“It is difficult to envision Spain’s culture without their famous icon – the bull or ‘Toro’ as it is known in Spanish. A Toro is bold, aggressive and intense – a fitting name for this unforgettable and powerful wine.”
This is RJ Spagnols intro to their Spanish Toro. They then go on to describe the characteristics of the wine that you can expect to produce from this kit.
“This wine is an intense red characterized by cigar box and dark fruit on the nose, finishing with dates, prunes and cherry on the palate. Made in a Crianza style, the toasted French oak aroma completes the experience of drinking Toro. Olé!”
It all sounds good to me. I hope that it can live up to its billing!
Ok I’m doing this live now just like CNN. I’ve just opened the box and found two packets of medium toasted oak chips, a packet of self adhesive wine labels like the ones shown above, plus finings, stabilizers, etc. that you will find in most kits and the ubiquitous EC-1118 yeast. If you read my previous Piazza post you know that I am doing a few minor tweaks. I’m trying to produce the best wine possible from the 10 kits I’ll be making so I will be giving them special care. The first thing I have to do is select a yeast that is more suitable for the wine I’m making. Lalvin gives Bourgovin RC 212 the highest recommendation for aged reds. This is touted as a “bold, aggressive and intense wine” so it will definitely spend some time ageing in my cellar. Just like I did with the Piazza I will be using two packets of yeast. Lalvin recommends one packet of yeast for up to 20 litres of wine. Since the kit produces 23 litres of wine I will add an extra packet of yeast.
Now I have my fermenting bucket filled with warm water in which I’ve added 1/4 cup of chlorinated cleaner. It’s been a while since I’ve used this bucket so I’m going to let it stand for an hour or so before I use it. I’ll then rinse it with hot water and spray the inside with sulphite solution. Then I’ll add all the ingredients into the fermentor, stir it will and add the yeast. I won’t get into the details of mixing the juice since I’ve already outlined the process in my Piazza post.
The fermenting bucket is ready now so I’m going to add the bentonite, then the juice, top up with water and give it a good stir to make sure everything is well mixed. This is important. If it’s not completely mixed you’ll have a more concentrated juice at the bottom of the bucket which could impede the fermentation.
I’ve got my yeast ready. I rehydrated the yeast in warm water as recommended by Lalvin. Since I’m using two packets of yeast I rehydrated it in 100 ml of 40º Celsius water for 15 minutes. The must is at 25º and this is perfect for the yeast I’m using. Bourgovin RC 212 works best in a temperature range from 20º – 30º Celsius so I’d like to keep the fermentation temperature right where it is. I’m fermenting the Piazza in an unheated room and the temperature is staying at 18º Celsius. This will be too low for the Toro so I’ll have to put a heat belt around my fermenting bucket to keep the temperature where I want it.
That’s it for tonight. I was going to rack the Piazza tonight but I’ve decided to leave it one more day. I’ll update you on both wines tomorrow.
Can’t wait to sample some of these wines! They sound delicious.