Making The European Cabernet Sauvignon Wine Kit

This article is a review of the Reserve Du Chateau European Cabernet Sauvignon wine kit. Cabs are perhaps some of the most popular red wines in the world. It pairs up wonderfully with beef, lamb, and most Italian, French and Mexican food. This homemade wine kit lives up to that expectation quite nicely.

It amazes me how great a hobby wine making is. In fact, I believe that making wine at home is becoming easier than ever with the advancements in wine kits over the years. I feel that the hobby is be becoming more and more popular as people see that quality wines can be made at home.

You Can Get The Reserve Du Chateau European Cabernet Sauvignon Kit HERE.

Reserve Du Chateau Wine Kit

Like all of the other Paklab wine kits, the Reserve Du Chateau Wine Kit comes with:

• Grape Juice Concentrate
• Yeast
• Bentonite
• Stabilizer (Sulfite)
• Clarifier pack (Contains Shellfish Derivatives)
• Corks
• Labels
• Bottle Shrink Capsules
• And excellent instructions, that I choose not to follow.

Reserve Du Chateau Wine Kit Components

Please note that as far as I know, I have only seed the PakLab wine kits come with corks. Most other brands do not include them.

As you can see, you will need wine making equipment to make this kit. This is common. It is similar to a cake mix in the way that a cake mix doesn’t include pans, bowls, spoons and an oven.

Reserve Du Chateau Wine Kit Process

You can see the whole process of how to make the Reserve Du Chateau European Cabernet Sauvignon Wine Kit here, complete with my deviations from the directions. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video series should speak volumes. So, please sit back and watch the whole process.

Now that you have seen me make the Reserve Du Chateau European Cabernet Sauvignon Wine Kit, let’s talk about some of the modifications I made to the directions. Typically, I make similar modifications as I do with the Vino Italiano Wine Kits.

Reserve Du Chateau Wine Kit Secret Modifications

• I add enough water to get a specific gravity reading of around 1.10.

The Reserve Du Chateau European Cabernet Sauvignon Wine Kit comes with more grape juice concentrate than the Vino Italiano wine kits. Where I usually make the Vino Italiano wine kits to 5 gallons to get to my 1.10 reading, I sometimes need a little more water in the Reserve Du Chateau European Cabernet Sauvignon Wine Kits to achieve the same reading. I start at 5 gallons and take a reading. Then, I slowly add water, stir it in well and take another reading. I like to get around 1.1 or a little less.

• I add Medium Toasted Oak cubes to the Secondary Fermentation

Most of you have seen my videos and know that my personal preference is not to have a lot of oak in my wine. I use much much less than in many commercial wines. Oak adds a bass note to the flavor and I believe a little is necessary. But, most people over do it for my tastes. As a rule of thumb, I add around 30 grams to the secondary fermentation.

This is one of the beauties about making homemade wine. Your goal is to please yourself and your family. You can tailor everything to your tastes and make custom wines that you can’t buy anywhere. How cool is that! You know, many people that make homemade wine kits have written me and said that my videos and articles have given them to courage to experiment and deviate from the directions. I feel so great about that!

It is important to note that if you do deviate from the instructions, you void any warrantee that the wine kit manufacturer has. It is also important to say that if you stick to the directions, you will make a great wine. I just want an Amazing wine! That is why I modify the instructions.

Another modification I do to all of my wine kits is to replace the Chitosan pack with Sparkoloid. The reason I do this is because Chitosan is a shellfish derivative and I don’t want to get people sick who have shellfish allergies. Here is a video I made on using sparkoloid for fining.

This Reserve Du Chateau European Cabernet Sauvignon Wine Kit came out fabulous. I would recommend letting it age in the bottle about 6 months, if you can. While it tastes good at bottling, it is sure to improve over time. Thanks for stopping by and I hope this review was helpful.