Kenridge Founder’s Series – Supertuscan Wine Kit
A couple of weeks ago, I was picking up some supplies at Winemakers here in Orangeville when I noticed a Kenridge “Founder’s Series” home winemaking kit sitting prominently on a shelf. At $110.00, it was about thirty bucks more than I was used to spending on premium winemaking kits, but I managed to dig up the cash for the sake of my curiousity, and purchased the kit.
This evening, I started this wine making kit. But first, what is “Supertuscany” anyhow?
Wikipedia says this:
“Super Tuscan describes any Tuscan red wine that does not adhere to traditional blending laws and usually implies a richer more full-bodied wine than the more typical Chianti Classico or Brunello di Montalcino. For example, Chianti Classico uses sangiovese as its dominant grape, blending it with red grapes of lesser character, like canaiolo and mammolo, and sometimes the two white grapes, malvasia and trebbiano.”
Sounds yummy, huh? And according to the Kenridge (Vinco) web site,
“Our KenRidge™ Founder’s Series SuperTuscan winemaking kit is a blend of Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. It is a full-bodied, muscular, red wine with aromas and flavours of rich black fruits, spice, vanilla, plum, leather and raisin. Velvety tannins and great structure suggest short term cellaring.”
With that in mind, here’s my review of the home winemaking kit itself:
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 impressive 1.102.
The winemaking kit also includes Bentonite, Lalvin EC-1118 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 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 thus far!
Tasting Notes
To follow.