the BC Okanagan Meritage has both skins and elderberries and,IMO, is a very good wine - a Bordeaux blend of cab sauv, merlot and cab franc. It may be a few bucks more than the cellar classic kit but has everything you need.
Just an alternative, if you wish to consider it, that your local store probably has.

 

[tiMcC]

make sure you have a 6 gallon\ 23 liter carboy

 

[Sammyk]

We started the kit today in primary pail. No elderberries but it did have oak......

 

[HappyWineGuy]

These kits make very good wine, and if you follow the enclosed instructions and keep your equipment clean then it should turn out great. If you want to make sure the wine if of the highest quality I would not suggest adding anything that is not included in the kits as it can affect the acidity levels of the juice and produce unwanted results. These juices are blended by experts to have the correct acid levels so that you as the winemaker does not have to worry about it. If you want skins I would suggest moving up to the Cellar Classic Winery Series kits, which is basically the same kits with the addition of the wet skins pack. (In these kits they actually come in little plastic jars, which when cleaned out are great for storing sulfite and other wine making chemicals)