Wineforthewin
Junior
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- Nov 26, 2020
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Great! Grabbed an En Primeur Italian Amarone Classico kit for $153 after discount (free shipping).
Wine kits on sale
- Thread starter Brian55
- Start date
Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:
That was one I purchased as well. Short the water a bit, EM for at least a month, and let it age for 3 years or more before you start tasting the occasional bottle.
Don't be afraid to over-oak it as well. within reason.
Occasionally Costco puts its Argentia Ridge wines on sale. I bought a double (60-bottle) kit of Chardonnay and another of Merlot in-store for $64 CND each. That's about 50 US bucks for a 60-bottle kit.
I've been making the Argentia Ridge wines for some time. The initial 6-gallon batches I made precisely following the supplier's instructions weren't awful but I wouldn't serve it to anyone who I wanted to keep as a friend.
I now make them in five-gallon rather than the six-gallon batches and find that they produce acceptable every day wine equal to a $10 commercial bottle.
Since participating in this blog I've been experimenting with adding, depending on the wine variety, sugar, raisins, dried grape skins, tannin, glycerine and different yeasts.
The Chardonnay is pretty good just with the reduced water content. The kit comes with oak. I found my tweaks either did little or made the wine worse except, to my tastes, when I added a 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of raisins. Others couldn't tell the difference.
The reds are a different story. The Argentia Ridge Merlot is my least favourite red but at that price? The addition of dried grape skins made the Merlot a much better wine, richer colour and to my taste a deeper plum flavour.
As you've guessed by now, I'm always looking for a bargain. The dried grape skins cost almost $15 with tax. Thanks to Joeswine's suggestion I tried adding black table grape skins.
Since I was already in Costco, I bought a $5 bunch of black sable grapes, destemmed them and crushed them. I drank the juice with my breakfast and plopped the grape skins with a bit of residual pulp into my fermenter with the kit ingredients just before adding the yeast.
It's now cooking in its second ferment. I was astounded that the flavour jumped out from a small sampling without significant sweetness nor any harshness in a more profound way than the dried grape skins. I am super eager to see how this batch turns out.
I've been making the Argentia Ridge wines for some time. The initial 6-gallon batches I made precisely following the supplier's instructions weren't awful but I wouldn't serve it to anyone who I wanted to keep as a friend.
I now make them in five-gallon rather than the six-gallon batches and find that they produce acceptable every day wine equal to a $10 commercial bottle.
Since participating in this blog I've been experimenting with adding, depending on the wine variety, sugar, raisins, dried grape skins, tannin, glycerine and different yeasts.
The Chardonnay is pretty good just with the reduced water content. The kit comes with oak. I found my tweaks either did little or made the wine worse except, to my tastes, when I added a 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of raisins. Others couldn't tell the difference.
The reds are a different story. The Argentia Ridge Merlot is my least favourite red but at that price? The addition of dried grape skins made the Merlot a much better wine, richer colour and to my taste a deeper plum flavour.
As you've guessed by now, I'm always looking for a bargain. The dried grape skins cost almost $15 with tax. Thanks to Joeswine's suggestion I tried adding black table grape skins.
Since I was already in Costco, I bought a $5 bunch of black sable grapes, destemmed them and crushed them. I drank the juice with my breakfast and plopped the grape skins with a bit of residual pulp into my fermenter with the kit ingredients just before adding the yeast.
It's now cooking in its second ferment. I was astounded that the flavour jumped out from a small sampling without significant sweetness nor any harshness in a more profound way than the dried grape skins. I am super eager to see how this batch turns out.
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jgmann67
Rennaisance Man
Good morning Reign.
There are a few things I’d suggest that will at least minimize your issues here.
First, you want your wine perfectly settled when you rack it from the vessel (fermenter, carboy, whatever). I have an AIO so I put my sending vessel of wine on the floor and use a rolled bath towel to keep the vessel still and stable. Let it sit there undisturbed for about an hour before you start racking. Use that time to make sure your receiving vessel and all your tools are sanitized. Then start your rack. This will also minimize the amount of wine loss to your Lees at the bottom.
Next, rest the head of your racking cane at the lowest point in the vessel without punching into to.
Finally, if you’re still having issues, use a brew bag or something similar over your racking cane. I’m not a big fan of of this one. But, it might help.
Really, if you’re using gravity alone to rack your wine, you’ll probably always have the little frustrations of the cane stopping up or it going too slow. And, if you don’t have one, a vacuum system like the AIO will make allof this a very pleasant experience
Always put oak chips and skins (if included) in a muslin bag. Don't worry about picking up a bit of trub, each subsequent racking will have less and less.
Home Brew Ohio has 15% off of everything, today through the 19th. No coupon code needed, it's automatically applied to your cart. Free shipping over $50. Home Brew Ohio
LabelPeelers has 35-50% off. No free shipping, though.
Nice! I just wish they carried RJS. Although now that FW kits are out, it doesn't matter nearly as much.
Dan M
Heckuva Guy
I keep getting sale Black Friday emails from this place: Award-Winning Red & White Wine Making Kits – WINE LOVERS (wineloversonline.com)
The kits look interesting, but I've not bought anything from them. Does anyone have experience with these kits? Just curious...
The kits look interesting, but I've not bought anything from them. Does anyone have experience with these kits? Just curious...
I've used the cheap and mid-price kits that are great for tweaking. I just noticed them offering the higher end kits which I have not tried, but wound't hesitate to try them.
Bmd2k1
Senior Member
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2021
- Messages
- 951
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RJS Cru Select kits are currently 15% off at Midwest RJS Cru Select Wine Recipe Kits – Midwest Supplies
Snagged my Sangiovese & the Cali Red Blend(Cab, Syrah & Zin)
Cheers ✌
Snagged my Sangiovese & the Cali Red Blend(Cab, Syrah & Zin)
Cheers ✌
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She’sgonnakillme
Senior Member
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2021
- Messages
- 523
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- 788
Some great sale prices on frozen must kits and even some blends, Free shipping too!
https://www.grapemust.com/product-category/2020-buckets/?orderby=price
https://www.grapemust.com/product-category/2020-buckets/?orderby=price
www.homebrewohio.com has a number of kits on sale. Free shipping over 59.99.
fwdevoe
Member
I made a Cab, heavy body from them. Very very disappointed in the finished wine. Had NO body and did not taste like a cab. Looking at the bottled wine, can easily see through it, and I followed their instructions to the T.
fwdevoe
Member
It was wine lovers on line.
