OK, we all know how Amarone is made. So when the proprietor told me the En
Primeur Amarone kit contained "dried grapes", my initial excitement was
quickly subdued by my normal skepticism about red wine kits, so I asked,
"Are we talking about a pack of your basic grocery store variety raisins
here"? Well, he says, that's what's in the next kit level down, so
probably...

Hmmm. Oh what the hell, I'm in an experimental mood, so I buy the kit, take
it home, rip open the box as if it's Christmas and I can't wait to see what
surprises are in store and sure enough.... a 375g pack of Sun-Maid raisins,
best before date July 20, 2005. Well, that still gives me 5 days to make the
kit, I guess Wine Kit manufacturers buy their raisins from Liquidation
World, or some such place. BTW, does anyone know what 375g of raisins would
translate to in terms of pre-dehydrating grape weight?

So, I start researching this a bit on the Spagnol's and Winepress forums,
and I find people raving about this product. Some go so far as to add in
even more than comes with the kit. I don't know, part of me wants to make
the kit as they intended it to be made, but I'm tempted to just eat the
raisins as a snack. I'd rather people think it was a decent attempt at a
Valpolicella-style, than think, hmmm, kinda tastes like a Valpolicella, but
there's something weird in there that's oddly familiar, what the heck could
it be.... ;-)

Brian

Back in 2000 when we (RJ Grape Products) released the first Amarone style
kit in the Cru Select line, we ran out of raisins with over 100 kits still
on the line.
I searched all over town with no luck in finding any, so I had to drive all
the way to Cambridge and bought every package they had at Knob Hill Farms
(remember that grocery chain)
You should have seen the look on her face when I went through check out with
all those raisins.
The addition of the raisins adds a little body and some natural sugar which
aids in increasing the alcohol during fermentation. Enjoy the wine. It was a
fun project working on the release of the Amarone style wine-kit. Glad to
see it's still popular.

"Brian Lundeen" > wrote in message
...
> OK, we all know how Amarone is made. So when the proprietor told me the En
> Primeur Amarone kit contained "dried grapes", my initial excitement was
> quickly subdued by my normal skepticism about red wine kits, so I asked,
> "Are we talking about a pack of your basic grocery store variety raisins
> here"? Well, he says, that's what's in the next kit level down, so
> probably...
>
> Hmmm. Oh what the hell, I'm in an experimental mood, so I buy the kit,
> take it home, rip open the box as if it's Christmas and I can't wait to
> see what surprises are in store and sure enough.... a 375g pack of
> Sun-Maid raisins, best before date July 20, 2005. Well, that still gives
> me 5 days to make the kit, I guess Wine Kit manufacturers buy their
> raisins from Liquidation World, or some such place. BTW, does anyone know
> what 375g of raisins would translate to in terms of pre-dehydrating grape
> weight?
>
> So, I start researching this a bit on the Spagnol's and Winepress forums,
> and I find people raving about this product. Some go so far as to add in
> even more than comes with the kit. I don't know, part of me wants to make
> the kit as they intended it to be made, but I'm tempted to just eat the
> raisins as a snack. I'd rather people think it was a decent attempt at a
> Valpolicella-style, than think, hmmm, kinda tastes like a Valpolicella,
> but there's something weird in there that's oddly familiar, what the heck
> could it be.... ;-)
>
> Brian
>

I am interested in the response Re Amarone Kit.

Last year-2004 I dried 4.5 lbs (1/2Case ) of Babara from Central
Valley of California in anticipation of using the Cellar Classic Kit
Amarone for a Second run wine. The grapes were dried using a friend's
dehydrator (Thanks Ken) .

The plan is to add the dried grapes to the Kit-Concentrate and pressed
Pomace from Chainti 1st Run (Sangiovese 80% 10% each of Merlot and Cab
Sav) equivant to 3+ cases /108 lbs of fresh grapes . This will be the
the first time I have tried dried grapes in any wine. I should be a
big (tste and Alcohol Wine)

Has any one done this ?
I so please pass on your experiance. Thanks