How hard is wine making?

mdf191 · 07-18-2008, 05:00 PM

I have been brewing beer for awhile now, and the other day I thought..."why not wine".

It seems other then the corker all my beer gear is all I need to make wine. Am I wrong in assuming this? Its wine fairly simple to make? Or is it simple to make mediocre wine, but challenging to make a homebrew wine that compares to store bought quality bottles? Or is it like beer, and homebrewed versions can often surpass the taste of store bought? Also do these "juice and concentrate" kits produce wine of high quality?

Any wine making pro's out there?

**BigKahuna** · 07-18-2008, 05:04 PM

Lots of wine making pro's here.
But I'm gonna answer anyway.

Yooper gave a great comparison the other day about wine kits and the = Price Range of store bought. Maybe she'll chime in and point it out.

If you do AG beer, Wine Making is like making Kool Aid.
If you do Extract Beer, wine is a bit easier, but requires more time.

You don't need a corker, bottle it in beer bottles for your first batch. They are a better serving size anyway.

**JVD_X** · 07-18-2008, 05:07 PM

I am certainly no wine making pro but my wife and I have made several wines from kits.

Overall - they are not too shabby. The truth is that simply waiting and allowing the wine to age for several months makes a HUGE difference. The kits are "designed" to produce a drinkable wine in like 2 months but in reality a month to several months fermenting, a few months bulk aging in a keg or glass carboy before bottling and aging for another few months has made a major difference in the quality of the wine we produce.

The downside is that you need to make a lot of wine kits in a short period of time because it takes so long to make a truly great wine, so if you want enough to drink weekly you will need to make 1/2 batches every week or two to build up you supply.

Would I compare our wine to store bought? Absolutely. Would I compare it to mid-high quality out of NAPA... no.

When we tried our first bottle of home made it absolutely sucked. I almost dumped the whole batch. After a 2nd month aging, the wine got "wow - a 2 buck chuck", the third month... "a 3 buck chuck".

Boerderij_Kabouter · 07-18-2008, 05:10 PM

I have found home made wine to be of much lower quality than store bought, even cheap bottles. However, it is cost effective (~$90 for 30 bottles) to make kit wines. I have found the whites to be much better than reds thus far. The main problem is that only the last runnings and lowest quality grapes get made into wine kits. IMHO, fruit wines and ciders are a much better way to go if you appreciate fine wine and expect your wine to be store quality.

That said, my family will be harvesting from our Wisconsin vineyard for the first time this year! 80 vines and 8 varieties of northern growing wine grapes! should be fun, but no-one is expecting good wine for at least a couple of years. We will likely be making a lot of Sangria!!!

Boerderij_Kabouter · 07-18-2008, 05:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by atarlecky

Would I compare our wine to store bought? Absolutely. Would I compare it to mid-high quality out of NAPA... no.

Very well put. If you are happy drinking jug wine or cheap boxed wine, then you should definitely make your own just because it is cheaper. But if you are spending $10 a bottle normally, you will not likely be very impressed with your homemade stuff.

**BigKahuna** · 07-18-2008, 05:17 PM

I wonder what kits you guys are making. We have even made the "El Cheapo" Island Mist $50 for 6 gallons of wine and it's as good as a typical fruit forward $4.00 bottle of wine.
I have heard (not Experienced) that the better kits that run in the $120 range are quite comparable to the $12 - $15 range of store bought wine.

Boerderij_Kabouter · 07-18-2008, 05:31 PM

Everyone's tastes are subjective. If you can, ask a LHBS owner or manager if they have any homemade wine you can try. That way you can decide for yourself how good it is.

**JVD_X** · 07-18-2008, 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigKahuna

I wonder what kits you guys are making. We have even made the "El Cheapo" Island Mist $50 for 6 gallons of wine and it's as good as a typical fruit forward $4.00 bottle of wine.
I have heard (not Experienced) that the better kits that run in the $120 range are quite comparable to the $12 - $15 range of store bought wine.

It's funny you mention that... we have had GREAT luck with the Island Mist. I definitely recommend Island Mist kits.

CBBaron · 07-18-2008, 07:37 PM

I made a $70 kit Vintner's Reserve Mezza Luna Red.
At 4 months it was fruity and only slightly better than a jug wine.
At 6 months it was much improved and similar to the inexpensive bottled wine.
At a year I feel it is comparable to most red wines in the $6-$10 range. Not a great wine but most people (who like red wine) seem to like it.

It is easy and you can bottle in beer bottles if you like. I bought some screw top bottles so I could give away "bottles of wine" without needing a corker. For my self I prefer the beer bottles.

Instructions are basically:
sanitize
pour concentrate in bucket
add a packet of 2 of extras
fill to 6 gal and aerate.
pitch yeast.
After some number of days transfer to 6gal carboy
stir in clarifiers.
Wait some more then bottle.

Or something like that.

It doesn't take much effort but the wine does take a while to be really ready to drink.

Making mead and country wines is also interesting and I find it more rewarding. There is alot more involvement in deciding the recipe and ensuring you have quality ingredients. But they don't usually require much more time and can produce some wonderful drinks. There is however a bigger risk of producing something where the flavors don't work well. With kits you do have a proven combination.

Craig

Craig

**Yooper** · 07-18-2008, 07:45 PM

I did give my impressions of expensive kits vs. "cheap" kits in the past, and I stick by it!

I have made some very good homemade wine. My best is actually a chokecherry that is fantastic- and I hope I can actually recreate that! No one who has tried it can guess what it is- usually they guess cabernet sauvignon, but it is excellent. The crabapple wine is a good dinner wine. The kits make pretty decent dinner wines.

If you can buy a pail of fresh grape juice from wine grapes, and have the ability to put it through MLF, I think you'd be more likely to get a "great" one. Still, I've been very pleased with all of my wines so far and recommend giving it a try!

You should have all the equipment you need for fermentation.