2011 Vieux Chateau du Roi
November 2011 – To avoid legal problems the kit wines that emulate a regional style have to use a different name, which are sometimes hard to figure out. This one is a Chateauneuf-du-Pape (Rhone) style wine which promies to be heavy.
Eric translated the kit name for me — “Old Castle of Kings”. I think I’ll take him to American Brewmaster with me next time to help with the kit names. 🙂
Ingredients
| Kit | RJ Spagnols – Heritage Estates Vieux Chateau du Roi |
| Bentonite | yes |
| Yeast | Lalvin EC-1118 |
| Sulfite | yes |
| Sorbate | yes |
| Kieselsol | yes |
| Chitosan | yes |
Method
| Started wine following kit directions. Stirred bentonite into hot water.
Added juice/concentrate, stirred well. Added rehydrated elderberries. I topped up fermenter to 6 gallons with water while Patrick kept the drill-mounted stirring rod going. This mixed it very well, initial SG was good, no sugar needed. As with the chardonnay, I used the wine thief to check SG. The elderberries plugged it and made it a PITA to do. For future reference I will add “extras” after checking SG. |
11/26/2011 SG 1.082 |
| This also fermented fast.
Racked. Using drill mounted stirring rod, stirred in sulphite, potassium sorbate, kieselsol, and chitosan. Transferred to carboy for clearing. |
12/03/2011 SG 0.998 |
| The lees compacted well after 2 week, but after 5 the lees were tight.
Bottled. |
01/08/2012 SG 0.994 |
Notes
| Yield | 26 bottles |
| Alcohol | 12.0% |
| 01/08/2012 | Green at bottling time (yeah, duh!), but promises nice flavor. |
| 05/02/2014 | This wine was a disappointment. It developed a bit of a harsh flavor that never went away. I wasn’t sad to see the last bottle go, and I’m hesitant about doing another one. While I realize that it was this particular kit and another kit will probably turn out better, I’m still not going to make another any time soon. |
| October 2018 | Reading through my old records, it appears I’m more likely to be disappointed in the outcome of R J Spagnol kits than Winexpert. |