Kenridge Founder’s Series – Cabernet/Shiraz

The other day, I visited another home winemaking outlet and found an Australian Cabernet/Shiraz kit by Kenridge in their “Founders Series.”

At $110.00, the kit comes with 18 litres of concentrated juice, apparently originating from the “Riverland Region” of Australia, and a blend of Cabernet and Shiraz. Sounds yummy, huh?

According to the distributor, Vineco:

The Region:

Located just two hours northeast of Adelaide, in South Australia, the Riverland is Australia’s largest wine producing area with a growing reputation for premium and boutique wineries. The Riverland boasts an abundance of sunshine and has a warm, dry climate. The favourable climate, combined with a lack of humidity, provides ideal growing conditions for many grape varieties. Surrounding the River Murray water system, the flat land of this picturesque region has sandy loam soil that is controlled with drip irrigation allowing growers to control yields and produce excellent grapes destined to create premium wines, consistently each and every year.

The Wine:

The blending of Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon became popular among Australian winemakers in the 1960’s. KenRidge™ Founder’s Series Shiraz/Cabernet combines the strengths of each varietal. The intensity and structure of Cabernet Sauvignon and the famous spicy fruit flavours of Shiraz come together to create a rich full-bodied wine that is warm and generous with soft, rounded flavours with a medium tannin finish.

The instructions are excellent. One of the utility features of the instructions is that they are printed on thick paper with a cut out area near the top so that they can be easily placed over the mouth of a carboy like a log. If only all winemaking kits would either include a log card or instructions like this.

The quantity of juice concentrate is 18 litres. After adding five litres of water to bring the total to 23 litres, the specific gravity reading I observed was an respectable 1.088.

The winemaking kit also includes Bentonite, Lalvin RC 212 yeast, sulphite, sorbate, and Isokleer (liquid isinglas). One thing I liked is the fact that the Bentonite seemed to be of a very “fine” grind so to speak, and it was not difficult to get the full quantity to mix with water.

Although at $110.00, it’s a bit more than what I would spend on a premium kit, thus far am quite pleased – and of course, only some ageing and bottling before tasting will really tell us our money’s worth. But here’s my thoughts in a summary on this home winemaking kit:

Personal Comments
Pros

• 30 grams of French oak cubes included.
• Yeast strain is known
• Instructions are easy to follow
• Instructions may also be used as a log card
• Somewhat attractive labels are included
• Kit includes 18 litres of juice concentrate

Cons:

• None so far

Tasting Notes

To follow.