Petit Chenin Blanc – R.J. Spagnols

One of the limited or “Restricted Quantities” wine kits from R.J. Spagnols in 2006 was a Petit Chenin Blanc, from South Africa.

I started making the wine from the kit in August of 2006 and am now enjoying it. First, a bit about the kit itself:

According to R.J. Spagnols, this juice originates in South Africa. After mixing the 16 litres of juice concentrate with 7 litres of water, the specific gravity was measured at an excellent 1.110. As well, the kit came with 2 packages of oak (and of course, I used both!).

Other kit contents included:

• Spagnol’s yeast
• Bentonite
• Sulphite
• Potassium Sorbate (which I did not use)
• Liquid Isinglass

As per regular R.J. Spagnols kits, the instructions are standard and easy to follow for anyone.

After I started this wine, I racked it about ten days later and then promptly got busy doing some other things and forgot about it. At the beginning of January of 2007, I suddenly remembered that I had not racked since the first time or added sulphite. And it had been six months.

Well, everything was fine! It did need a little help in clearing and within a few days of adding the isinglass, the wine had cleared right up. Then it was time to bottle – and it was so popular around here, 15 bottles have been consumed already!

As far as tasting goes:

Nose: Unfortunately, I’ve had a cold virus for awhile, so my nose is not very sensitve at all, but definitely vanilla.

Tongue: Mmmm… vanilla, honey, citrus and melon. Mouth feel is very good – and at less than 3.00 Canadian per bottle – I’d say a terrific value!

Retail Price of Kit: CND$85.00

This kit was so good, that I recently went to Winemakers where they still had a kit in stock.

I purchased it.