RJ Spagnols
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Wine Making Skills
Intermediate

Wine Skins or Not

Posted by: MarkK, Friday, March 05, 2010

Do the wine skins that come with the Cellar Classic Winery Series kits really add to the overall wine quality and flavor? Has anyone ever made an identical kit with the skins and without the skins to compare?

Also, if you were to add skins to a kit that did not include them, would there be a noticeable difference? (This is the same question I guess....)

I'm not looking for a theoretical response here.... I want to know if the skins really do improve the taste of the wine.

I have made a CC WS Old Vine Zin and should have taken a closer look at the skins before putting them in the bag, but I did look at them after removing them from the primary and squeezing... they looked much paler if my memory serves me.

Posted by: rjb222
Friday, March 05, 2010 4:55 PM
What I have found is there is a definite body colour and I believe tannin difference.The flavor is truer to me when these age out of the jammy stage. The skins definetly make these fruit forward wines.
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Posted by: Johnnyk1320
Saturday, March 06, 2010 3:38 PM
Without a doubt a difference. I have made alot of Grand Cru kits. I didnt make anything for 3 years after moving into our new house. I recently made a Grand Cru Intnl. (with skins) Primitivo. It came out of the fermentor better then any wine I have ever made. Way better tannin level, alot more full bodied and as complex as a 12L freshly fermented kit could be. I really believe in a year this is going to be a very very good wine. (I have tasted one at 9 months and it was awesome). I personally will not make another kit without a grape pack or at least the dried skins.
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Posted by: rede
Wednesday, March 17, 2010 11:50 AM
The comments of Johnnyk1320 are so right on.I have made all sorts, fresh grapes to kits
and recently made the international ( with skins) and after 25 years at it I will never go
back unless it is no longer available.
Truly the best wine, thank you RJ SPAGNOLS.

REDE
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Posted by: Dean
Saturday, March 06, 2010 6:05 PM
Yes, they add quite substantially to mouthfeel and tannin levels. Color levels are enhanced as well, but kits are never really light in color anyways. They add a lot more of TDS (total dissolved solids) and come much closer to wines made from fresh grapes.

I've compared a Cellar Classic Merlot to the Winery Series Merlot and the winery series was a lot more "Merlot-y" to create my own word.
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Posted by: MarkK
Saturday, March 06, 2010 6:22 PM
OK, this is the kind of feedback I was hoping for. Thanks. Real experience.

So, I have a kit on hand (actually a WE limited edition Petit Verdot) with no skins. I can get an RJ Spag cab sauv grape pack for about $20... I'm wondering if it would be worth it to add a skins pack to this kit to kick it up a notch. That'd be about $0.75 per bottle to add the skins to my $/bottle price.

Comments?
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Posted by: Dean
Saturday, March 06, 2010 9:40 PM
NO! Ok, that's a little harsh, but seriously, when WE released that Petit Verdot in 2004 I think, it was an amazing wine. Limited Editions, Restricted Quantities, etc, are special kits. I would not doctor them personally, as they truly are limited editions. That wine in about 2 to 3 years, if it is like the original doesn't need any extra help.
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Posted by: MarkK
Sunday, March 07, 2010 6:29 PM
Nice to hear. I see that the starting SG is 1.100 as well, so no need to adjust that then either. I will be looking forward to this wine. It is difficult to be patient with these kits sometimes. I can understand how some people end up drinking all of their homemade wine before it has aged sufficiently.

Thanks for all of the comments.
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