tonyhibbett
Landlord.
Not the very cheapest red wine kit, but in that range. It's fine, but I have tasted better. There is only 20% grape juice in it, the rest is sugar. In the UK, cider must contain 35% apple juice!
The cheapest way to increase the grape juice is to add supermaket red juice, currently 85p per litre. Ok, it's probably not wine grape juice but cheaply adds colour and flavour and 2 litres will increase the ratio to about 30%, reducing the sugar by 500g to 3.5 kg. This increases the grape element by 50% at a net cost of £1.20. This alone will make some improvement, but why stop there? Taking a page out of the excellent Kenridge Classic barolo kit, add 50 g of dried elderberries. This adds a bit more flavour, colour and tannin.
To add more body, I boiled some parsnip and added the liquid. I also threw in some lamb leftovers. It used to be the practise to add meat on the bone, and this is still the case in Chile, usually horsemeat. You may omit this, but Chilean wine is really good. Plenty of 'body'!
Reducing the amount of added water helps and since blackcurrant is a feature of cabernet sauvignon flavour and is included in the flavouring pack, some freshly crushed blackcurrant, if you can get it, added at the the end, will give it it bit more bouquet.
The cheapest way to increase the grape juice is to add supermaket red juice, currently 85p per litre. Ok, it's probably not wine grape juice but cheaply adds colour and flavour and 2 litres will increase the ratio to about 30%, reducing the sugar by 500g to 3.5 kg. This increases the grape element by 50% at a net cost of £1.20. This alone will make some improvement, but why stop there? Taking a page out of the excellent Kenridge Classic barolo kit, add 50 g of dried elderberries. This adds a bit more flavour, colour and tannin.
To add more body, I boiled some parsnip and added the liquid. I also threw in some lamb leftovers. It used to be the practise to add meat on the bone, and this is still the case in Chile, usually horsemeat. You may omit this, but Chilean wine is really good. Plenty of 'body'!
Reducing the amount of added water helps and since blackcurrant is a feature of cabernet sauvignon flavour and is included in the flavouring pack, some freshly crushed blackcurrant, if you can get it, added at the the end, will give it it bit more bouquet.