How good is your wine?

Thinking about doing batch of wine but I don't want to produce ****e. I'm willing to spend a considerable amount on the right kit but wonder how it will compare to commercial wine? Thoughts and opinions?

Pombe said:

Thinking about doing batch of wine but I don't want to produce ****e. I'm willing to spend a considerable amount on the right kit but wonder how it will compare to commercial wine? Thoughts and opinions?

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Well, the right answer is "it depends". A cheaper kit will give you a lesser quality, but still very drinkable wine. I'd say that a $60 (US) kit gives you something like a $4-$5 bottle of wine in quality. A $150 kit might give you something like a $15-$20 bottle of wine. There are many kinds of kits, and some are excellent and come with juice and grape skin packs while some come with "wine juice concentrate".

I would think it depends on the kind of wine drinker you are. If you are a wine snob, you may never make a kit that will compare to your favorite vintages. If you're a wine drinker who enjoys many wines, you may find that winemaking is a great hobby for you.

I make some kit wines, but mostly make "country wines", like chokecherry wine, blackberry wine, crabapple wine, etc. We drink wine each evening with dinner, and enjoy it very much.

I bought a $140 kit. Works out to what, $5 a bottle? Wine is good.

I liked Yooper's https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f79/welchs-grape-juice-wine-21093/, it came out at 15% ABV and really warmed the chest. My co-workers liked it and Im having a tasting next weekend to see what my friends like. The thing to remember about homebrewing, or winemaking in this case, is to make something that appeals to you that you like

If you are expecting a $75 bottle with a 95 score, forget it.

That's not why we do this hobby, we do it to say we can create good wine with our hands.

most of the wine I make is good, some has been real good, some sucked. the better at making wine I get the less impressed I am with the stuff I already made(with 1 exception). It is almost all drinkable. I have poured some out after it was done. But when you get one that is awesome it is all worth it. I think I have only 1 of those so far

I took a couple bottles of a Gewurztraminer made from a $75.00 kit over to my girl friends house. She told me she wasn't much of a wine drinker but would give it a try. Half way through the second bottle she asked me if I had any more in the car!

I'm relatively new in the hobby but can say for the minimal time, money, and effort you will have invested the returns are great. You will always have plenty of drinkable wine on hand and you will be amazed by how many "friends" you will have once the word gets out that your making wine.

Taste is so subjective that it's difficult answering a question like this. Many true wine snobs wouldn't think of drinking a wine that Robert Parker scores below 90. I have a different standard and have rarely paid over $20 for a bottle of wine. I've made kits that I feel would stand shoulder to shoulder with those same $20 wines. I've also made mead and country (especially blackberry) wines that I felt were far better than the only commercial equivalents I've tried. Give it a try. What do you have to lose except a little time?

Not based on any type of subjective value, but I do love Google:

http://www.google.com/search?q=(140+dollars+/+5+gal)+in+dollars+/+750ml

Thanks for the feeback!

I make wine from fresh juice pails, one 6 gallon batch I thought I'd have to bring to deer camp to get rid of it (my taste) Holiday at moms and all my family though it was great and asked if I would make them a batch, even the white wine drinkers liked it. I broke out a gallon of another at my block party a few weeks back that I aged for 2 years, I thought it was barely drinkable because it lost its tannins, neighbors loved it. I thought I made an awesome Cabernet one year, I was proud as hell, wife thought it was o.k. get the point? It's all in the taste of the maker, I'm bottling 24 gallons this week, 6 gallons of each, Pinot,Cabernet, Syrah, and Merlot that have been bulk aging for over a year. We will see what the jury has to say, Ken