Selection Cabernet Shiraz

[BIGJIM72]

This 30 bottle kit arrived today-always been a firm favourite. Packaging has changed, & my eye was drawn to the "new & improved" sticker. I'm sure these kits used to have 15lt of juice,don't know if its all the Selection kits(BB date on this one is Nov 2014) but this one has been bumped up to 16lt of juice.Happy boy!

 

[tonyhibbett]

Sounds promising. Most kits are not up front about the proportions of ingredients, so one might ask an extra kilo of what, exactly? Winebuddy is self evident. 1 litre of generic gjc for a 30 bottle kit. That's about 20% grape juice to make the final wine. Muntons premium is 41% gjc, half of which is the varietal stated. Literally 41% grape juice to make the wine but only 20% the variety on the label, so hardly surprising that the wine bears only a slight resemblance to the genuine article, albeit a perfectly acceptable cheap substitute. Never mind the quality, feel the width!
Having said that, I have made Barolo kits which are better than certain genuine non vintages.

 

[BIGJIM72]

Finally got round to making this. I let it ferment & sit on the oak chips for 15 days in primary. Been racked,fined & stabilised.Just had a cheeky taste (will probably get another couple of litres of water into it after a 2nd rack).

Its silly money for homebrew when I can be happy with a TC or a foraged fruit wine,but if I stuck it on my wine list at work I wouldn't let it go for less than £30 a bottle (even at this young stage).

If you are on Cal Con/Beaverdale/Solomon Grundy red wine kits ask Santa for a Selection kit-dearest grape juice you will ever buy but worth every penny.

Stonehelm still seem to be the cheapest stockist

I just wish I could find another stockist for the 4.5lt kits

 

[BIGJIM72]

Even after a bit of a top up with water still the best coloured kit wine I've ever made-colour of a good port.

Just shy of 28 bottles,but that was to be expected after random sampling & spillage.