Vieux Chateau Du Roi

My favourite brewing involves getting out into the lanes, onto the river banks and into the countryside. Foraging for ingredients of course. But winter is no time for that, there's nothing to gather, well nothing that I'm interesting in brewing with anyway. If you have a freezer then you can dig into it for stuff gathered earlier in the year, but if your freezer space doesn't allow for that then what? For me the solution is get the wallet out, buy in some ingredients or buy a kit.

Every winter I splash out on a good quality kit. The brand I like best is Beaverdale, they do a range so you can pick the wine you like. I've really enjoyed the Shiraz kit, infact tonight I opened one that was 3 years old and it was simply delicious. I'm not talking a £5 bottle quality either, this would have worth £15 no problems.

But they do more, last year I made a Vieux Chateau Du Pape, this is said to be a Chateau Neuf Du Pape clone. I opened a bottle about a week ago, it was just a year old, but it didn't disappoint. So I bought another one, just a gallon (my usual quantity). It weighs in at some like £13 for the kit, but you get 6 bottles that are worth every penny of that price ... each.

Just so you know what to look out for.

The beauty of these kits is that you just add water. Really. The juice is complete and it's the real deal, specially selected grapes and everything else you need to get the style of wine on the label. Yeast, oak chips etc. So you follow the clear instructions and you get cracking wine. I recommend that you try one, even if you're on a budget. Treat yourself, one single gallon kit per year. You won't regret it. Of course if you're already buying your favourite brand quality kit then you'll know what i mean, and you probably won't want to take a chance on another. Nothing wrong with that ... if it ain't broke, don't fix it.