Beaverdale Shiraz. First attempt at winemaking. +PICS

[Gothamite]

SWMBO says "I don't like beer, can't you make some wine for me instead?"
I say "Forum members recommend Beaverdale. Let's give that a go".
She says "Sort the stuff then", so I nip onto ThriftyShopper and order the gear.
Beaverdale Shiraz 1 gallon box arrives.
I get AG#3 beer on the go, and she starts to prep the wine kit. I sterilize all the vessels and bits for her and she pours in the juice and tops up with water. Then she adds the oak chippings and yeast, shakes it around and sticks the bubbler on.
She says, "Doesn't look like much, I feel a bit cheated, it's not as impressive as your beer, perhaps we should do the 30L next time", then she reads the instructions and finds that she has to leave it for 3 weeks before the next step, followed by at least a week in bottle prior to trying it. She's not best pleased
Still, 4.5L of quality Clos d'Holme (our Chateau name!) Shiraz wine is happily sitting and waiting to start fermenting.
Will post a few pics later.
Cheers,
Gothamite

[Horden Hillbilly]

I have made the Beaverdale Shiraz myself, it is a cracking wine. I would advise you to let this mature in the bottle for 6-8 weeks rather than drinking it after a week, this wine benefits from maturing.

[Gothamite]

Thanks for the advice HillBilly SWMBO definitely not happy to have to wait so long, but as we all know things only get better with age
We had your web pages up whilst setting things up, and as mentioned, SWMBO likes your larger vessels and wants to move to making the 30L kits next time. Looks like I'm going to have to source the bigger kit soon.
Have you tried any of the whites, like the Chardonnay or Gewurtraminer
Cheers,
Gothamite

[Horden Hillbilly]

Mrs H has tried the Chardonnay & Sauvignon Blanc Beaverdale white wines & is more than happy with them. I prefer a red wine myself.

If you are happy with your wine, it is definetly worth getting a couple of large fv's, they will pay for themselves after a couple of wine kits. At present, a Shiraz 6 bottle kit from H&G is £10.99, & the 30 bottle kit is £38.49, which is a fair saving compared to buying 5, 6 bottle kits.

[modofodo]

Great post, I have a couple of Beaverdale kits to do so was pleased to see this. Thanks!

[modofodo]

BTW, Like the Horden Hillbilly website! Some interesting stuff on there for the newbies like me!

[Gothamite]

Thanks Modofodo.
Latest update - it's fizzing and bubbling away at about 10 pops a minute It whiffs a bit, but luckily SWMBO likes the smell, apparently reminds her of her folks's winemaking from decades ago
Will update soon.
Gothamite

[Redimpz]

The Beaverdales are cracking stuff, best to do the 30l ones, it does not take much longer to do the racking, bottling etc and i usually get about 25 to 27 bottles of good stuff.
one secret is to build up a good stock so that you don't feel that you have to drink it before it has matured enough, though this does call for some storage space.
Someone once told me that the 30l kits last about twice as long as the 6l kits, he isn't far wrong there